allister

I'm flying Air France to CDG, then taking the train to Bayeaux from St. Lazare station.

Can I leave excess baggage at Paris airport
or the downtown terminal until I return in three days?

Would three hours be enough between CDG arrival and St. Lazare departure?

What's the best way to get downtown?

Thank you.

TimS

For security reasons, the Paris airports no longer have left-luggage facilities. Unfortunately, Gare St-Lazare doesn't either. However, Gare du Nord does. Take the RER B from CDG to Gare du Nord. Store your luggage. Walk to the connecting Magenta RER station and take the RER E to Haussmann St-Lazare. Walk to Gare St-Lazare. Or take bus #26 directly from Gare du Nord to Gare St-Lazare. Or simply take a taxi from Gare du Nord to Gare St-Lazare (probably your fastest option because there is almost no walking).

Three hours is certainly enough time if you didn't have to stop to store your luggage. However, if you have to stand in line waiting to have your luggage x-rayed at Gare du Nord, it will be tight.

allister

Tim,

Thanks for the detailed and helpful advice.

TimS

Allister,

You're welcome!

kerouac

You should also know that Gare du Nord has a direct non-stop connection to Gare Saint Lazare through the RER E.

Actually, Gare Saint Lazare -- and Gare de l'Est -- are both being totally restructured at the moment, even though it will take maybe a year to finish the work, so left luggage facilities are going to appear sooner or later at both of those locations.

PalQ

I believe you can only leave bags at Gare du Nord for 48 hours but at the Gare de l'Est nearby it's 72 hours max period before locker is emptied and you pay i think much more to get it back. Not sure so if Gare du Nord is 48 hours head for Gare de l'Est practically next door.
And why only put 3 hours in between CDG and train to Bayeux - trains leave Saint-Lazare about hourly so why not leave more time - as TimS says could take a while to get baggage in locker due to security screening and lines.

kerouac

Sorry, I didn't completely read TimS's earlier post -- but Magenta IS Gare du Nord and Haussmann-Saint Lazare IS Saint Lazare, even if the RER stations have been given different names. (The reason for the Magenta name is because there is a plan to create a downtown airport check-in terminal at Gare de l'Est in the coming years with a new rail link to CDG, and whenever it happens, there will be a moving walkway tunnel to Gare de l'Est from Magenta, which they don't want you to realize is actually Gare du Nord.)

PalQ

Kerouac - interesting news about Magenta RER station. This new project, at least as i've read about it, is more than an airport service but has been called the creation of a central train station in Paris to serve TGV trains so that station switching is no longer required. TGVs from Nord, Lyon and Est stations will serve one central terminal (Est for the new TGV-Est due to open soon.)

Robespierre

Does anyone understand why it's considered safe to inspect luggage and then put it on an airplane, safe to inspect luggage and then store it in a train station, but not safe to inspect luggage and then store it at an airport?

kerouac

I don't think it's a safety issue -- I think that it's just considered more trouble than it's worth at an airport, because to make it convenient, you would have to have luggage storage in each and every terminal, and yet no more than 1% of the passengers need such a service.