Moulin Rouge is located in the 18th arondissement at 82 Boulevard de Clichy. This is in the heart of Paris’ red light district with many adult oriented stores and cabaret shows. The closest Metro line to this tourist site is Blanche on Metro Line 2.
In 2009, the Moulin Rouge turned 120 years old, surviving a fire that occurred in 1915. This venue has seen various forms of entertainment throughout the years but it still performs what it’s best known for, cabaret and the can-can.
There are a few choices to get to the Grand Arch as La Défense is a major business district. The closest Paris Metro station to the Grand Arch in La Défense is La Défense on Metro line 1. Because of the importance of the region, it is a well serviced with the tramway (T2), SNCF Trains (intercity trains, 2 different lines) and the RER A.
At La Défense, you will find the largest mall in Paris, Les Quatres Temps. It has a wide range of stores from women’s clothing, sports and outdoor goods to DIY stores.
La Défense is located northwest of Paris. It’s on the outskirts of the City of Paris but falls under the Ile-de-France and straddles the municipalities of Courbevoie, Puteaux and Nanterre.
This is a photo guide of Gare d’Austerlitz train station in Paris.
Gare d’Austerlitz is located in Paris’ 13th Arrondissement, near Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière in the Google Map below:
It is an intersection point for the Metro line 5 and terminus station for Metro line 10. The RER C line is also serviced by this station and is located on niveau -1 (ie. level -1). At Gare d’Austerlitz you’ll find both the suburban and grand line trains including Elipsos, Corail Lunéa, Aqualys, TER centre and Téoz.
The station is in operation everyday from 5:30 to 0:00 (ie. midnight) except bank holidays. At Gare d’Austerlitz you’ll find an info kiosk, automated luggage storage and other amenities including three food outlets and a money exchange booth. Washrooms are available at 0,50€.
Outside the station you’ll find a velib station (ie. self service bike rental), access to buses, car rentals, taxis and Boulevard de l’Hôpital. The automated luggage storage has different size compartments that can be rented for up to 72 hours. Please refer to the Paris Train Station & Airport Luggage Storage article for more information.
How to get to Château 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 you’ll have to pay attention to make sure that you’re on the right train. The terminus station to get to Château de Versailles is ‘Versailles Rive Gauche’ (listed as C5 on the RER map).
Flowchart: How to get from Central Paris to Château 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 you’re heading in the right direction to end up at ‘Versailles Rive Gauche’.
Example: If you start at Avenue Henri Martin, you’ll need to pass Boulainvilliers, Avenue du President Kennedy and then Javel, if instead of passing Javel you hit Champ de Mars it means you’re 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 you’ll need to use a new ticket over a common mistake.
Once you arrive at ‘Versailles Rive Gauche’, Château de Versailles will take about five minutes to walk to.
Ticket t+ cannot be used for this trip. Versailles is within the Île-de-France region. The ticket t+ is only valid on RERs within the city of Paris (ie. Zone 1). Instead you’ll 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; you’d 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.
Otherwise, happy traveling! Getting to the station from Château de Versailles is just as easy, there’s clear signage to help you navigate back to the train station and then hop onto the RER C line to Paris and you’re set. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can always take the bus back too!
In Paris, a train station is known as a “gare“. The word “station” in French generally refers to Metro stations. Buses and trams have stops or “arrêts“.
Gares serve surface level trains traveling in and out of the city of Paris to surrounding suburbs and further out to cities both nationally around France and internationally on either high-speed TGV lines (up to 320km/h or 200mph) or normal speed train lines (roughly 110km/h or 68mph).
Paris Metro stations serve one or more Metro lines and some also serve RER trains while within central Paris (Paris transport zones 1-2).
Metro (ie. subway), RER (Réseau Express Regionale – ie. above/below ground light rail), and Tram: all form part of the light rail system serving central and suburban Paris.
The Metro and RER stations within Paris have both above & below ground stations (although most are below ground). Trams of which there are three (soon to be four with more in the works) generally have only street level stops along the western (T2), southern (T3) and northern (T1) edges of Paris & suburbs. The exception being stops near the terminus stations where these trams are often underground or within a building.
One confusing thing about gares in Paris are the multiple types of trains operated by different authorities. Suburban trains run by the Ile-de-France regional authority are Transilien branded trains. But, they also operate RER branded trains that serve many of those same suburbs, usually making more frequent stops. RER A trains and RER B trains are run by the Paris regional transport authority (RATP). All other RER trains are run by Transilien.
Intercity trains or “major trains” (ie. grande lignes in French) departing from gares often share the same train platforms with the regional RER and Transilien trains. The brands of intercity trains include: TGV (France), iDTGV (France), TGV Lyria (Franco-Swiss), Thalys (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg/Germany), Eurostar (London/Paris), ICE (Germany), Intercities (France), Ter (France) and perhaps soon AVE (Spain).
Important note: Within the city of Paris, you can almost always use a ‘Paris Metro Ticket t+‘, but if your destination requires the use of a suburban train, you will have to buy a ‘Billet Origine-Destination’ ticket, which is a station-to-station priced ticket. This means that a day trip to Versailles from Paris by train will require a ‘billet Origine-Destination’ (but a day trip to Versailles from Paris via bus can be paid for by ‘ticket t+’).
Hope this removes some of the mystery of Paris public transportation.