How to get around by car in Paris in 8 tips

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Back in 2015, we featured an early version of RideGuru as our Travel Website of the Week. At the time, you could use RideGuru to estimate the fare for a ride between locations in more than 1,000 destinations in and outside the U.S. Even cooler than that was the fact that you could pull estimates for many styles of ride—from standard cab to regular UberX to UberBLACK to Lyft and so on—and see which you could expect to be cheapest.

While you can still use its highly accurate fare comparison calculator (which now supports more than 80 rideshare companies), RideGuru has continued to evolve into a huge knowledge base for travelers looking for transportation options. One of our favorite aspects of RideGuru is its community forum, which has become a great place to hear from (and even ask questions of) taxi and Uber drivers, passengers, and local experts about everything from local rideshare laws to common scams to even driver/passenger etiquette (like “What is a polite way to ask an Uber or Lyft driver to stop talking? I do not always want a conversation.”).

Screenshot from ride.guru

In short, RideGuru is the go-to place to learn how to get around in a destination that’s new to you. Like Paris. Here are eight tips from RideGuru and around the internet for getting around by car in Paris, France:

1. Uber is one of a few car services available in Paris

Before you travel anywhere, it makes sense to know what cab and car services are available on the ground. In the region of Île-de-France, which includes Paris, you can get around using:

 

The RideGuru guide to Paris also notes that within Uber, the following options can be used:

  • Uber Berline (a nice car)
  • Uber Green (an all-electric, CO2-free car)
  • Uber Pool (share a ride with someone to save money)
  • Uber Van (a vehicle with room for up to six people)
  • uberX (a budget/standard car)

 

2. Your Uber app will work in Paris

The same Uber app, and your same Uber account, can be used anywhere Uber is available. As written on RideGuru, “your Uber app and account opened in the US can be used in France where Uber is available. You simply go through the same steps to request a car.”

3. If you use Uber, make sure to alert your credit card company that you’re traveling

On the same thread, a user named Bett also adds a good reminder: Your Uber app will work in Paris, but the credit card you have linked may not if you don’t take the proper steps before you leave. Says Bett: “Just remember to alert your credit card that is on file that you are traveling.”

4. Legal taxis will always have a lighted display on the roof

A great post on Forbes.com notes that “the city is notorious for illegitimate cabs that operate outside the licensing regulations” and that all legal cabs in Paris have the following attributes:

  • A mileage meter with the displayed price as it accrues
  • A physical plaque with its license number
  • Some form of insignia on the windshield
  • A lighted display on the roof

 

The signage atop a legal standard cab in Paris will always be lit up green (available) or red (unavailable).

5. There are two primary taxi companies in Paris

In the same Forbes.com post, author Marc Weber Tobias says that “there are three primary taxi companies in Paris, and they all have smartphone apps.” One of the three (Taxi Bleus) appears to have shuttered operations, so here are the remaining two with phone numbers and websites:

 

For help making calls from a non-French phone, see this post.

6. At Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Uber, Taxify and standard cab pickup outside the Arrivals terminal

In RideGuru’s rideshare guide to Paris’s largest airport (RideGuru has airport guides for most of the world’s major airports), it notes that you can get a ride into the city or to your hotel using Uber, Taxify and a local cab. To find them:

“After getting off a flight, follow the signs to ‘Ground Transportation’ and ‘Baggage Claim.’ When ready, walk outside and look for ‘Passenger Pickups’ or a designated area labeled, ‘TNC/Rideshares.’”

7. There are taxi ranks beside the Eiffel Tower

If you don’t want to use Uber or Bolt (maybe because your phone isn’t connected), “the taxis are plentiful around Eiffel Tower,” writes ippei, “and there are taxi ranks available. They can also be found at hotels as well. One taxi stand in particular is at Hotel Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel at the corner of Rue Jean Rey and Avenue de Suffren, which is very close from the tower itself.”

8. A 5km Uber trip will cost you about $9.07

A RideGuru examination of Uber cost in 50 countries determined that a 5km trip (just over three miles) in France is estimated to run you $9.07 in 2019. Of the 50 countries examined, France was the fifth-most expensive.

That’s a good point of reference, but don’t forget that you can get an estimate for your exact trip using the fare estimator on the RideGuru homepage—in Paris and all across the world.

 

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