Location Transport

How to pay for travel on public transport in Paris?

I am going to Paris alone, its my first time travelling without my parents and I don't speak very much French so I am tryin to plan my trip ahead. I will arrive at the coach station at 4.30pm on a Sunday and I need to my hotel on public transport. I have planned my journey on RATP ... I will travel from zones 1-4, I'll take a metro, a RER(not sure what this is?), and a bus I would like to know what type of ticket to buy, preferably the cheapest one? And where can I buy it? In London we can't buy tickets on buses you have to find somewhere to buy tehm beforehand so I don't know if its the same in Paris ... also on a Sunday in london, most shops/ticket offices are closed. Also on my way home I need to get from zone 4 -> 1 and then I would like some kind of travelcard to use on the metro/buses in the centre of Paris Thanks!! Oh and also... is there a way to check in advance if the trains/busses are running. In London there is ALWAYS engineering works on the line so everything closes randomly and I wouldn't like to get caught out by this in a strange city

Public Comments

1. the RER is the subway train. In France all transportation in and around Paris (buses, subway, RER) are managed by the RATP. The easyest way to buy tickets is to use computers at the train stations. Most of them allow user to switch to english language ;) You can buy a pass called Paris visite which allows you to travel and give you some discount on museum tickets and so on... But the pass is far more expensive for zone 1 to 6 than for zone 1 to 3 (http://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/c_21894/paris-visite/) If you plan to stay in Paris, buy a pass for zone 1 to 3 + 2 additional tickets for zone 1 to 4 to go from your coach station to Paris. Warning Subway and some trains or buses don't run at night (between midnight and 5a.m) better check the RATP.com website to be sure before going out late at night ;)
2. First the actual city of Paris is not that large. Much smaller than London - 80% live outside the city limits. The metro system is quite easy. The people in Paris always (in my own case) the most helpful. You can surf just about everything on the web about the metro and passes. Some in English. I did find a metro office at the La Defense station English speaking assistance. You will have no problem From 1 to 4 is at rush hour quite busy, but is really quite close.