Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
8am-6pm Mon-Sat;
Gare de Lyon)
Inside Gare de Lyon train station, facing platforms L and M.
TOURIST INFORMATION
Gare du Nord Welcome Desk
Inside Gare du Nord station, under the glass roof of the Île de France departure and arrival
area (eastern end of station).
TOURIST INFORMATION
Syndicate d'Initiative de Montmartre
10am-6pm; Abbesses)
Locally run tourist office and shop on Montmartre's most picturesque square. It sells maps of
Montmartre and organises tours daily at 2.30pm.
Travellers with Disabilities
Paris is an ancient city and therefore not particularly well equipped for
visiteurs handicapés
(disabled visitors): kerb ramps are few and far between, older public facilities and budget ho-
tels usually lack lifts, and the metro, dating back more than a century, is mostly inaccessible
for those in a wheelchair
(fauteuil roulant)
.
But efforts are being made. The tourist office continues its excellent 'Tourisme & Handicap'
initiative, in which museums, cultural attractions, hotels and restaurants that provide access
or special assistance or facilities for those with physical, mental, visual and/or hearing disab-
ilities display a special logo at their entrances. For a list of the ever-increasing number of
places that qualify, visit the website of the Paris Convention & Visitors Bureau
(
www.parisinfo.com
) and click on 'Practical Paris'.
Resources
For information about which cultural venues in Paris are accessible to people with disabilit-
Access in Paris,
a useful if dated 245-page guide to the French capital for the disabled, can
Mobile en Ville
( 09 52 29 60 51;
www.mobile-en-ville.asso.fr
; 8 rue des Mariniers, 14e,
Paris) works hard to make independent travel within the city easier for people in wheel-
chairs. Among other things it organises wheelchair
randonnées
(walks) in and around Paris;
those in wheelchairs are pushed by 'walkers' on rollerskates.
