After fourteen months of work, eight months of being partially closed and a considerable investment of 32 million euros, the Paris RER train station Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame is looking almost brand new. If you’ve already spent a night at one of our hotels, there’s a high chance that you’ve been through the station in the past – it’s quite an important transport hub, with two RER train lines and underground walkways to two nearby metro. It also happens to be just where four of Paris’ arrondissements meet, and is spread over three of them!

So here’s a quick look at what’s new at the station, and how your trips to the Paris airports and Château de Versailles will now be that much more agreeable.

You already know that Notre-Dame is benefitting from a lot of work this year, but you may not know that the train station bearing its name is too! (Of course, if you’re staying on one of our hotels, the cathedral is just a short walk away).

The Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame train station was constructed in 1900, initially as an actual steam train station. The line became the RER C line in 1979, and the cumbersome double-barreled name came into effect when the RER B line running roughly north-south was added in 1988. Oddly, each line is run by a different entity, with the national train company SNCF looking after the RER C, and the RATP handling the RER B. It’s also one of the rare stations to have exits situated in three different arrondissements.

Stranger still is the labyrinth of tunnels linking the two urban railways lines to the Paris metro system, notably Cluny-La Sorbonne on line 10 and Saint-Michel on line 4.

An estimated 32 million people pass through the station every year, but until now it wasn’t necessarily a pleasant experience – it was dark, with no windows and limited access for anyone with mobility issues.

During the renovation:

— the electrical systems were all updated to modern norms,

— two escalators escaliers and a lift have been added,

— the platforms have been resurfaced,

— the bridges to cross over the lines now have glass panels on the sides, but the major change is…

— twenty-eight large windows have been opened up along the side of the Seine, allowing natural light in (as well as being waterproof should the river ever severely floods).

These new openings also help your sense of orientation, and the natural light completely transforms the feel of the place.

Throughout the station, there’s less a feeling of being constricted, there’s more space, the gates to the platforms are brand new, so are the escalators… Everything is shiny and new!

There is one vestige of the station’s 70s history that we’re glad has been kept. It’s a ceramic artwork on a wall of one of the RER C platforms.

If you walk along it in one direction you see a white and brown pattern that changes when you walk along from the other end. We’re still trying to find out who originated this groovy piece of art!

And at the end of the video below, you’ll also see the great view of the Seine if you exit on that side, with the river almost at eye level and Notre-Dame just a minute away…

So, you want to go to Charles de Gaulle airport? Or Orly? The Château de Versailles? Invalides? The Eiffel Tower? Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame will get you there without changing trains.

And just a few minutes from the station you’ll find Notre-Dame, the Conciergerie, Sainte-Chapelle and… our hotels! Here are the main exits and a map showing what’s just 5 minutes away on foot.

If you liked this article, you’ll probably also appreciate our visit of Invalides station, quite a mysterious place that used to be an Air France terminal and still has a hidden restaurant used by members of the government!

And for more info on Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame, the relevant Wikipedia page can be found here !

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Bonus! The station has a curious hidden entrance incrusted in a building, masquerading as a shop on rue Xavier Privas. If you’re trying to access the RER C line in a wheelchair or want to avoid steps, this might the entrance for you! 🙂