Welcome to the political and strategic hub of ESA! We are very happy to be hosting YPE at Headquarters for the first time ever—but we understand this is a big change for many of you. Below, we have written out all the information you will need to better understand how to get to YPE, where to stay, and how to around the site and around Paris.
Accessibility information is also included.
Sites
Some of you may know that HQ is split into two sites: HQN and HQD—YPE will only be at HQ-Nikis, in between the lovely 15th and famous 7th arrondissements of Paris (arrondissements are the subdivisions of French cities, such as Paris, like little neighbourhoods).
ESA HQ 8, 10 Rue Mario Nikis CS 45741 F, 75738 Paris Cedex 15, France
All visitors (including ESA staff from other sites) are required to enter through the Main Entrance, which is also where you will find the reception to pick up your visitor badge, should you need one. Please see below for a site map.
Facilities
Unfortunately, HQN does not have available parking. Please find below more information on arriving at HQN.
YPE attendees will not be allowed to use the HQN canteen. Lunch and coffee/tea/snacks for both days of YPE will be provided. If you would like to purchase additional snacks, there are bakeries and supermarkets in the area.
Accessibility
The Main Entrance of HQN (seen on the ground floor site map), through which visitors are recommended to enter, has a wheelchair ramp.
YPE will be held in the HQN first floor conference rooms, which are accessible via three elevators. Accessible bathrooms are available on all floors.
Travelling to Paris HQ
Many of you may be unfamiliar with the Mission system at ESA. For information on how to request it, please visit our Mission Request System page. There is also information on the Intranet pages: Mission Rules and Mission Request Page.
For a journey of 3.5 hours or less by train, ESA Mission guidelines state that ESA staff must travel by train. However, where possible, we encourage everyone to take the train as a more sustainable option.
HQN is serviced by three metro stations (in order of distance): Cambronne (line 6), Ségur (line 10), and La Motte-Picquet - Grenelle (lines 6, 8, and 10).
From the Netherlands
You can take the Eurostar from Schiphol to Paris Gare du Nord, which lasts 3h15. If you live in Leiden, this is likely your fastest option, otherwise the Eurostar to Paris also departs from Amsterdam Centraal and Rotterdam Centraal. Gare du Nord is in the heart of Paris, and very well-connected: on the metro lines 4 and 5, and also connected to many bus routes.
From Germany
You can take the Eurostar from Cologne Hbf to Paris Gare du Nord, which lasts 3h30. Gare du Nord is in the heart of Paris, and very well-connected: on the metro lines 4 and 5, and also connected to many bus routes.
From Darmstadt you can take the regional train to Frankfurt, and from there the ICE train, which is 3h50 to Paris Gare de L'Est, which is on the 4, 5, and 7 metro lines, as well as many bus routes.
From Belgium
You can take the Eurostar from Bruxelles-Midi to Paris Gare du Nord, which lasts 1h30. Gare du Nord is in the heart of Paris, and very well-connected: on the metro lines 4 and 5, and also connected to many bus routes.
From the UK
You can take the Eurostar from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord, which lasts 2h30. Gare du Nord is in the heart of Paris, and very well-connected: on the metro lines 4 and 5, and also connected to many bus routes.
You may also fly from one of the five London airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, City, or Southend).
Other Sites/Countries
You could take the train where possible, but it is likely to be a very long journey, and it is therefore more reasonable to fly in. Paris has three airports: Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Paris Orly (ORY), and Paris Beauvais (BVA).
We advise against flying to Beauvais - the journey from this airport into Paris centre is very long (at least 1h), and the official shuttle, which is the fastest and simplest, costs €17.90.
Charles de Gaulle is on the RER-B network taking you into the city, and a ticket costs €14.
Orly is directly on the metro line 14 that goes into Paris centre, and the special ticket costs €11.30 (Ticket aéroport Orly).
Due to the elevated prices of the trains to/from the airports, sometimes it might be cheaper to split an Uber with other people.
Please note that buying an airport train ticket on Navigo or the Bonjour RATP app can only be done if the pass is empty of all other train/metro tickets, so please do not buy any metro tickets before arriving by plane in Paris, and use all metro tickets before heading back. If you have remaining tickets on your app, you will need to purchase a separate card called Navigo Easy, which costs an extra €2, and which you can use to put tickets on like on your phone.
Travelling around Paris
The public transport network in Paris is managed by RATP (Régie autonome des transports parisiens) (English: Parisian Autonomous Transport Administration), and is very extensive. To travel between your accommodation and HQN, or around the city, we recommend you go by metro, bus, train, tram (or even cable car!). Uber and other rideshare apps such as Bolt are available, however, traffic in the city can be unpredictable and quite heavy, so consider this when planning your journeys so you are not delayed.
Google Maps and CityMapper work very well for making your way around Paris. The RATP Bonjour app/website (here) also works well for public transport routes, and allows you to select a "reduced-mobility" option.
Another option is the Vélib' Métropole bicycle service, available all around Paris, offering both electric and regular bikes for public short-term use. There is even a bike station right outside of HQN.
All the Paris bus, tram, and RER (Réseau Express Régional, trains to travel between Paris and its suburbs), lines are fully wheelchair-accessible, but some stops may not be accessible; they will be clearly marked. Only metro line 14 is fully wheelchair-accessible to travel unassisted, but other stations and other lines may be partially accessible. If you have reduced mobility, we encourage you to look at the following RATP pages (all in English) for more information and resources: Reduced Mobility Page and Wheelchair Users Page.
Paying for tickets is also simple. For the YPE event, we recommend you do not pay for the combined day tickets as they are expensive, and you are unlikely to be travelling enough on the transport network for it to be worth it. To purchase individual tickets, you can use the official ticket kiosks available at every metro station (but not bus stations, and please note that RATP is planning to remove all paper tickets by June 2026). We recommend you use the Bonjour RATP app to purchase individual tickets digitally. Please note that bus/tram tickets are different from metro/train tickets, which also cannot be used for airport trains.
The normal bus/tram ticket is €2.05, the metro ticket is €2.55, which allow you to travel between Zones 1-5 of Paris.
On iOS you can also use the Wallet app to add a virtual Navigo pass, which is the public transport pass of Paris, and can be topped up at any time.
Recommendations
Paris may seem big to some of us, but it is well connected. The most important tip we have for finding a place to stay is to aim for somewhere near a metro station.
See the map below of the metro system. The lines that lead to HQN are 6, 8, and 10, so it could be advantageous to stay somewhere around stations that service these lines.
As for specific neighbourhoods, we also recommend avoiding the very centre of Paris (Arrondissements 1, 2, 6, 15) as they are very expensive and touristy. Keep in mind that there are regular, cheap, and accessible suburban trains (the RER network), so it may even be in your best interest to be further outside of Paris. If you are going on an official ESA mission, you may also ask the ESA Travel Office to book a hotel for you, and have them choose.
Past recommendations for hotels nearby HQN have been:
ibis Paris Tour Eiffel Cambronne 15ème
Do keep in mind that these are quite expensive, as this area is close to popular tourist attractions, such as the Eiffel Tower.