italynovice

I've looked at the "Man from Seat 61" site and have worked out train tickets to Lyon. Tons of choices and purchase 3 months ahead for best prices. How much time to allow between arrival at CDG and arrival at Gare du Lyon train station? Arrival and customs in Paris is usually quick and easy unless things have recently changed. Will probably have checked in a bag. Is 2 hours enough? 3? Anxious to get to Lyon but would hate to miss train. Any thoughts?

StCirq

<<Arrival and customs in Paris is usually quick and easy unless things have recently changed.>>

I have rarely found that to be true.

If I'm catching a train from the TGV station at CDG, I give myself 3 hours. If I need to go into Paris to catch a train, 4 hours.

StuDudley

I thought that you were taking the TGV from CDG to the Part Dieu station in the city of Lyon - not from the Gare de Lyon in Paris.

If it's really from the train station at CDG - allow 3 hrs.

Stu Dudley

FuryFluffy

>> Arrival and customs in Paris is usually quick and easy unless things have recently changed

They have changed, italynovice. Security is tighter than before. Some flight can have very long arrival & customs process, depends on where you're from. If you're from Schengen area and don't need visa stamp, maybe it'll be faster but 2h to get to Gare du Lyon is still too little. RER train from CDG to Gare de Lyon can take up to 1h.

Now if you fly in from outside Schengen area, if you got a big flight of Airbus A380, it might take up to 1h just for passport control, as someone here recently experienced. Add up time for retrieve luggage, flight delays,... even 3h might be not enough. If that is the case, I'll want 4h at least.

WoinParis

2 hours to be at Gare de Lyon is definitely not enough.
4 is safe. 3 is doable but not guaranteed.

StuDudley

The OP is starting her journey to Lyon from the CDG airport.

>> Land in Paris and take train directly to Lyon. <<

There are 6 direct TGVs to Lyon from CDG, and 1 with a train change in Massy. No need to go to the Gare de Lyon to catch the train to Lyon - unless she arrives very late in the day or is not landing at CDG.

Stu Dudley

italynovice

Oops Stu. My mistake. Leaving from CDG. So it sounds like 3 hours is what's recommended at a minimum.

StuDudley

>>purchase 3 months ahead for best prices<<

Yep. So if you want a TGV on May 7, purchase tickets from home (USA) on Feb 6 at 6:05pm Eastern US time - which is Feb 7 12:05AM in France.

Here is something I posted a few years ago.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...gv-tickets.cfm

Stu Dudley

misterkhan

Hello,

If you need a transfer from CDG to Gare De Lyon i can give you my contact. I do transfers from airports to Paris.

Christina

By contrast, I've always found arrival and customs at CDG to be easy and fairly quick and I've been going annually for decades, including last summer. I suppose that depends what your idea of quick is or not, but I don't think I've ever taken longer than maybe 30 minutes to get through passport control, 45 at most, and sometimes less than 30 minutes. of course customs takes zero time unless you are taking in something unusual or not as a tourist, but as a businessperson. I do not plan for 3 hrs after arrival to get a train, although I've only done that a couple times. From CDG, I plan for maybe 2 hrs time.

It's up to you. If you think it's terrible if you miss your train, sure, allow for 3, but I wouldn't call that "the minimum", as I never do.

StuDudley

Christina. Do you have checked bags or only carry-ons for your 2 hrs between landing & train departure??

Stu Dudley

WoinParis

My best time was 20 min to deplane go through immigration and leave.
So in 30 min I was at train station.
Caveat :
I know the airport quite well am European (immigration) and was lucky that time.

StuDudley

Please state if you had bags that you needed to retrieve. It makes a BIG difference for a family coming from the US with checked bags. I find that baggage retrieval is the "critical path". And if you fly United (largest US carrier) - they land at terminal 1 and the train station is in Terminal 2.

Stu Dudley

grandmere

Took us over an hour to get through passport control last June (PIT to CDG, Delta);very few lanes open. Friends took same flight few days later, sailed right through; you just never know.

italynovice

ugh, I would love to book 2 hours after landing so as to get to Lyon and nap a little so we can enjoy a meal there that evening. If I miss the train, my ticket is null and void? No way to get another train and pay the difference in fare?

italynovice

does Global entry help?

yestravel

GE is for entry into the US.

We had the same dilemma and did the 3 hour interval. Of course our flight was maybe 30 minutes early, we flew thru customs and then had at least a 2 hour wait for the train. It's a gamble to go for the 2 hours. A friend arrived at CDG from the US last month and said it took them over an hour to get thru customs etc.

italynovice

Oh, my bad on global entry

italynovice

I was planning to check bags in just to make the Atlanta leg easier. I'll have to consider doing carry on. At 63, it's no fun to lug suitcases on plane for overhead carriers.

FuryFluffy

>> No way to get another train and pay the difference in fare?

It depends on your train ticket. You can choose amendable ticket if it's available, albeit a little bit more expensive then non-exchangeable ones. I think that's the solution for you.

So if you don't have check-in bag, you can book a train which leaves 2h AT CDG after you land. The air staff can help you put suitcase overhead. If your suitcase is big and you worry that there's no place in the overhead carriers, get onto your plane early, before other people.

If you do have check-in bag, 2h is still doable but you have to be very quick. After landing, go straight to the passport control and don't stop for WC before that.