Prepare your stay Handy tips for visiting Paris

You’re ready to step out, well-equipped for the occasion. Here are some helpful tips for you:

• Avoid taxis during the day, particularly in the morning up to 11am, and late afternoon between 4pm and 8pm. The roads are jam packed with traffic, and taking a taxi during these times is guaranteed to find you watching the meter tick over without being able to do anything about it. Take the metro; it’s simpler, cheaper, and very fast.
  Here is a map of the Paris metro
  
  
  
• Taxi fares: the taximeter indicates the fare price and one of the following letters: A, B or C. If you are in inner Paris or on the Boulevard Périphérique ring road, tariff A applies during the day from 6am to 8pm, and tariff B at night until 6am. When you leave inner Paris, the driver will move on to tariff B during the day, and tariff C from 8pm. If you are far from Paris, tariff C applies at all times. You will pay a surcharge for any luggage stored in the boot of the vehicle, and if you take a taxi from the airport. Do not try to hail a taxi in the street if you are less than 100 metres from a train station: the taxis cannot take on passengers near a station; they are obliged to go to the head of the rank at the station itself. So move away from the station, or go to the taxi rank at the station.
  
  
• Restaurants start to fill up around 12.15am and remain filled until 1.30pm. In the evening, they fill up from 7.30pm and do not generally empty out before 10pm. If you don’t want to wait to eat, have supper early, from 6pm to 7pm.
  
  
• Have a drink at a sidewalk café and watch the comings and goings of Parisians and foreigners: what an enjoyable way to pass the time! But be aware that your coffee and cake will generally be more expensive than if you sit inside the café.
  
  
• Parisian Waiters are impatient. They are not rude, just in a hurry. Don’t take offence if they turn their back on you when you take a bit too much time to order: they want to serve other customers quickly. They will, in any event, come back to your table.
  
  
• In Parisian restaurants, wait staff do not necessarily come back to enquire whether you are enjoying your food once you have been served. Don’t feel ignored. They just want to avoid interrupting your meal.
  
  
• The tip: your bill is "inclusive of service", which means you don’t need to leave a tip. If you want to please your waiter, leave him 1 Euro for the coffee, and a few Euros for the food. But you’re not obliged to. For our Canadian friends, be aware that your credit card slip (the one you sign) will not include a "Gratuity" line.