AIRLINES Aer
Lingus, 47 av de l'Opéra,
2e (tel
01.47.42.12.50, ); Air
Canada, 106 bd
Haussmann, 8e (tel
08.20.87.08.71, ); Air
France, 119 av des
Champs-Élysées, 8e (tel
01.42.99.21.01 or
08.02.80.28.02, );
British Airways, 12
rue Castiglione, 1er (tel
08.25.82.54.00, );
British Midland, 4 pl
de Londres, Roissy-en-France
95700 (tel
01.48.62.55.65, );
Delta, 4 rue Scribe,
9e (tel
01.47.68.92.92, );
Qantas, 7 rue Scribe,
9e (tel
01.44.55.52.05, ).
AIRPORT
INFORMATION Roissy-Charles
de Gaulle (tel
01.48.62.22.80 for
recording in English;
Orly (tel
01.49.75.15.15).
AMERICAN EXPRESS
, 11 rue Scribe, 9e (tel
01.47.77.79.50; Mº Opéra).
Bureau de change open
Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat
9am-5pm, Sun 10am-4pm,
public hols 9am-5pm.
In a pinch, there is
Chequepoint, open 24
hours every day, 150
av des Champs-Élysées,
8e (tel
01.49.53.02.51; Mº
Charles-de-Gaulle-Etoile).
BIKE RENTAL
Charges start from
about 12.20 a day with
a caution
(deposit) of
152.44-381.10. If you
want a bike for
Sunday, when all of
Paris takes to the quais
, you'll need to book
in advance. Try Paris-Vélo,
2 rue du Fer-à-Moulin,
5e (tel
01.43.37.59.22; Mº
Censier-Daubenton) for
21-speed and mountain
bikes; Paris À Vélo
C'est Sympa/Vélo
Bastille, 37 bd
Bourdon, 4e
(01.48.87.60.01; Mº
Bastille), which also
runs good bicycle
tours; Bike N'Roller,
6 rue St-Julien-Le-Pauvre,
5e (tel
01.44.07.35.89; Mº/RER
St-Michel); or the
Maison du Vélo, 11
rue Fénélon, 10e (tel
01.42.81.24.72; Mº
Gare du Nord or
Poissonnière), with
summer outlets at the
Gare-de-l'Est and
Gare-du-Montparnasse.
BOAT TRIPS
Bateaux-Mouches boat
trips on the Seine
start fromthe Embarcadère
du Pont de l'Alma, on
the Right Bank in the
8e (reservations tel
01.42.25.96.10,
information tel
01.40.76.99.99; Mº
Alma-Marceau). The
rides, which usually
last an hour, depart
at 11am, 11.30am,
12.15pm, 1pm and every
half hour from 2pm to
10pm most of the year
round; departure times
are less frequent in
winter (7.62,
under-14s 3.05). There
are also lunch and
dinner trips, though
these are outrageously
priced and you'll need
to dress smartly. The
main competitors to
the Bateaux-Mouches
are Bateaux Parisiens
(tel 01.44.11.33.44; Mº
Trocadero), Bateaux-Vedettes
de Paris (tel
01.47.05.71.29; Mº
Bir-Hakeim) and
Bateaux-Vedettes du
Pont Neuf (tel
1.46.33.98.38; Mº
Pont-Neuf). They're
all much the same, and
can be found detailed
in Pariscope
under "Croisières"
in the "Visites-Promenades"
section and in L'Officiel
des Spectacles
under
"Promenades"
in the "À
Travers Paris"
section.
An alternative way
of riding on the Seine
- one in which you are
mercifully spared the
commentary - is the
Batobus (tel
01.44.11.33.99).
CUSTOMS With
the Single European
Market you can bring
in and take out most
things as long as you
have paid tax on them
in an EU country, and
they are for personal
consumption. Duty-free
was abolished on June
30, 1999, for all
trips beginning and
ending in the EU.
However, there are
still personal
allowance limits on
what were once
duty-free goods -
alcohol, tobacco and
perfume. Each person
is allowed up to 800
cigarettes, 400
cigarillos, 200
cigars, 1kg of smoking
tobacco, 90 litres of
wine (no more than 60
litres of which can be
sparkling wine), 10
litres of spirits, 20
litres of fortified
wine and 110 litres of
beer. Limits for non-EU
countries are: 200
cigarettes or 250g
tobacco or 50 cigars;
1 litre spirits or 2
litres fortified wine,
or 2 litres sparkling
wine; 2 litres table
wine; 50gm perfume and
250ml toilet water.
DISABILITY
For publications
detailing wheelchair
access in Paris,
contact ADF
(Association des
Paralysées de
France), 17 bd
Auguste-Blanqui, 13e (tel
01.40.78.69.00), which
publishes Paris
comme sur des
Roulettes (Paris on
Wheels) in French
for 7.47; or CNRH (Comité
National Français de
Liaison pour la Réadaptation
des Handicapés),
236bis rue Tolbiac,
13e (tel
01.53.80.66.66), whose
guide, Paris-Île
de France: Guide
Touristique pour les
Personnes à Mobilitée
Réduite is
available in English
for 9.15. In the UK,
RADAR (Royal
Association for
Disability and
Rehabilitation), 12
City Forum, 250 City
Rd, London EC1 (tel
020/7250 3222, fax
020/7250 0212, minicom
tel 020/7250 4119)
offers Access in
Paris by Gordon
Couch and Ben Roberts
(£6.95, Quiller
Press), a guide to
accommodation,
monuments, museums,
restaurants and travel
to the city.
DOCTORS see
Emergencies, below.
ELECTRICITY
220V out of double,
round-pin wall
sockets. If you
haven't bought the
appropriate converter
( adapteur ) or
transformer ( transformateur
- for US appliances)
before leaving home,
head for the
electrical section of
a department store,
where someone is also
more likely to speak
English; cost is
around 9.15. If you
are using an appliance
larger than an
electric razor or a
radio - a laptop
computer for example -
you will need an
adapter capable of
transforming a large
electrical load. La
Samaritaine carries
such converters in its
hardware section; cost
is around 18.29.
EMBASSIES/CONSULATES
Australia: 4 rue Jean-Rey,
15e (tel
01.40.59.33.00; Mº
Bir-Hakeim); Britain:
35 rue du
Faubourg-St-Honoré,
8e (tel
01.44.51.31.02; Mº
Concorde); Canada: 35
av Montaigne, 8e (tel
01.44.43.29.00; Mº
Franklin-D-Roosevelt);
Ireland: 4 rue Rude,
16e (tel
01.44.17.67.00; Mº
Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile);
New Zealand: 7ter rue
Léonardo-de-Vinci,
16e (tel
01.45.00.24.11; Mº
Victor-Hugo); USA: rue
St-Florentin, 1er (tel
01.43.12.22.22; Mº
Concorde).
EMERGENCIES
Fire brigade (Sapeurs-Pompiers)
tel 18; Ambulance
(Service d'Aide Médicale
Urgente - SAMU) tel
15; Doctor call-out
(SOS Médecins) tel
01.47.07.77.77 or
01.43.37.77.77; Rape
crisis (SOS Viol;
Mon-Fri 10am-6pm) tel
08.00.05.95.95; SOS
Help (crisis line/any
problem: 3-11pm) in
English tel
01.47.23.80.80. For a
list of
English-speaking
hospitals, see below.
EURO France
is one of twelve
European Union
countries which have
changed over to a
single currency, the
euro (). Euro notes
are issued in
denominations of 5,
10, 20, 50, 100, 200
and 500 euros, and
coins in denominations
of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and
50 cents and 1 and 2
euros.
EXCHANGE
Some of the more
conveniently located
bureaux de change are
at: Charles-de-Gaulle
airport (daily
7am-10pm) and Orly
airport (daily
6.30am-11pm); Gare
d'Austerlitz (Mon-Fri
7am-9pm), Gare de
l'Est (summer
6.45am-10pm; winter
6.45am-7pm), Gare de
Lyon (Mon-Sat
8am-8pm), Gare du Nord
(8am-8pm), Gare St-Lazare
(summer 8am-8pm;
winter 8am-6.45pm);
Office de Tourisme de
Paris (127 av des
Champs-Élysées, 8e;
9am-7.30pm; Mº
Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile)
.
FILM Camera
film is expensive in
Paris. Stores like
Monoprix will
generally be cheaper
than shops closer to
the tourist sites.
Since most museums and
monuments will not
allow you to use a
flash, consider
purchasing very
high-speed film which
is designed to take
photos in low light.
HAMMAMS or
Turkish baths, are
much more luxurious
than the standard
Swedish sauna. Prices
begin at 12.20 and
rise steadily. Some
worth trying include:
Les Bains du Marais,
31-33 rue des
Blancs-Manteaux, 4e,
tel 01.44.61.02.02 (Mº
Rambuteau & Mº
St-Paul); women:
Mon 10am-8pm &
Tues 10am-11pm, men:
Thurs 10am-11pm, Fri
& Sat 10am-7pm, mixed
: Wed & Sat
8pm-midnight, Sun
11am-11pm; Cleopatra
Club, 53 bd de
Belleville, 11e, tel
01.43.57.34.32 (Mº
Belleville), Tues-Sun
10am-6.30pm, closed
Aug, women only;
Hammam de la Mosquée,
39 rue
Geoffroy-St-Hilaire,
5e, tel 01.43.31.38.20
(Mº Censier-Daubenton),
daily 10am-9pm; hours
and days for men and
women change, so phone
first, but generally
women on Mon &
Wed-Sat and men on
Tues & Sun; closed
Aug.
HOSPITALS
English-speaking
hospitals include the
American Hospital, 63
bd Victor-Hugo,
Neuilly-sur-Seine (tel
01.46.41.25.25; Mº
Porte Maillot then bus
#82 to terminus); and
the Hertford British
Hospital, 3 rue Barbès,
Levallois-Perret (tel
01.46.39.22.22; Mº
Anatole-France).
INTERNET ACCESS
You can stay online
while travelling at
the following cybercafés.
Expect to pay
approximately 0.15 per
minute. Cybercafé
Latino , 13 rue de
l'Ecole-Polytechnique,
5e; Cyber Cube
, 5 rue Mignon, 6e, Mº
Grands-Boulevards
(Mon-Sat 10am-10pm); Phonebook
of the World ,
11-15 rue des Halles,
1er, Mº Châtelet (
); Web 46 , 46
rue de Roi-de-Sicile,
4e, Mº St-Paul
(Mon-Fri
11am-midnight, Sat
noon-9pm, Sun
1pm-midnight); Web
Bar , 32 rue de
Picardie, 3e. In
addition, most post
offices now have a
computer geared up for
public internet
access. You need to
buy a card first
(7.62, including 1hr
connection) which can
be recharged at 4.57
for an hour's
connection.
LAUNDRY
Self-service laundries
have multiplied in
Paris over the last
few years, and you'll
probably find one near
where you're staying.
If you can't
immediately spot one,
look in the phone book
under "Laveries
Automatiques".
They're often
unattended, so come
pre-armed with small
change. The smallest
machines cost around
3.35 for a load,
though some laundries
only have bigger
machines and charge
around 6.86. Dryers
run about 0.46 for
5min. Generally,
self-service laundry
facilities open at 7am
and close between 7pm
and 9pm. The
alternative blanchisserie
, or pressing
services, are likely
to be expensive, and
hotels in particular
charge very high
rates. If you're doing
your own washing in
hotels, keep
quantities small as
most forbid doing any
laundry in your room.
LEFT LUGGAGE
Located at all the
main train stations.
You cannot leave
luggage at the
airports.
LOST BAGGAGE
Airports: Orly (tel
01.49.75.04.53);
Charles de Gaulle (tel
01.48.62.10.86).
LOST PROPERTY
Bureau des Objets
Trouvés, Préfecture
de Police, 36 rue des
Morillons, 15e; tel
01.55.76.20.00 (Mº
Convention). Mon, Wed
& Fri 8.30am-5pm,
Tues & Thurs till
8pm. For property lost
on public transport,
phone the RATP at
01.40.06.75.27.
PHARMACIES
All pharmacies,
signalled by an
illuminated green
cross, are equipped to
give first aid on
request (for a fee).
When closed, as many
are on Sundays, they
all display the
address of the nearest
open pharmacy.
Pharmacies open at
night include Dérhy/Pharmacie
des Champs-Élysées,
84 av des Champs-Élysées,
8e tel 01.45.62.02.41;
24hr; Mº George-V);
Pharmacie Européenne,
6 place de Clichy, 9e
(tel 01.48.74.65.18;
24hr; Mº Place-de-Clichy);
Pharmacie des Halles,
10 bd Sébastopol, 4e
(tel 01.42.72.03.23;
Mon-Sat 9am-midnight,
Sun noon-midnight; Mº
Châtelet); Pharmacie
Matignon, 2 rue Jean-Mermoz,
8e (tel
01.43.59.86.55; daily
8.30am-2am; Mº
Franklin-D-Roosevelt);
Pharmacie
Internationale de
Paris, 5 pl Pigalle,
9e (tel
01.48.78.38.12; daily
to 1am; Mº Pigalle);
Grand Pharmacie de la
Nation, 13 place de la
Nation, 11e (tel
01.43.73.24.03; Mon
noon-midnight,
Tues-Sat 8am-midnight,
Sun 8pm-midnight; Mº
Nation).
POST OFFICE
Main office at 52 rue
du Louvre, Paris 75001
(Mº Châtelet-Les
Halles) open daily
24hr for letters,
poste restante, faxes,
telegrams and phone
calls; currency
exchange Mon-Fri
8am-7pm, Sat 8am-noon.
Branch offices are
located in every
neighbourhood - look
for the bright-yellow
signs and the words
"la Poste"
or "le PTT"-
and are generally open
Mon-Fri 9am-7pm &
Sat 9am-noon.
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
January 1, New Year's
Day; Easter Sunday;
Easter Monday;
Ascension Day (40 days
after Easter);
Pentecost or Whitsun
(seventh Sunday after
Easter, plus the
Monday); May 1, May
Day/Labour Day; May 8,
Victory in Europe Day;
July 14, Bastille Day;
August 15, Assumption
of the Virgin Mary;
November 1, All
Saints' Day; November
11, 1918 Armistice
Day; December 25,
Christmas Day.
PUBLIC TOILETS
Ask for les
toilettes or look
for signs for the WC
(pronounced "vay
say"); when
reading the details of
facilities outside
hotels, don't confuse lavabo
, which means
washbasin, with
lavatory. French
toilets in bars are
still often of the
hole-in-the-ground
squatting variety, and
tend to lack toilet
paper. Standards of
cleanliness aren't
always high. Toilets
in railway stations
and department stores
are commonly staffed
by attendants who will
expect a bit of spare
change. Some have
coin-operated locks,
so always keep 50
centimes and 1F and 2F
pieces handy for these
and for the frequent
tardis-like public
toilets found on the
streets. These beige-
or brown-coloured
boxes have automatic
doors which open when
you insert coins, and
are cleaned
automatically once you
exit. Children under
ten aren't allowed in
on their own.
RADIO The
main French news
broadcasts are at
7.45pm on Arte and at
8pm on F2 and at TF1.
English-language news
on the BBC World
Service can be found
on 648kHz or 198kHz
long wave from
midnight to 5am (and
Radio 4 during the
day). The Voice of
America transmits on
90.5, 98.8 and
102.4FM. Radio France
International (RFI)
broadcasts the news in
English between 3 and
4pm on 738kHz AM. For
radio news in French,
there's the state-run
France Inter (87.8FM),
Europe 1 (104.7FM), or
round-the-clock news
on France Info
(105.5FM).
SAFER SEX A
warning: Paris has the
highest incidence of
AIDS of any city in
Europe; people who are
HIV positive are just
as likely to be
heterosexual as
homosexual. Condoms ( préservatifs
) are readily
available at
supermarkets, clubs,
from dispensers on the
street - often outside
pharmacies - and in
the métro. From
pharmacies you can
also get spermicidal
cream and jelly ( dose
contraceptive ),
suppositories ( ovules
, suppositoires
), and (with a
prescription) the pill
( la pillule ),
a diaphragm or IUD ( le
stérilet ).
Pregnancy test kits ( tests
de grossesse ) are
sold at pharmacies; if
you need the
morning-after pill
(the RU624), you will
have to go to a
hospital.
SALES TAX
What is called VAT
(Value Added Tax) in
Britain is referred to
as TVA in France ( taxe
sur la valeur ajoutée
). The standard rate
in France is 20.6
percent; it's higher
for luxury items and
lower for essentials,
but there are no
exemptions (books and
children's clothes are
therefore more
expensive than in the
UK). However, non-EU
residents who have
been in the country
for less than six
months are entitled to
a refund ( détaxe
) of some or all of
this amount (but
usually around 14
percent) if you spend
at least 182.93 in a
single trip to one
shop. The procedure is
rather complicated:
present your passport
to the shop while
paying and ask for the
three-paged bordereau
de vente a
l'exportation
form. They should help
you fill it in and
provide you with a
self-addressed
envelope. When you
leave the EU, get
customs to stamp the
filled-in form; you
will then need to send
two of the pages back
to the shop in the
envelope within three
months; the shop will
then transfer the
refund through your
credit card or bank.
The Centre de
Renseignements des
Douanes (tel
01.53.24.68.24) can
answer any
customs-related
questions.
SMOKING Laws
requiring restaurants
to have separate
smokers' ( fumeurs
) and non-smokers' ( non-fumeurs
) areas are widely
ignored. Non-smokers
may well find
themselves eating
elbow-to-elbow
alongside smokers, and
waiters are not that
likely to be
sympathetic. Smoking
is not allowed on
public transport,
including surburban
trains, or in cinemas.
Most office reception
areas are non-smoking.
But smoking is still a
socially acceptable
habit in France, and
cigarettes are cheap
in comparison with
Britain, for example.
Note that you can only
buy tobacco in tabacs.
STUDENT
INFORMATION CROUS
, 39 av Georges-Bernanos,
5e (tel
01.40.51.36.00; Mº
Port-Royal).
TELEPHONES
You can make
international phone
calls from any
telephone box ( cabine
) and can receive
calls where there's a
blue logo of a ringing
bell. A 50-unit (7.41)
and 120-unit (14.74)
phonecard (called a télécarte
) is essential, since
coin boxes have been
almost phased out.
Phonecards are
available from tabacs
and newsagents as well
as post offices,
tourist offices and
some train-station
ticket offices;
alternatively, you can
use a credit or
calling card. All
calls are timed in
France and off-peak
charges apply on
weekdays between 7pm
and 8am, and after
noon on Saturday until
8am Monday. For calls
within France - local
or long-distance -
dial all ten digits of
the number. For
international calls,
calling codes are
posted in the
telephone box;
remember to omit the
initial 0 of the local
area code from the
subscriber's number.
TELEVISION
French TV has six
terrestrial channels:
three public (France
2, Arte/La Cinquième
and France 3); one
subscription (Canal
Plus, with some
unencrypted programmes);
and two commercial
open broadcasts (TF1
and M6). In addition,
there are the cable
networks, which
include LCI (French
news), CNN, the BBC
World Service, BBC
Prime ( Eastenders
, etc), Planète,
which specializes in
documentaries, Paris
Première (lots of VO -
version originale
- films), and Canal
Jimmy ( Friends
and the like in VO).
There are several music
channels : MTV for
rock and pop, Mezzo
for classical and
Muzzik for classical
and jazz.
TIME France
is one hour ahead of
Britain (Greenwich
Mean Time), six hours
ahead of Eastern
Standard Time (eg New
York), and nine hours
ahead of Pacific
Standard Time (eg Los
Angeles). Australia is
eight to ten hours
ahead of France,
depending on which
part of the continent
you're in. Remember
also that France uses
a 24hr clock, with,
for example, 2am
written as 2h and
2.30pm written as
14h30. The most
confusing are noon and
midnight -
respectively 12h and
00h. Talking clock tel
36.99. Alarm tel
36.88, or with a
digital phone dial
*55* then the time in
four figures (eg 0715
for 7.15am) then #. To
annul, dial #55* then
the time, then #
(costs around 0.56).
TOURS The
best walking tours of
Paris in English are
those offered by Paris
Walking Tours (tel
01.48.09.21.40; 1hr
30min; 9.15), with
subjects ranging from
"Hemingway's
Paris" to
"Historic Marais".
A full list of times,
meeting points and
prices can be found in
Pariscope in
the Time Out Paris
English-language
section. The Paris
transport authority,
RATP, also runs
numerous excursions,
some to quite
far-flung places,
which are far less
expensive than those
offered by commercial
operators. Details are
available from RATP's
Bureau de Tourisme,
place de la Madeleine,
1e (tel
01.40.06.71.45; Mº
Madeleine).
TRAFFIC &
ROAD CONDITIONS
For Paris's traffic
jams listen to 105.1
FM (FIP) on the radio;
for the boulevard périphérique
and main routes in and
out of the city, ring
01.48.99.33.33.
TRAIN
INFORMATION SNCF
information in English
tel 01.45.82.08.41.
Eurostar tel
08.36.35.35.39, ;
Hoverspeed SeaTrain
Express tel
08.00.90.17.77.
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Council Travel, 16 rue
de Vaugirard, 6e (tel
08.00.14.81.48; Mº Odéon),
is a dependable
student/youth agency
as is OTU Voyages, 119
rue St-Martin, 4e,
opposite the Pompidou
Centre (tel
01.40.29.12.12).
Access Voyages, 6 rue
Pierre-Lescot, 1er (tel
01.44.76.84.50; Mº Châtelet-Les
Halles), has cheap
transatlantic and
train fares.
WEATHER
Paris and Île de
France tel
08.36.68.02.75; rest
of France tel
01.36.68.01.01. On the
internet at and
WOMEN'S GROUPS
The Maison des Femmes,
163 rue de Charenton,
12e (tel
01.43.43.41.13, fax
01.43.43.42.13; Mº
Reuilly-Diderot &
Mº Gare-de-Lyon), is
the meeting place of a
myriad of women's
organizations. Open
Wed & Fri 4-7pm;
café Fri 7-10pm. The
Bibliothèque
Marguerite Durand, 3rd
floor, 79 rue
Nationale, 13e (tel
01.45.70.80.30; Mº
Tolbiac), is the first
official feminist
library in France.
Open Tues-Sat 2-6pm.
