Suggestions for accommodation

General

We recommand lodging in Versailles, near one of the railway stations, where the INRIA shuttle stops. There are 3 railway stations in Versailles:
Versailles Rive Gauche, connected to RER C in Paris left bank,
Versailles Rive Droite, connected to Gare St Lazare in Paris right bank and RER A at La Défense,
and Versailles Chantiers, connected to Gare Montparnasse and RER C in Paris left bank.
From any of these stations Paris is reached in 15' by direct trains, 25' by omnibus ones. More information below in "How to get from Paris to Versailles".

When you arrive in Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, you may take the rapid transit RER B running North-South through the Paris area to reach the center.

Paris is a small city, compared to London or Delhi, and it is pleasant to walk from one place to another if the weather permits. Otherwise, take the métro, as indicated below. Using buses is a more advanced game. You may also rent bicycles at Velib stations, all over the central area - you return it at any other Velib station. We do not have rickshaws in Paris, and taxis are extremely expensive.

Important information for organising your travel

If you want to profit of the Symposium to visit Paris at this period, here are a few recommendations. If you want to do some shopping, or enjoy a stroll in Paris on a lively day, plan to do it on Saturday the 27th. Sunday is a slow day, and few shops are open, although restaurants are open in the tourist areas. Most museums are open on Sundays, the closing day being in general Tuesday. The day after the Symposium, November 1st, is "férié", meaning it is a national holiday. It is called Toussaint, meaning "All saints day". Toussaint is followed by Défunts, meaning deceased, formerly called "Jour des morts", i.e. Day of the dead. Actually the Catholic saints are not honored anymore, and instead the shraaddha ceremony is performed on Toussaint. The tradition is to go to your family place cemetery and put flowers (usually chrisantemum) on your ancestors' tombs. Shops and businesses are closed, transportation is reduced, and it is generally a sad day. Halloween, i.e. pretakalpa, celebrated in the USA on the night of the 31st, is not a French tradition, although merchants tried hard to import it for selling plastic pumpkins and witches disguises, and so do not expect "treat or tricks".

Paris and its area is generally a safe place, except remote suburbs which are unlikely for you to reach. However, you are to be careful of crooks watching for disoriented tourists and ready to "help" them. Thus you should shun unsolicited contact, and keep your passport and wallet in internal pockets.

Purely vegetarian restaurants are very rare. It is usually possible to have a vegeterian dish in many restaurants, however. There are now many "Indian" restaurants in Paris, and you will find decent chicken tikka and tandoori breads. Rather than genuine Indian cuisine, it is generally comparable to the food served in international hotels in India. There is a small Indian area in Paris, called Passage Brady, near Gare de l'Est. Typing "Passage Brady" to the Paris Google map will get you there. You will find many small Indian restaurants there, of a more genuine nature. Many of them are Kashmiri, but there are a few Tamil places as well.

The easiest way of transportation in Paris is by underground rail, called Métro. There are 15 métro lines, crossing in a very dense network of stations. Some are rapid transit lines, called RER. You can change as many times as you want with one ticket, and ride how long you want, but when you exit the ticket is void. There are daily and weekly passes as well. You have to understand that a station is usually composed of many platforms at various levels. When you change line, you go to another platform, with the same station name. The official site for métro transportation is RATP, where you can click on flags to get English or German versions. The best resource for planning itineraries is the Interactive Map, reacheable from here. Compute your timings by counting 1.5' for each station, and 2.5' for each line change. Trains run until 0h30, and traveling is generally safe.

How to get from Paris to Versailles

There are 3 train stations in Versailles, called Versailles Rive droite, Versailles Rive gauche, and Versailles Chantiers. The one closest to the Palace is Versailles Rive gauche, the most central one is Versailles Rive droite, whereas Versailles Chantiers is not so central.

Versailles Rive droite is connected to Gare St Lazare in Paris, on the right bank of the Seine river (rive droite means right bank). This rail line is almost as frequent as a métro, and it takes 25' from St Lazare to Versailles Rive droite. You may also take this line from the RER station "La Défense", which connects to the central Line A of RER, running East-West. The connection is tricky, since RER is part of the métro system, deep down, while the Versailles train is up on the surface, with no indication to guide you. Look for a sign looking like a train engine, lost in a see of commercial billboards in a large shopping mall.

Versailles Rive gauche is the terminus of the Line C of RER, running East-West along the left bank of the Seine. It takes about 20' to go from Versailles Rive gauche to Eiffel Tower, and 5' more to reach Notre Dame.

The train in Versailles Chantiers connects to Gare Montparnasse in the South-West of Paris in 15'. Gare Montparnasse itself connects with many métro lines.

A few hotels in Versailles

For international calls, replace prefix 0 by 0033. Room prices are indicative.

High end

Trianon Palace**** [Tel 01 30 84 38 38 Fax 01 30 84 50 01]
1, Bd de la Reine 78000 VERSAILLES (next to the Palace)
Rooms over 300€, breakfast 28€

SOFITEL de Versailles**** [Tel 01 39 07 47 48 Fax 01 39 07 46 47]
2 bis avenue de Paris 78000 VERSAILLES (next to the Palace)
Rooms at 200€, breakfast 23€

Medium range

Hôtel d'Angleterre** [Tel 01 39 51 43 50 Fax 01 39 51 45 63]
2 bis, rue de Fontenay 78000 VERSAILLES (300m from Palace, close to Versailles Rive Gauche)
Rooms at 80€ and 90€, breakfast 7€

Hôtel MERCURE [Tel 01 39 50 44 10 Fax 01 39 50 65 11]
19, rue Philippe de Dangeau 78000 VERSAILLES (500m from Palace, 500m to Versailles Rive Droite)
Rooms at 100€ and 115€, breakfast 9€

Hôtel de la Résidence du Berry*** [Tel 01 39 49 07 07 Fax 01 39 50 59 40]
14, rue d'Anjou 78000 VERSAILLES (500m from Palace, 200m to Versailles Rive Gauche)
Rooms at 125€ and 135€, breakfast 12€

Cheap range

Hôtel de Clagny** [Tel 01 39 50 18 09 Fax 01 39 50 85 17]
6, impasse de Clagny 78000 VERSAILLES (next to Versailles Rive Droite)
Rooms at 60€ and 65€, breakfast 7€

Hôtel Richaud [Tel 01 39 50 10 42 Fax 01 39 53 43 36]
16, rue Richaud 78000 VERSAILLES (next to Versailles Rive Droite)
Rooms at 60€ and 66€, breakfast 8€

Hôtel du Cheval Rouge** [Tel 01 39 50 03 03 Fax 01 39 50 61 27]
18, rue André Chénier 78000 VERSAILLES (100m to Versailles Rive Droite)
Rooms at 67€ and 73€, breakfast 7€

Le Paris Hôtel** [Tel 01 39 50 56 00 Fax 01 39 50 21 83]
14, avenue de Paris 78000 VERSAILLES (200m from Palace)
Rooms at 78€, breakfast 4&euro for INRIA guests.

Hotels in Paris

A list of Parisian hotels at various price ranges is available as an Excel sheet.