|
There are actually two firms that do the bus tours of Paris, and
the original one called Les Cars Rouges follows one specific route, whereas the newer
addition of L'OpenTour provides four different routes for you to be able to discover
completely different areas around the City of Paris.
The yellow and green L'OpenTour double decker buses offer a hop on and hop off service
that will take you to virtually all of the major attractions, landmarks and museums in
Paris, by utilising four different routes.
The four different tour routes are inter-connected so that you can easily switch between
them, rather than having to do a complete tour and the one pass is valid for all of the
different routes
You can get off of one bus at a certain point, have a look round and get back on another
bus to take you somewhere different, plus you will be provided with a map and individual
earphones on initial validation of your pass.
There is a recorded commentary available for all of the tours that is in different
languages including French and English and although the pass is a little more expensive
that that of Les Cars Rouges it is excellent
value for money, especially when you consider how much time it can save you, not
forgetting the weary legs by the end of the day!
You can choose between obtaining a one day pass or a two day pass and these can be
purchased through the L'OpenTour's sales outlets in Paris or they can be booked in
advance.
L'OpenTour cover four different sightseeing routes
around Paris as shown below:
Paris Grand Tour
On this approximately two hour tour you can get to see
the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Paris Opera, The Louvre, Notre
Dame Cathedral, Saint-Germain-des-Pres, Musee
d'Orsay, Concorde, Champs-Elysees,
Trocadero and Les Invalides, which are
just some of the many famous tourist attractions
you will see.
The Paris Grand Tour starts at Point La Boutique, 13 Rue Auber, Paris
Times: From April through to October the buses depart from 9:30am to 6:00pm every 10 to 15
minutes and in the winter months of November to March they depart from 9:30am to 4:00pm
every 25 to 30 minutes.
Bastille - Bercy
This is a half hour loop and the stops along this route
include the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Latin Quarter, Flower Market, the Bastille, Gare de Lyon, Gare d'Austerlitz,
the Museum of Natural History and Parc de
Bercy.
The Bastille-Bercy tour starts at the Notre Dame Cathedral point
Times: The buses depart from 9:20am to 5:30pm every 30 minutes all year round without any
changes.
Montmartre - Grands Boulevards
L'OpenTour will take you on a one hour tour and among
the many highlights of this particular one are the Funiculaire de Montmartre, the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, Gare du Nord, Gare de
l'Est and Grands Boulevards.
Montmartre-Grands Boulevards tour starts at La Boutique, 13 Rue Auber
Times: During the months of April through to October the buses depart from 9:30am to
6:30pm every 10 to 15 minutes but in the winter months of November to March they depart
from 9:25am to 4:45pm and only every 30 to 35 minutes.
Montparnasse - Saint-Germain
The fourth route of the tour bus will take
approximately 60 minutes and visits the Jardin du Luxembourg, Observatoire, the incredible
Catacombes, Invalides and
Saint-Germain-des-Pres.
The starting point for the Montparnasse-Saint-Germain tour is Petit Pont.
Times: From April to October the buses depart from 9:30am and run until 6:30pm every 15
minutes, but during the months of November through to March they depart from 9:30am to
4:30pm every 20 to 25 minutes.
Please note that in order to take advantage of the tours you must redeem your voucher for
this experience at the Groupe Cityrama Office, 13 Rue Auber, Paris prior to your travel on
the bus.
For further information on this service and the tours you can contact L'Open tour on 1 42
66 56 56.
|
|
