A brief introduction to the ancient and beautiful french tradition of getting pissed off in Paris
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Here are some tips on how to travel to Paris and how to get to the HFLAN venue. You will need to purchase tickets to move around in Paris. Parisian transport is not the easiest so we recommend you take a look at your trip as early as you can! If you have any questions, come say hi in our Discord or @ us on Twitter!
-Team HFLAN
Step 1: Arriving to Paris
Unfortunately, we are French and you will need to travel to France to compete in HFLAN. Here are some tips on how to get to Paris as cheaply as possible (also in the least upsetting way, hopefully). If you have the time and money, take the train or coach (it’s more eco-friendly) (but you might lose some nerves). We did some research to give you a rough idea of how much travel will cost! We searched for trips leaving Thursday 10.
UK PEOPLE SORRY ABOUT THE QUEEN ALSO YOU NEED A PASSPORT
[ By air ]
We recommend EASYJET because it’s cheap as hell. Prices for 1 way flight to Paris on Thursday.
- London Gatwick -> Charles de Gaulle : 25-40£
- Luton -> Charles de Gaulle : 25-40£
- Manchester -> Charles de Gaulle : 25-40£
- Edinburgh -> Charles de Gaulle : 30-60£
- Belfast -> Charles de Gaulle : 30-60£
- Berlin Brandenburg -> Charles de Gaulle : 40-60€
- Berlin Brandenburg -> Orly : 30-60€
- Barcelona -> Charles de Gaulle : 30-40€
- Amsterdam -> Paris : ~100€ (not Easyjet)
- Rotterdam : go to Amsterdam.
[ By train ]
We recommend using TRAINLINE for European trains (as the French company website is 100% in FRENCH because you are in FRANCE now), and for anyone between 16 and 27: we recommend you get the “carte avantage jeune” which gets you a discount on all trains in France for 365 days. It’s not free, but get your money back after 2 train trips so it’s worth it!
Rail prices for outbound trip leaving Thursday Nov 10 >
- London: 50-80€ by Eurostar (book as SOON as possible, prices get very high)
- Rotterdam: 40-60€
- Barcelona: 60-90€
- Cologne : 50-75€
- Berlin: 50-70€
- Zürich: 60-80€
- Lyon: 30-40€
- Bordeaux: 30-50€
- Rennes: 30-40€
- Lille: 15-20€
- Strasbourg: 30-50€
[ By bus ]
Buses are great if you’re broke, but take longer & are more tiring. Travel with friends!! We couldn’t find bus times for November, but we will update these as soon as we can find them. Book early!
- London : not avaible yet
- Rotterdam : not avaible yet
- Barcelona : not avaible yet
- Cologne : not avaible yet
- Berlin : not avaible yet
- Zürich : not avaible yet
- Lyon : not avaible yet
- Bordeaux : not avaible yet
- Rennes : not avaible yet
- Lille : not avaible yet
- Strasbourg : not avaible yet
[ by car ]
Take breaks & be careful! You can securely park in the venue, we’ll send out a form 🙂
Step 2: getting to the venue
Congrats, you made it to France. Eat this, Mike
General tips to navigate through Paris
We recommend the CityMapper mobile app. It will help you navigate public transport on your phone! You can also use Transilien.com to plan trips on your laptop or phone.
The venue is in the city of Champs-Sur-Marne, in the close suburbs east of Paris, and reachable by public transport. Paris has 2 train networks: the metro (inside Paris only) and the RER (Paris & suburbs). You want to get on the RER line A (it’s red) and stop at Noisy-Champs.
To take the train through Paris, and to get to the venue, you will need to purchase train tickets or buy a Navigo pass. Ticket inspectors are common, very french, and excessively determined to get to your money, so you could potentially get fined without a ticket. If you’re staying a few days in Paris and want to explore, we recommend getting a 1-week Navigo pass, which will let you take any train, bus or tram at any time of day. You can purchase tickets at every station, at a terminal or at an information desk. Be aware of which zones your ticket is valid for (central Paris is in zone 1, the venue is in zone 4, CDG airport is in zone 5)
Now, how to get to the venue.
[ from airports ]
Here are guides on how you can get to the venue from the 3 Parisian airports.
Charles de Gaulle (Roissy) -> HFLAN
Orly -> HFLAN
Beauvais -> HFLAN
[ From train/coach stations ]
If you’re arriving by Train or by Coach, here are a few itineraries you may take:
From Gare du Nord (Paris Nord)
1. RER B heading south towards Massy Palaiseau/Saint-Remy-Les-Chevreuses/Robinson
Get off at Châtelet-Les-Halles (1 stop, 3 minutes)
2. RER A heading east towards Marne-La-Vallée-Chessy / Torcy
Get off at Noisy-Champs (8 stops, 22 minutes)
From Gare de l’Est
- Metro line 4 heading south towards Bagneux/Lucie Aubrac
Get off at Les Halles ( 5 stops, 5 minutes)
- RER A heading east towards Marne-La-Vallée-Chessy / Torcy
Get off at Noisy-Champs (8 stops, 22 minutes)
From Gare de Lyon
- RER A heading east towards Marne-La-Vallée-Chessy / Torcy
Get off at Noisy-Champs (7 stops, 19 minutes)
From Bercy Coach Station
- Metro line 14 heading north towards Mairie de Saint-Ouen
Get off at Gare de Lyon (1 stop, 2 minutes)
[ or you can easily walk from Bercy to Gare de Lyon ]
- RER A heading east towards Marne-La-Vallée-Chessy / Torcy
Get off at Noisy-Champs (7 stops, 19 minutes)
From Gare Montparnasse
- Metro line 4 heading north towards Porte de Clignancourt
Get off at Les Halles (8 stops, 10 minutes)
- RER A heading east towards Marne-La-Vallée-Chessy / Torcy
Get off at Noisy-Champs (8 stops, 22 minutes)
From Marne la Vallée-Chessy
- RER A heading west towards Saint-Germain En Laye / Poissy / Paris / La Défense
Get off at Noisy-Champs ( 6 stops, 17 minutes)
Once you arrive at Noisy-Champs
Congrats!! You’re basically done with your journey. You are currently within 2 minutes of the venue.
Be careful of which exit you take as you leave Noisy-Champs station, as the station is kind of a tunnel which goes underneath a huge road! You should aim for Exit 3, bd Newton. These numbers will be shown on signs in the station. If you’re coming from Paris, turn RIGHT as you leave the train. If you’re coming from Marne-La-Vallée, turn LEFT as you leave the train. Here’s an official diagram >
Here is HFLAN venue!
If you get it wrong (exit 1), your GPS will tell you to walk for 20-30 minutes to the next bridge. So don’t panic and go back through the station! You’ll be ok, everyone gets this wrong the first time. Ask someone around you for help or @ a TO on the HFLAN Discord if you’re lost!
Now you have successfully made it out of Noisy-Champs station in Exit 3, you just need to walk down the street ( in black on this beautiful diagram ) and turn right up the ramp to enter the HFLAN venue, the ESIEE school! The entrance is at the corner of the building, on its right side.
While you walk, you’ll be able to see plenty of services on the other side of the road, and the Ibis hotel we recommend for housing. This is a university campus, so there are even more services and places to eat or drink! (check out our food/restaurant recommendation guide)
You can also drive into school grounds at the point indicated in blue, and leave your car in the underground parking lot. There are over 300 spots, and it’s not accessible to the public, so it should be safer than the road -though you can park anywhere for free too!
This guide was offered to you by your favorite TOs Ridley, Piment and Kafkah