Travelore Tips: 12 New Rules For Riding The Paris Métro

FRANCK FIFE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The Paris Métro has released a “politeness manual” with 12 rules for proper behavior in the city’s underground. The rules were suggested by the Paris public and published online in an effort to keep people civil in the subway. Some of the instructions are helpful, some are hilarious, some seem very French indeed. They include:

Greet the driver.
Sneeze into handkerchiefs.
Do not stare for a long time at beautiful women.
Offer help to tourists in Bermuda shirts with a Métro map in one hand and the other hand in their hair.

Having spent a lot of time in the Paris Métro myself, I thought I’d offer up a few tips of my own:

Download the MetrO app. It can save you time in any complicated subway system, but particularly the Paris Métro, where the map can be deceiving: For instance, when two or more subway lines intersect, it can be a very long hike from one end of the station to the other. The MetrO app enables you to punch in your origin stop and destination stop and find your fastest ride between the two.

Now that Paris’s pickpockets have been kicked out of the Louvre, they’ve got to go somewhere, so watch your wallet: Keep it in your breast pocket or an internal compartment in your jacket, near your chest, rather than in a pants pocket. (When being jostled by a crowd, you’re more likely to notice somebody pushing against your chest.)

When you’re going to the Eiffel Tower, use the Trocadéro stop rather than Bir-Hakeim, even though the latter is a little closer. You’ll get a grand panoramic view for your stroll to the Tower.

Contributed by Wendy Perrin