Paris Night Transport
Many times we buy plane tickets that arrive at the airport late at night, or we leave by plane at those same untimely hours, because the prices of these tickets are cheaper. Possibly your flight is also delayed and then you need to know how to get to Paris from the airport at night. If you have found yourself in that situation, and you need to know how to get around Paris at night, or know about night transport, here you will find the information you need to help you reach your destination.
If you are a person traveling with the intention of partying in Paris, and you need to know how to move around the city at night, the information we provide may be of help to you. As it happens in many cities, during the day we have no problem using any type of transport to get around, but at night the services are always less and it is difficult to find a type of transport that suits our needs.
For all these reasons, we are going to explain to you the night transport in Paris, known as “noctilien”, so that you have information about moving around at night.
How to move at night in Paris?
Despite having an extensive daytime transport network, normal public transport works until approximately 1:15 a.m. at the latest on weekdays, and on weekends and holidays it can be extended until 2:15 a.m. The transports, any day of the week, do not open until 5:30 in the morning. These extensive schedules correspond to the metro and some bus lines.
Night transport in Paris, as we have mentioned before, is known as “Noctilien”. The Noctilien is a night bus service that is responsible for covering the hours when the metro is closed. Next, we are going to explain in more detail this line and other night transport options in Paris.
The Noctilien, The Night Buses Of Paris
This night transport network in Paris works from the closing of the metro service to the opening, from midnight to approximately 5:30 in the morning. Night bus lines cover much of the île-de-France. These lines are differentiated by having an “N” in front of a number, an example would be the night lines of Charles de Gaulle airport indicated as “N140” and “N143”.
The noctilien stations with the most night transport connections are Châtelet, Gare de l’Est, Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse. The lines that depart from these stations are:
- Gare de l’Est: N41, N42, N43, N44, N45, N140, N141, N142, N143, N144, N145.
- Gare Saint-Lazare: N51, N52, N53, N150, N151, N152, N153, N154
- Châtelet: N21, N22, N23, N24, N122
- Gare de Lyon: N31, N32, N33, N34, N35, N130, N131, N132, N133, N134
- Gare Montparnasse: N61, N62, N63, N66
Noctilien night bus maps
In this link you will find the map of night transport in Paris. For a better understanding of the line, we recommend that you look at the station with the most connections that you have nearby, and that it arrives at your destination. Later when you have it, go to this link and put the number of the noctilien line whose stops you want to see: for example “N15”. A pdf will be generated with the stops of the N15 line, in a more visible way, so that you know how many there are to your destination.
If you need to get oriented, and you want to know in advance where each bus leaves from, we leave you the links to the PDFs of each station and the points from where the noctilien night buses leave:
Noctilien bus fares
Noctilien fares work according to zones, so if you have a Navigo or Paris Visite ticket and want to travel to the airport, you must pay a supplement. If you only travel through the area for which you have paid when buying your ticket, no supplement is necessary. With these tickets you can transfer between different noctilien.
You can also travel with noctilien with a t+ticket or a ticket purchased directly from the driver. In this case, and in the case of using a t+ticket for the 10 bond taco, the tickets are not valid for transfers, that is, if you get on more than one bus you must use a transfer ticket. The rates are also different by zones, if you travel through the downtown area (1-2) you will only need 1 ticket. If you travel outside of zones 1 and 2, you must add a ticket for each zone that is crossed later. An example of this operation would be:
t+ Ticket tickets needed in noctilien:
- Zones 1-2 = 1 ticket
- Zone 1 to 3 = 2 tickets
- Zone 1 to 4 = 3 tickets
- Zone 1 to 5 = 4 tickets
During the noctilien service , 10 ticket t+ vouchers are not sold on board the buses. If you are interested in using night transport with this voucher, you must buy it during daytime hours. Remember that it is always cheaper to buy the voucher, since this wad of bills can be used by more people (1 ticket per person, the same for more is not legal)
The Taxi
Another way to get around Paris at night is by taxi. If you are a person who does not feel comfortable using public transport at night, or is more comfortable in a transport for himself, the taxi can be a good way to get around.
This way of getting around at night is also ideal if you are traveling with children (and especially if the flight has been delayed or leaves at dawn), since the family can go more comfortably and without carrying all the luggage on the night buses.
The price of a taxi is always a little higher than public transport, but possibly for some people a little more peace of mind. To all the races, the lowering of the flag must be added. Remember that at night the taxi uses a night rate, higher than the day rate.