Touring Paris by public transport
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Le bus

A good way to take in the city sights is to hop on a bus. Bus #20 (wheelchair accessible) from Gare de Lyon follows the Grands Boulevards and does a loop through the 1^er and 2^e arrondissements. Bus #24 between Porte de Bercy and Gare St-Lazare follows the left bank of the Seine. Bus #29 has an open platform at the back, which makes it fun for sightseeing – it runs from Gare St Lazare past the Opéra Garnier, the Pompidou Centre, through the Marais and past the Bastille to the Gare de Lyon. For La Voie Triomphale, take a trip on bus #73 between La Défense and the Musée d'Orsay. Many more bus journeys – outside rush hours – are worthwhile trips in themselves: you can get hold of the Grand Plan de Paris from a métro station and check out the routes of buses #38, #48, #64, #67, #68, #69, #82, #87 and #95.

The métro, surprisingly, can also provide some scenery: the overground line on the southern route between Charles-de-Gaulle/Étoile and Nation (line 6) gives you views of the Eiffel Tower, the Île des Cygnes, the Invalides, the new Bibliothèque Nationale and the Finance Ministry.