Paris in 30 minutes: getting between meetings across the city (2026 guide)

Par Gabriel Goldberg 31 August 2026 11 min read

There is one statistic no tourist board advertises, and it is the most impressive thing about Paris: thirty minutes. Thirty minutes is what it took me to get from the door of one meeting to the door of the next, all day long, whatever the arrondissement. Never longer. Never once by taxi. A full working day crossed on foot and by metro — and in between the doors, a city that lets itself be looked at. Long Paris metro interchange corridor with bevelled white tiles and a wet floor reflecting the strip lights, its two vaulted walls covered end to end by a mural of swirling red, blue, yellow and green shapes drawing the eye deep into the tunnel. Key facts: the Paris network has 16 metro lines , more than 300 stations , and a density such that inside the city you are almost never more than 500 metres from an entrance. The practical result for anyone stacking up meetings: 25 to 35 minutes door to door between any two points in the capital, walking included. The right strategy is not the shortest route but the one with zero or one interchange — and to keep ten minutes spare so you can walk the last stretch above ground. 1. The thirty-minute rule In Brussels, London or Amsterdam, a business trip across town is planned case by case. In Paris you eventually stop calculating. The mesh is so tight — sixteen metro lines, five RER lines, fourteen tram lines around the edge, a bus grid filling the gaps — that the gap between the fastest and slowest option shrinks to a few minutes. Walk to…