Hello,

I'll finish my Iceland/Spain travels with 1 day in Paris. I arrive at Orly around 9:30 am on a Wednesday and leave from CDG Thursday afternoon around 2pm.

My main concern is getting rid of my backpack as I walk the city. I believe some train stations have lockers - if so, any suggestion of which one would be the best location?

Other options:

I think of getting a room (i.e. Cheap lodging) near to CDG to make the Thursday transport easy. But that seems like it would require traversing the city immediately upon arrival - with backpack.

:Alternatively, getting a place near ORLY would make my departure a bit stressful as I'd need to get to CDG the next morning.

I've never been to Paris - and hope to mainly walk and take in the people watching.

I'd appreciate advice on where I should stay (location, specific hostel) - and how to get rid of the backpack.

There are a couple ways you can do this. If you only have a backpack, you can just take the RER into Paris and the RER to CDG -- or, there is a bus from Orly that does into Paris and stops at RER stop Denfert Rochereau in the 14th arr. The RER B line to CDG is right at that stop, also, so that would make it easy both ways. So you could easily get a place around Denfert, which is a good location as it's not as expensive around there. Or, you could take the Air France bus from Orly to Montparnasse, get a hotel there, and take the AF bus to CDG from Montparnasse the next day. You can also leave your backpack at gare Montparnasse, I know they have a luggage service there (consigne) if not lockers -- actually, I think the service consists of lockers or checking for larger bags. There are cheap hotels near gare Montparnasse, also.

Air France actually runs a shuttle bus solely between Orly and CDG all day, anyway, so that part wouldn't be that stressful IMO, if you did stay near Orly but I don't see any big advantage to that.

sorry, I see you want recommendations for a specific HOSTEL, not a hotel. I know a couple cheap hotels near Montparnasse but there isn't a hostel right there, nor at Denfert that I can recall (but there are cheap hotels near both).

Hi anj,

we did something a bit like this recently, only we had 48 hours in Paris. i think that the best bet is to stay as close to the centre as possible - the time it takes to get there on the RER is so quick, you'll be there [and back] in no time. stay somewhere close to an RER station, and you'll cut down on that boring trapsing round with a backpack.

have you googled hostels in Paris?

hi again,

just checked my metro map. as I thought, both Orly and CDG are on the RER B line. to maximise your sight-seeing time, book into somewhere near say, St. Michel/notre dame or Chatelet, get the RER straight there, dump your pack, and get straight out again. then in the morning, you'll be able to leave your pack there until it's time to go. the RER will take about 40 mins [30 if it's a direct train] to CDG. you'll need to allow quite a long time there to check-in as it;s pretty chaotic.

have a great time,

regards, ann

Many thanks to both of you - I appreciate the push to get me looking for accomodation. And staying central seems to be the popular suggestion!

Anj

Hello,

As a follow-up, seems there are more hostels a bit more north, but still on the RER B line. Any opinion on staying in a hostel near Gare du Nord? I ask as all the suggested train stops to aim staying near were more south (I think ...).

Thanks!