The Paris metropolitan transit system, also known by its initials RATP (for La Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens) operates the underground trains and more than 300 stations of the renowned Métro (short for Métropolitain), as well as hundreds of city buses, trams, funiculars, and smaller services.

You will definitely use the Métro trains. You should also consider the RATP buses, as they can be more convenient than the Métro from some locations and on some routes.

Here's all you need to know about buying and using tickets and transit passes.

Several special RATP bus routes, such as the Montmartrobus to the top of the Montmartre hill, are made for visitors even more than for locals.

Other RATP services include funiculars, cablecars on rails that ascend and descend steep slopes, such as the Funiculaire du Montmartre which slides up and down the slope of Montmartre from near Pigalle to near the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur and Place du Tertre (map).

RATP has a collection of websites to help you plan your trips across Paris. Here's one for touristes, with parts in English. Like some other French transport websites, it's not easy to use. The Search function in particular leaves much to be desired.

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 A Métro train pulls into one of
Paris's 300+ Métro stations.