WALKING PARIS

PARIS: Pictured Left to Right: The Arc de Triomphe; Notre Dame from the rue St Julien le Pauvre; Plaque to Oscar Wilde at L'Hotel on the rue Beaux Arts; The Tomb of Oscar Wilde at Pere Lachaise Cemetery; The Courtyard of the Palace of St Germain-en-Laye; The Column of July crowned with a statue of Liberty on Place de la Bastille; The Entrance to the Centre Culturel Irlandais, the former Irish College, on the rue des Irlandais; Two of the oldest houses in Paris on the corner of rue Saint Antoine and rue Cloche Perce 

BIG, CROWDED BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE!

It surprises people when I tell them that you can walk the city of Paris North-South and East West - across many of the 20 Arrondissements or districts - in a day. Try it! Start at the 'Le Celtic' Bar on 89 rue de la Chapelle in the 18th Arrondissement, right under the Boulevard Peripherique (which encircles all of the 20 arrondissements) to the North of Paris, and finish at the 'La Rotonde' Brasserie at 7 Place du 25 Août near the Porte d'Orleans on the South. This is a walk that will take you approximately two and a half hours at a nice pace and with no distractions. Similarly, to walk from East to West will take about three hours, starting at the little Chapelle Sainte Bernadette at 12, Av. de Porte de Vincennes in Arrondissement 12 in the East of Paris, under the Bd Peripherique again, to the RER station on Avenue Foch in the West. You can literally walk the length and breadth of Paris in a day. And stop for lunch.

So this website will not over-tax you in terms of walking Paris.  

Assuming you have settled into your accommodation within walking distance of a train or Metro station and are prepared to get lost a few times in order to discover Irish Paris  - which is the fun part - you can begin to explore in your own time, at leisure, all of a tour or part without being rushed by a guide from one place to another. The walking tours are in addition to whatever guide- books, tours and apps you have decided to explore the city with and not a complete guide to Paris. 

To help navigate your journey, I have located these tours around prominent Parisian monuments and landmarks so pinpointing these near your accommodation will help in selecting a suitable walk nearby and orientate you further afield. Ideally it is a personal, couple or small group adventure making use of the brilliant Metro system to provide a starting and finishing point for each walking tour.

'LIEUX DE MEMOIRE' 

This is "slow tourism", like "slow food". It is about taking time, taking in the city, contemplating the memories of Irish people in places that may or may not be extant but enhanced by the way sunlight and shadow fall along the old streets, their contours and their gradients and glimpses here and there of what they may have once looked like in tucked away houses and yards. The French have a wonderful phrase for this: 'lieux de mémoire ', 'places of memory', where a place somehow still retains the memory of the people who lived there and we try and enter into that. The satisfaction is in finding these places and contemplating the events and characters associated with them for oneself. I would like you to experience something more immersive and personal, a sort of homage to the forgotten, remembered again in revisiting where they lived and by recalling the story of their lives in the place.

Part of the joy of this 'slow tourism' is finding one's own little café or restaurant en route which adds to the 'douceur' of a Paris visit and planning your next steps in the itinerary whilst watching the world go by. Certainly, many of the individuals in these stories pondered and planned their lives in cafes and restaurants, most of which have now disappeared though some of the grander remain, as I hope you will discover. It never ceases to amaze me that even though many of our Irish forebears in the city were impoverished they nevertheless managed to dine and wine and even stay on occasion in some of the most expensive places in Paris! And why not?! After all, Paris is to be savoured, not suffered! But don't let the temptations of vino and bistro, coffee and gateau hijack your exploration completely: allons y!

A LITTLE PREPARATION

The directions, times and station access/egress are based on my own walking the routes and are offered therefore as the most practical and tested itineraries. However, these are subject to obvious change given that Paris is a city in a constant state of renovation and repair so checking out your route in advance is a sensible precaution. I have found Google Maps to be reliable and usually up to date about road access as well as information on the nearest metro station, line number(s) and departure times. The Google Maps will also enable you to plan your itinerary by inputting up to ten places currently on the app and thereby giving you your walking trail for the tour. Occasionally, Google may differ from the route I describe in the tour which may miss out on some things I point out en route in my itinerary.

If you are unfamiliar with Paris, a few tips: first look at a map of the whole city and where you are staying in relation to it. Get a sense of the curve of the river Seine, the right and left banks, the two islands that form the centre of the city and the monuments that can help you fix your bearings as you walk. Look at where the parks are and the main boulevards. Then get a sense of the Arrondissements, which are numbered from 1 (the Louvre area) to 20 in a clockwise direction -especially for this exercise- and where they are approximately. When you are walking, street signs on the corners of buildings will give the arrondissement number at the top so can help along the way.

Before you set out, keep an eye on the weather forecast, check opening times of public buildings and churches as well as restaurants and keep an eye on public holidays. My advice is to do one of the shorter walking tours first, maybe for half a day at leisure. Savour and see the city slowly! Walking on Sundays is a good option if you can do this as streets are quieter and churches especially are normally open and welcoming.  

A word on safety. Paris is a safe city overall but pickpockets and fraudsters love careless tourists in any city so keep metro tickets and Navigo pass cards etc away from your wallets so that you are not contributing to their economy. A simple rule of thumb is to always have a back-up bank card etc in a different pocket or bag.  The less you have to carry the less you have to lose. It seems obvious but if you downloaded your walking tour to your mobile phone, be vigilant when walking and reading at the same time. 

Always bring water, even in Winter -or get one of these fancy bottles with a micro-filter and fill up from the bathroom tap: Paris water is safe to drink.

THE METRO AND THE RER UNDERGROUND TRAIN SYSTEMS

Again, a hard look at the Paris transport system is recommended in advance. You can download lots of Metro apps, but I recommend Bonjour RAPT as it offers a journey planner for Paris Metro on a mobile phone app that is interactive and up to the minute, even providing local maps in the vicinity of the station.

There are two underground systems in Paris – the older Metro system, which is numbered from 1 to 14, though this is now being expanded with Lines 15, 16, 17 and 18 planned as part of the Grand Paris Express. The numbers remain the same for either end of the lines (so line 2 will be only between Porte Dauphine and Nation for example). Look at the end station indicated in the Metro station for the direction and platform you need and also on the front of the approaching train as sometimes trains may not travel the full length of the line for engineering or other reasons and another station on the line will be flagged on the front of the train.

The second system is the RER rapid underground system which is shown alphabetically. These cut out a lot of stations on the older Metro system and are faster. Again, they work on the same principle as the Metro trains: the direction is flagged by the terminus either end. Avoid busy times from around 7am to 10am and 5pm to 7pm in the evenings and also those tempting fold-down seats near the carriage doors: if it becomes even moderately crowded you are expected to give the seat up and stand. Again, be aware of your surroundings.

 The 'Navigo' Card

You buy the same tickets for both the RER and for the Metro and a single ticket covers any distance on the metro provided you do not check out and come above ground. This system is becoming more efficient and easier to buy tickets as the entire public transport system in Paris is being upgraded. There are a variety of passes available too for different time periods and zones. I recommend the NAVIGO CARD which you can buy for a small fee and then top up with your credit or debit card or cash (currently up to the value of two carnets i.e 20 tickets on the Navigo card) – at all the electronic ticket machines in the metro stations. The Navigo Card can be purchased only at manned ticket booths (not on electronic ticket machines) in the larger stations and in the airports and Eurostar terminals. Currently they will not cover your journey from the airports into the city centre. You need a separate ticket for that. Note as well that in some stations using the RER you need to check in and check out at the entrance and exits of the RER line before resuming your journey on the Metro system (i.e. the numbered lines). 

It is always worthwhile, if you do not know the system at all, to get your bearings in the main entrance hall or on the Bonjour Rapt app first rather than fighting against crowds as you discover you are on the wrong platform in the bowels of the station! Every station entrance has a map of the immediate area and the exits marked from the station. A minute spent checking these out can save frustration above ground when trying to cross a busy Boulevard or Avenue.

The Grand Paris Express project has been in planning since about 2007 with some 68 new stations being developed and about 200 km of new tracks being laid. This is an enormous 'grand projet' to join Paris up between the centre of the city (i.e. within the Bd Peripherique) and the suburbs and also across the suburbs enabling faster journeys without having to go into the city centre. Amazing new stations are gradually coming into service and are worth a visit in their own right, for example the Villejuif Gustave Roussy Station, which opened in January 2025.

Bus services are cheap and offer a really wonderful way to see the city and to get to your starting destination for these walks - they require a bit of study but again worth the effort. Again Google Maps can give you details of bus stops and routes when you click on the bus stop icon. Your Navigo card can be used on these as well.

FINALLY...WALKING

Everyone knows the safety codes in crossing streets but it always worth re-emphasising that, where possible, cross streets on pedestrian crossings. In Paris motorists drive on the right and Parisian drivers are not known for their tolerance of adventurous jaywalkers!

Paris has an expanding number of specific one-way and two-way cycling lanes which are signposted and marked out with bicycle icons on the roadway. Some are separated by paving from road and pedestrian pathways. Be careful and ALWAYS pause first and check if it is safe to cross. Cyclists do use these routes at speed and can come out of nowhere!

 Bon Voyage!