If you travel to Paris and your hotel in not located in the city center you should know that there is a cheap alternative to the expensive taxi ride in Paris.That alternative are the Paris night buses or Noctilien. They run between 12:30am to 5:30am, 7 nights a week all year round, when the public rail transport service has shut down for the night. They usually transport several thousands people from central Paris area to suburbs.
Night bus system or Noctilien is also a highly-integrated network in terms of image, connecting stations, information to passengers and pricing. It offers a cheap alternative to a expensive taxi ride. There are more than 45 Noctilien lines in and around Paris, and they run from city center to the suburbs. There are therr types of routes: circular,radial and cross-routes. Check with your hotel or hostel to see where the closest Noctilien (night bus) stop is to where you’ll be laying your head at night. This is a lot cheaper than taking a taxi.
Riding Paris night buses
The Noctilien buses in Paris operate in the same way as daytime buses do. First you need to buy a ticket, then validate it in the machine on the bus, and you’re good to go. Each route number is preceded by an N indicating that it belongs to the night bus network. You can buy individual T+ tickets on board the Noctilien buses from the bus drivers. If you’re traveling a long distance: from city center to one of the Paris’s suburbs, or from suburb to suburb, you will use up one T+ ticket for each “zone” you cross. Most visitors who are staying within the city center, however, will use only one T+ ticket for their entire trip.
Note: Unlike with the regular buses, if you change buses on the Noctilien service you’ll need to validate another ticket.
Paris night buses routes
PAris noight buses network features three route types: circular,radial and cross-routes.
- 2 “circular” routes: N01 and N02, one in each direction in central Paris, which link up 4 main stations for bus connections: Gare de Lyon, Gare de l’Est, Gare Saint-Lazare and Gare Montparnasse and numerous night spots like Champs-Elysées, Saint-Germain-des-Près, Bastille, Pigalle, etc.
- 31 “radial” routes from Paris city center: These routes, running from the 5 main connecting stations in Paris: Gare Saint-Lazare, Gare de l’Est, Châtelet, Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse, provide services in Paris and also to and within the inner and outer suburbs.
9 cross-routes running from suburb to suburb: These routes mainly provide fast and semi-direct services from Paris to the inner and outer suburbs, and local services at the end of the line.
Paris night buses map
Paris night buses (noctilien) map
Note: Be sure to check out the official Noctilien website for more information – the route information is extensive.