maryado

Well, now that train tickets have opened for our arrival date, I'm wondering what your experiences have been arriving at CDG and immediately taking a train to your destination? How long does it generally take to clear Passport Control? I read somewhere that you should plan on 2 hours. Here's our situation:

We'll be 2 adults (mother & grandmother) with 3 children, ages 12, 10 and 5. I know that will slow us down more than what I'm used to managing on my own. We arrive at 12:55 p.m. on IcelandAir and of course the very best connection to get to Tours before the rental car dealerships close is a TGV at 14:09. The next TGV isn't until 16:21.

I'm afraid the early one is just not possible, but before I opt to have us sit in the airport an extra 2.5 hrs, after our flight from Minneapolis, I wanted to ask advice from you all. My daughter speaks French and we've traveled a fair amount, but we know there are times you just have to admit you can't achieve miracles. Is this one of them?

DebitNM

I seriously doubt you will make it on the 14:09. Are you checking luggage? That will slow you down.

Your flight arrives at terminal 1. TGV is in Terminal 2.
Lightrail is a 15 minute ride. That isn't taking into consideration that before you get to Lightrail, you'll have to pass through passport control, baggage reclaim and customs if necessary.

And that isn't considering you flight may arrive late.

[I don't mean this to be snarky, but your 12 yr old daughters french may not help too much.]

Andrew

maryado: <i>How long does it generally take to clear Passport Control? I read somewhere that you should plan on 2 hours.</i>

That's probably a worst case. Last April, it took me 7 minutes to get from stepping off the aircraft past baggage claim (after going through immigration). That's probably a best case; I walk fast and our plane must have arrived before a bunch of others, because there was no one in front of me in line at immigration when I got there. Also, I arrived at Terminal 2 and you will arrive at Terminal 1, which may be a different case. It may also depend on when you arrive, how busy Paris is (weekend? holiday time?) the day you arrive, etc.

You might book a TGV fare (Leisure Fare?) that allows you to change your ticket day of departure (for a fee) if by chance you miss your original train. But for five people, that extra cost might add up.

Looking on the SNCF website, I see on a random dates a later train leaving the TGV station at CDG at 14:49, change in Le Mans, arrive in Tours Centre at 17:38. Is that not showing up on your dates, or are you not going to Tours Centre? It is a longer train, but it would give you more breathing room.

maryado

DebitNM, that's exactly what I suspected. Just didn't want to buy those tickets and then discover everything was closer than it looked on the map and we could have made it easily. So now I'll buy tickets for the later train.

Had to chuckle over your warning about my daughter's French. I'm the Grandmother and, while she might wish to be closer to 12 than the age she now is, my daughter is the mother of the three grandchildren ;-) Her French comes from the year she spent as an exchange student in France; it may be a bit rusty but I just meant she could at least read all the signs we'd encounter if we had to hurry.

If you have any suggestions as to how to make the wait in the airport a bit easier, I'd welcome them. Is there a good spot to watch planes from that's close to the train, for example? Plenty of food vendors near there? How much before our train should we plan to be on the platform? Thanks for any advice, and for responding so quickly.

DebitNM

Sorry for the mixup and assumption

Perhaps as Andrew suggested you might do a train in between those 2 you have found.

Andrew

When I took a TGV train from the CDG airport last April (to Strasbourg), I was early and waiting around in the train station area, but our boarding platform wasn't even announced for some reason until about 10 minutes before the train arrived. Lots of us who were waiting for the train were watching the boards looking for it to be posted, so we knew which way to walk.

As long as you are down in the train station "boarding area" not too long before the train arrives, it's not a long walk to board the train (to any platform) as I recall. There is seating down there but not much else. Then again, I'm not sure what else there is to do at CDG while you are waiting.

maryado

Thanks Andrew.

Yes, I looked at the more flexible fares, but you're right: when you have this many of us, it does add up. And because of the kids, we didn't want to have to change trains with our luggage. We're keeping luggage to a minimum, and if they were adults, we could manhandle it and run if needed. But the kids are likely to be groggy from the overnight flight, and it wouldn't be a very nice way to start the trip.

We've got a lot planned over the following 5 weeks, so we want to start it off as pleasantly as possible! Would you suggest we eat in Terminal 1, wait until we get close to the train, or are they pretty much the same?

Jeff801

The train station at CDG offers little in the way of amenities. But, once you are oriented, have validated tickets if necessary, and still have a lot of waiting time, you can go up several levels to the lobby of the Sheraton. It is directly over the train station and has the usual coffee shop and other services available.

If you do that, allow time to be at the train station at least a half an hour before your train is due, because the posting of the track is often irregular.

When you get to the track level, you should find the diagram of your train,and that,along with your tickets, will tell you where your seats are located and, even with rusty French, you should be able to get close to the spot from which you will board.

maryado

Jeff, that's really helpful to know. Thanks so much!

kerouac

Iceland is already in the Schengen zone, so there is no immigration clearance in Paris. It won't take as long to connect as on a direct flight from North America.

kerouac

Train platform numbers in France are never posted more than 20 minutes before departure and often just 10 or 15 minutes.

Rumseydog

My only word of caution is that you have a backup plan in the event your plane is late. We've purchased PREMS on 4 different occasions, making the connection for Avignon via TGV at CDG Terminal 2. On 3 occasions everything when perfectly, and comments above about getting from Terminal 1 to the TGV station in Terminal 2 and wait times are spot on. But one of our flights (United from Washington-Dulles) was over 4 hours late, which led to a missed train and an expensive Plan B (purchasing TGV tickets on the spot for a later train). Nothing wrong with planning for a later train and spending an extra couple of hours at the station.

tom_mn

"Iceland is already in the Schengen zone, so there is no immigration clearance in Paris."

Correct, you will have your passport stamped moving from the lower level (North America / UK / Russia) to the upper level (Schengen) at Keflavik airport. Arriving at Paris will be virtually like arriving on a domestic flight.

Incidentally, the toilets at Keflavik are fabulous and perfect for children, lots of space and privacy.

Also, Icelandair provides free meals for children, although age 12 is pushing it. Make sure that you bring headphones for the movies.

If you decide to take a later train, there are many hotels within walking distance of the CDG light rail stations, like this Hilton http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/fra...ing/index.html which has a restaurant and also has pool, they might let you pay to use.

DebitNM

IF OP stays airside in Iceland, she would not clear immigration in Iceland, no??

Jeff801

According to BBC, Iceland has just withdrawn its application for EU membership. I wonder if this will affect its Schengen status?

flanneruk

"IF OP stays airside in Iceland, she would not clear immigration in Iceland, no?"

No.

The only way she can move between a flight arriving from outside Schengen to an intra-Schengen flight is by going through Schengen immigration. The option of not going through passport control simply isn't open to her.

flanneruk

" I wonder if this will affect its Schengen status?"

Of course not. EU membership and Schengen are almost unrelated.

Iceland has been in a common travel area with the other Nordic countries a great deal longer than this parvenue Schengen thingy - and, like fellow Schengen members Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, remains an EFTA member.

When Schengen collapses, Iceland will still be in a common travel zone with the other Nordic countries.

tom_mn

It is one of the advantages of Icelandair that passport control queue time overlaps with the layover time in each direction (but not of course for the UK or Russia flights).

A decided disadvantage to Icelandair is the return to MSP which puts you at terminal 2, where they have only 2 passport control windows open (unless it is one of the days of the week that the Condor Frankfurt flight arrives at the same time) so you can wait over an hour for everyone to be interviewed and many fingerprinted and photographed.

tom_mn

Frankly, Tours is not far enough to bother with the train. Why not just rent a car at CDG Terminal 1? They will hold the car if the plane is late at no charge.

maryado

Lots of great points! I had heard of the Schengen zone but not realized it would mean no passport control at all arriving in Paris from Reykavik. That would certainly speed things up. On the other hand, flight delays are completely out of our control ...

Tom, I was initially in favor of just renting the car at CDG and driving, as you suggest. But starting off in Paris getting used to stick shift again (after decades of automatics) not to mention that kind of traffic when we're from a rural area, and at the end of more than 12 hours of travel (we're in Iowa) and with 3 kids, did seem a bit ambitious. So we decided to eliminate as much stress as we could.

And that's where all this information about what to expect at both airports will help, too.

I've not flown Icelandair before. Sounds like you have, Tom. Has it seemed easier having the flight broken into 2 segments than one longer one?