How to get to Chteau de Versailles via Bus

By Ben Lam | February 20, 2016 | in Attractions

To get to Chteau de Versailles from Paris by bus, the first step is reaching the bus terminal
at Pont de Svres Metro station, which is the terminus (last) station of Metro Line 9.

Bus Schedule from Pont de Svres Chateau de Versailles (Bus 171)

i) Getting to Pont de Svres (Metro line 9, direction Pont de Svres). Metro line 9 has many
transfer points and makes Pont de Svres bus terminal easy to reach.

You can transfer to Metro line 9 from any of the following Metro lines and corresponding
stations:

Metro line 1 at Franklin D. Roosevelt

Metro line 4 at Strasbourg St-Denis

Metro line 5 at Oberkampf

Metro line 6 at Trocadro

Metro line 8 at Richelieu Drouot

Metro line 10 at Michel-Ange

Metro line 11 at Havre Caumartin

Metro line 13 at Miromesnil

Youll take Metro line 9, direction Pont de Svres, to the final end station, i.e Pont de Svres.
Upon arrival (follow the crowd and) walk to the adjoining bus terminal at ground level, which
will be clearly marked within the Metro (usually by a blue circle with BUS inside). You can
also follow red coloured Bus 171 signs within the Metro which will lead you up to ground
level.
ii) At the Bus Station there are more than a dozen buses, but the bus you need to take is Bus
171. Above is a photo of its departure at Pont de Sevres bus terminal and Chateau de
Versailles is its last stop. The journey is roughly 30 minutes.

The price for the trip from Paris to Versailles depends on whether you began the journey on
Metro or directly at Pont de Svres bus station.

If using regular Metro/Bus tickets (which are same type of tickets: Paris Metro Ticket T+)
youll need two tickets with total cost of 3.80 , one way (price valid as of August 1, 2016).
One ticket will be used for the Metro to Pont de Svres and another ticket for Bus 171 from
Pont de Svres to Versailles, which is in Zone 4 and the Metro only covers Zones 1-2. Keep in
mind that tickets purchased directly from the bus driver will cost 2 instead of 1.90 so you
may wish to purchase tickets from Metro ticket vending machines or from ticket windows
prior to boarding the bus.

Side note: Regular Metro tickets, once used for the Metro, are never valid for transfers onto
buses. Transfers from Metro to RER trains are permitted, as are transfers from bus to bus, but
you cannot transfer from Metro/RER trains to buses or vice versa using the same Paris Metro
ticket. To complicate things a bit further, bus tickets purchased on board buses are not
valid for transfer, even from bus to bus and cost more, 2 vs. 1.90 .

If you are within walking distance to the bus station, youll only need one Metro/Bus Ticket
T+ for the bus ride 1.90 . As noted above, try to purchase a ticket before you arrive at the
bus, since the driver will charge you 2 if buying on board. (Note: a carnet or booklet of
single-use Paris bus/Metro tickets can be purchased at a slight discount, and it makes sense if
youll be traveling to other places as the tickets are used for all forms of transportation within
the city of Paris. See Paris Metro Tickets for more details).

Zone 1-4 day passes good for Metro, train, bus (Ticket Mobilis) and Zone 1-4 Navigo week
passes are valid for travel to Versailles. For Ticket Mobilis, which is actually a paper ticket,
insert the ticket into the ticket reader/validator next to the driver, about the size of a tissue
box, attached lengthwise vertically from a pole. The machine should light-up a green
rectangle confirming the ticket is valid. For Navigo cards, simply hold the pass against the
purple part of the ticket reader/validator to validate your pass has the correct zones purchased.

To return from Versailles to Paris by bus youll need to take Bus 171 from the stop on the
opposite side of the street from your arrival on Bus 171. It should be the first bus stop you
encounter when walking directly back from Chateau de Versailles along Avenue de Paris.
Heres a Google Map view with the bus actually at the stop.
How to get to Chteau de Versailles from Central Paris

Option 1: RER C Yellow line

Locate either train stations or metro stations in central Paris that will connect you to RER C,
the yellow RER line. Listed below in the flowchart are all the RER C stations within Zone 1,
their arrondissements and any connecting metro lines (ie. if you are closer to a metro station,
you can hop onto any of the listed metro lines to get to the specific RER station). All RER
lines fork and have several different end terminals, so youll have to pay attention to make
sure that youre on the right train. The terminus station to get to Chteau de Versailles is
Versailles Rive Gauche (listed as C5 on the RER map).

Flowchart: How to get from Central Paris to Chteau de Versailles via RER C

Between central Paris and Versailles, you need to take the RER C Line in a way which will
lead you to Javel station and later to Porchefontaine station. Since the line forks, it will
really depend on where you start to know how many stations away Javel and Porchefontaine
will be. These stations will indicate whether youre heading in the right direction to end up at
Versailles Rive Gauche.

Example: If you start at Avenue Henri Martin, youll need to pass Boulainvilliers, Avenue du
President Kennedy and then Javel, if instead of passing Javel you hit Champ de Mars it means
youre going the wrong direction. This is an easy mistake to make and if that happens, just get
off at the station and look for the signs in the station which go towards the right direction.
Make sure not to exit the station or else youll need to use a new ticket over a common
mistake.

Once you arrive at Versailles Rive Gauche, Chteau de Versailles will take about five
minutes to walk to.

Ticket t+ cannot be used for this trip. Versailles is within the le-de-France region. The ticket
t+ is only valid on RERs within the city of Paris (ie. Zone 1). Instead youll have to get a
Billet Origine-Destination to/from Versailles-Rive-Gauche at 4,10 per direction (price
current as of January 2013).

Note: If you plan to use any other forms of public transportation in the day, I recommend
getting an unlimited Mobilis pass for the day from Zone 1-4; youd only need to take one
more round trip to make it worthwhile in terms of cost (pass costs 10,85).

During normal working hours, Versaille Rive Gauche station has someone selling tickets
who may speak a bit of English. Be prepared for the language barrier by having a map handy
and the places you need to get to written down.

(Photo courtesy of Villemartin)

Otherwise, happy traveling! Getting to the station from Chteau de Versailles is just as easy,
theres clear signage to help you navigate back to the train station and then hop onto the RER
C line to Paris and youre set. If youre feeling adventurous, you can always take the bus back
too!

For more information, check out the ParisByTrain article: Chteau de Versailles by Bus.
Paris to Chateau Versailles by Train

By Ben Lam | May 8, 2016 | in Attractions RER RER C

See also ParisByTrain Article: Paris to Chateau Versailles Walkthrough.

Overview
Line => RER C (yellow)

Direction => Versailles-Rive Gauche

Arrival Station => Versailles-Rive Gauche (Zone 4, 3.55 as of August 1, 2016)

Details

From Paris you can take a suburban RER C train to within 5 minutes walk of Chateau
Versailles, ending at station Versailles-Rive Gauche.

Start your trip by going into any metro/RER station that you find around the city, which will
be marked with a blue sign with an M or RER surrounded by a circle. From time to time
youll see the metro marked only by the old style art deco Metropolitan signs. Take note of the
station name when inside.
Your goal is to get to the RER C line, the yellow line that serves the western half of the
Parisian suburbs. If youve got a day or week pass thats good for at least Zone 4, skip this
paragraph, else visit a ticket window in the station to purchase special ticket, since Versailles
is in Zone 4, outside the coverage of normal Paris Metro/Bus/RER Ticket t that you would get
for traveling within Paris. At the ticket window or guichet [Gee-Shay] dont panic. Theres a
50/50 chance the worker will speak English quite well and if not, theyll understand Chateau
Versailles [Shah-Tow Vher-Sigh]. Normally the metro worker will ask you whether you want
a return ticket, by asking Aller Rtour? [Alleh-Ray-Tour] (or by making hand signs), which
is simply two of the single tickets. Each ticket is currently ( as of August 1, 2016) 3.55 or
double that for a return trip. Tip: dont expect that your credit card will work at the ticket
window. Many North American credit cards will simply not work at RATP/SNCF credit card
machines so have cash on hand and dont expect to use that 50 euro note either. Small bills
or coins are best. Go ahead and buy Aller-Rtour return tickets to save a bit of time (unless
you plan on sneaking off the tour path at the chateau and spending the night there).

Once past the turnstiles find the Metro map or plan [plon] to see where you are in relation to
the yellow RER C line. If you happen to be at St. Michel/Notre Dame, Tour Eiffel (plus a few
others) youre already on the RER C line, all you need to do is find the right train platform.
Many stations throughout Paris serve several different metro lines and RER train lines all
within the same station. This means a single station can have several vertical levels plus many
different platforms going in opposite directions. This may sound confusing, but it follows a
pattern that youll quickly master: All RER lines are letters, A to E, all Metro lines are
numbers 1 to 14. All lines have a terminus station, i.e. the last station on the line. Every train
and metro platform will mark which line youre on and which direction the train is going,
which is the terminus station. If you are not already at a station which serves the RER C line,
play snakes and ladders with the metro/RER lines on the map to see how you can get to the
closest RER C station.

Once youre at an RER C station, follow the overhead signs and wall signs towards the RER
C Versailles-Rive Gauche platform. What may be confusing is that there may be other names
on the sign along with Versailles-Rive Gauche for other terminus stations along the same line.
For example, you may see an RER C sign that shows the direction/terminus station as Saint-
Quentin-en-Yvelines, Versailles-Chantiers, Versailles-Rive Gauche, all on one sign. As long as
the terminus station is not before the station you want (in this case Versailles-Rive Gauche),
you can take the line since its going in the right direction.

Once youve arrived at the RER platform youll see overhead signs along side the rails which
show a plethora of station names, each possibly lit with a yellow square before the name. If
the name is marked with a yellow square, the next train that arrives will stop at that station.
Look for the station that you want, Versailles-Rive Gauche. If the name is not on the board,
check the other side of the platform, which is going in the opposite direction.

When the train arrives, the doors will not open automatically; Someone on the train, or you,
must press the green or silver button on the door to open it.
Once on the train, if youve taken the right train, you wont need to keep track of the stations
since Versailles-Rive Gauche will be the last station on the line and everyone will be getting
off.

After arriving at the terminus station, look for blue Sortie signs which mark exits for the
station. Eventually each of them will have a name marking what street it gives access to. On
occasion a landmark or sight such as Tour Eiffel or Chateau Versailles will be marked on the
exit sign as well, highlighted in beige. Pick an exit and look out for brown street signs
pointing in the direction of the Chateau. With any luck, youll find one for Chateau Versailles,
which is just a five minute walk from this station. Enjoy your visit.
Metro vs. RER

By Ben Lam | January 19, 2016 | in Metro RER

The Paris Metro vs. the Paris RER whats the difference?

The Metro is

the Mtropolitan chemin de fer (Metropolitan railway)

a subway/tube/underground train system

16 lines, 1 through 14 plus two short secondary lines (3bis and 7bis)

just central Paris (see Metro map)

short distances between stations

one single fare zone (1.90 as of August 1, 2016)

frequent but unscheduled service

mostly underground (subway/tube like)

no bicycles allowed on Metro, except on Metro Line 1 on Sundays and holidays

The RER is

the Rseau Express Rgionale (Regional Express Network)

a commuter train system

5 lines, RER A through E

central Paris plus much of Ile-de-France (see RER line map)

 used interchangeably with the Metro in central Paris

faster than the Metro, with fewer stops & greater distances between stations

separated into fare zones 1-5

tickets (billet origine-destination) are priced from station to station (when outside
central Paris zone 1)

scheduled service (see RER schedules)

mostly above ground, except within central Paris

bicycles are allowed on the RER except during rush hour (not allowed between 6:30-
9 AM and from 16:30 19:00)