Getting Home After a Night Out in Paris: Metro, Night Bus, Taxi

In Paris the last metro reaches the end of the line at around 1:15am from Sunday to Thursday and around 2:15am on Friday, Saturday and the night before a public holiday; after that, the Noctilien night buses run from about 12:30am to 5:30am, and the metro starts again at around 5:30am. Since most clubs close between 5am and 7am, the real question is usually not how to get there but how to get back.

Below are the times, the tickets that work at night, and a zone-by-zone guide to the stations and night buses near the clubs. Times are indicative and change during works or strikes, so check your route in the RATP or Île-de-France Mobilités app before you leave.

Metro, RER and night bus times

The trap is the mid-line station. The 2:15am figure is when the last train reaches the terminus, so at Pigalle, Oberkampf or George V the last one may pass a quarter of an hour or more before that. If you're relying on the metro, leave the bar earlier than you think. The RER is less forgiving still: most last trains run between midnight and about 1:20am, depending on the branch, which matters if you're staying near an RER station outside the centre.

The Noctilien night buses

Between the last metro and the first, Paris runs on the Noctilien: around fifty night bus lines covering the city and much of the suburbs, every night of the week. The network is built around five big hubs. Châtelet is the heart of it, Gare de Lyon serves the east and south-east, Gare de l'Est the north-east, Saint-Lazare the west and north-west, and Montparnasse the south and south-west. On the busiest lines inside Paris a bus comes every 10 to 15 minutes; on some outer-suburb lines, once an hour. The simplest strategy is often to ride to the nearest hub and change there.

Tickets: Navigo passes (week, month or year), Imagine R and Paris Visite are all valid on the Noctilien at no extra cost. A bus-tram ticket works too, and lets you change between night buses for 90 minutes, but not ride back on the same line. A metro-train-RER ticket is not valid on the night bus, so don't count on the one left in your pocket.

Zone by zone: stations and night buses

The north-east has an advantage: Mia Mao and La Java close at 7am on Fridays and Saturdays, and La Station's nights usually end at 7am, when the metro has been running for an hour and a half. In the west it's the opposite, since the 8e clubs often close at 5am, before the first train, so you'll be on the N11 or in a taxi. For Phantom, under the Accor Arena, the club gives 35 rue de Bercy as the drop-off and pick-up point for taxis and ride-hailing cars.

Techno, house, trance, 90s revival and themed parties; concerts · PigalleSee La Machine du Moulin Rouge →

Techno and drum & bass at the afters; rock, metal and punk concerts · Porte de la VilletteSee Glazart →

Taxi or ride-hailing?

Paris taxis apply a regulated night rate, higher per kilometre than the day rate, and the flat fares to the airports don't change with the hour, which makes a taxi predictable for an early flight after a night out. Ride-hailing apps work differently: their prices follow demand, and at 5am outside a big club or after a concert they can climb a long way. If you're a group, splitting a taxi from a rank (Place de la Bastille has one near Pachamama, for example) is often the calmest option. Whatever you choose, agree on a meeting point before you go in: phones die and clubs are loud.

Plan the night around the way back

Three habits make the difference. Check the closing time of your club in our opening-hours guide and compare it with the first metro. Save the Noctilien line from the club to your hotel before you go out, while your battery is full. And if you're heading to the suburbs, to Montreuil, Pantin or Vitry, look up the night bus in advance: frequencies are lower outside Paris. For anything specific to your night, a group, a table or a guest list, message us on WhatsApp and we'll help you plan it.