Catching a train at CDG/Paris
 

I land in Paris (from LA, via Montreal) at 11:30 AM and am wondering if it's possible for me to catch a 1:52 train, also at CDG. I'm not used to international travel, but would think I'd go through customs when I land and that could take a while? Do you think I'd be able to make that train, or would booking a 4:52 be safer? I'd of course love to avoid waiting a long time at CDG, but also don't want to somehow not end up on a train that day....(The goal is to jam on down to the south of France...)

As long as your plane is about on time, I think you can make that -- after all, it's over two hours time.

Customs isn't the issue when you travel abroad, mainly when you return home. It's immigration/passport control that takes the time when you land in Europe, not customs. That should take some time, of course, but I've never spent over a half hour at that at CDG.

Thank you!!! And I think booking a flexible ticket on the TGV would allow me to try and make the later train, if there were delays... I think. :) And it's easy to get to where you catch the train at the airport?

It might or it might not be. What terminal does your plane arrive at? The TGV station is in Terminal 2. If you arrive in Terminal 1, you'll have to take a shuttle to Terminal 2.

Also, I've spent more than a half-hour on the plane after landing at CDG before we even got to deboard. I've also waited 20-30 minutes to get through passport control/immigration (though I'm usually arriving early in the morning when a gazillion other flights are arriving too - don't know if it's the same late morning). AND I've waited a half-hour or more for luggage.

So, I think there's a good chance you'll make it, but it's not certain.

Thanks! We land in Terminal 2, so that gives me hope. :) It looks like the flexible TGV ticket would at least allow me to change the ticket, so I guess if there was a delay and I had to take a later train I could...though in general do you know if the trains are pretty booked? I'm now wondering what the chance of availability would be if I suddenly had to take the later train.

I didn't know there were "flexible" TGV tickets. Maybe there are. The one time I missed my train, I had to buy another.

Sometimes they're packed, sometimes they're not. Depends on the route, the time of year, the time of day, whether it coincides with school holidays or a national holiday - lots of factors.

Most train tickets in France are flexible, including TGV tickets. The only ones that are not are the discounted ones (like PREMs, etc) that state they are non-exchangeable and non-reimburseable. I think they even have two different levels of fees, one that allows you to change up to the date before the train, and another that is fully changeable up until one hour after departure, I think. Even after that time, you can get about 50 pct refund up to a month or more.

Generally, I would think the train probably will have seats if it is in the middle of the day. The trains that really get booked are the early ones or later ones. If it's a weekday in the middle of the week, that would help, also.

Hi G,

Will you have checked luggage?

That can take much longer than Customs and Immigration.

However, I think that you can make the 13:52.

I would look for a PREMS ticket and buy the insurance. You can still print your ticket online.

The worst that could happen is that you would pay the flexi price.

((I))

Thank you all so much. Yes, we will have checked luggage. Also, we'll be meeting friends who will actually land an hour before us, but that will be two flights we'll be hoping will go according to schedule, which makes me nervous And it's a Friday...so my worry is that maybe a lot of people will be heading to the south of France? I'm now kind of thinking that (if I can do this) buying the tickets for the later train would be good, providing we can change them to the earlier one if everything goes according to plan and we're able to leave earlier. Even if we took the later train, we'd end up getting into Marseille around 8:30 PM, so I'd hope we'd be able to check into our hotel and find a nice restaurant...which will be my next post. :)

Well, yes, that's what I would do - buy tickets for the later train and switch them for the earlier train if you end up having time.
The only hitch I see with that plan, and it's happened to me - you get to the TGV station at CDG and want to exchange tickets and you have 30 minutes until the train leaves and a line that's long enough that it looks like it'll take you 30 minutes to get to the ticket window. I've done one of those practically running down the tracks after the train and swinging myself onto the train car things a couple of times.

Thank you! How hard is it to bring luggage aboard one of the TGV trains? I'm not going to pack too heavily, but will have a medium-large suitcase (must find it in my closet or I'd tell you the measurements!) and a carry-on. Is it possible to keep the suitcases in your line of vision? Or do they get checked somehow?

Hey - Random question....we're meeting some friends at the train station to catch the TGV to Marseille....is there a good place you guys could recommend we meet? I have no idea if there's only one entrance to the train station or many, so any suggestions would be appreciated. :) (oh, and we both fly into Terminal 2)

The CDG TGV "station" is kind of an open area without any distinctive entrance/exits. You can either just wait in the center area where the train display boards are, or you can meet upstairs at the entrance to the Sheraton hotel.

Thank you! That's perfect. :)