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Riding RER Trains in Paris, France | |
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Paris's RER
trains take a bit of
learning. Read this page before you
ride an RER train in Paris, and you'll
save yourself lots of time and confusion.
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Riding the RER trains in Paris is different from the Paris Métro. Here's how to ride the RER: Buying Your TicketYou can use the superb Bonjour RATP and Île-de-France Mobilités smartphone apps to plan your trips and to buy your tickets; or use a ticket machine or ticket agent at an RER station. An RER ticket is the same as a Métro ticket (but not the same as a bus/tram/funicular ticket.) Just touch your phone to the turnstile when you enter, and when you exit. If you have a physical ticket, keep it—you'll need it to exit the system at the end of your journey. Finding Your PlatformFollow signs such as this to your RER train platform:
Reading the Train SchedulesEach RER train has a cryptic, seemingly nonsensical 4-letter code (PIER, KARI, SORI, EFLA, EKLI, etc.) based on the stations it serves. The first letter of the code indicates the train's destination. (For example, all trains with codes beginning in "E" go from central Paris to Aérogare 2 at Charles de Gaulle Airport.)
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Above, portion
of an RER train schedule.
Note the 4-letter codes (PIER, KARI, etc.), and how
each train serves a different list of stations. If the train code begins with K (as in KARI), the train is an express from CDG
Airport to central Paris. KARI trains depart CDG
seven minutes
after PIER trains, but arrive
at Châtelet- Les-Halles, in the center of
Paris, only 3 minutes after PIER because
they stop less.
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