CDG to Paris
 

Arrive early afternoon on october 2nd. Which way into the city is easier when staying near eiffel tower?

Roissybus to Opera then metro from there or RER from CDG to gare du nord and couple train transfers from there. Will afternoon traffic in paris on a weekday possibly make Roissybus take forever and train quicker.....or will RER be better with luggage?

Any help would be appreciated.

Since you did not articulate what you meant by early afternoon and "luggage," I can only give you general comment.
Any transportation leaving from the airport deal well with "luggage," whatever that is.
RER platform can be reached by escalators, then no step into the train. Same for the bus at the ground level. Travel time into Paris depends on what you mean by "early afternoon." If you have phone data connection, you can quickly look at the surface road situation.

You biggest problem is not the traffic into the city unless you are traveling at the time RER seat space is scarce. You problems are the subsequent legs. If you use metro, you will encounter some or many stairs at some point in your trip. Except at large stations, escalators either don't exist, traveling in the wrong direction, or out of order. You really need to be ready to hoist your "luggage" up and down the stairs.

City buses have less steps to navigate, but finding the correct bus stop for the bus going the right direction can be time consuming. The place you are staying can give you some general idea of how to get to the accommodation.

If you cannot handle luggage, the easiest way is to take a taxi. It is 55EU fixed charge from CDG, so you don't have to worry about high cost even if you get stuck in traffic. https://www.parisaeroport.fr/en/pass...paris-cdg-taxi

Easiest is to take a taxi. Set price of 55 euros.. door to door.

Cheapest is RER then switch to metro.. 10 euros..

If you have a lot of luggage or think it will be hard for you to handle.. do not take RER route... people struggling with luggage are a favorite target of pickpockets.. your hands are full and you are tired and likely distracted.

Two years ago, we used the Blu Vans.

It will be less than a Taxi. You can do the shuttle and it will be 29 Euro for early afternoon and into the city. Your shuttle driver would be dropping off other passengers at the hotels.

We did use this service for all 5 of us (we took the whole van basically) on the way into the city, and the pricing was different. Then my son and husband took used this service for the way back to the airport. It worked well. This was in 2016.

Paris Airport Transfers, Airport Transportation Parish Shuttle ? Bluvan.fr

This company´s website does not seem to support the notion that this shuttle will be less than a taxi. This company charges 60€ to 69€ for the same service a taxi offers yet a taxi charges 50€/55€.

If someone is interested in a shared ride, the cost for 3 passengers is more than a taxi. While it is true that the cost for 2 or 1 passengers is less than a taxi, a taxi is not a shared ride service and the RER métro is about half of the shared ride cost.

Shared ride services can be the absolute slowest way to reach your destination and reliability is often a big concern. It´s fine if someone whats to push a particular company but a more honest price comparison would be appreciated.

I have seen people struggling with extremely large luggage in the metro and apparently finding it normal; just as I have seen people with absolutely nothing to carry riding in taxis while apparently in perfect health. We are all different.

I try to think a bit about the condition of the planet, so I avoid vehicles with internal combustion engines when I can. (And yet, yes, I do rent cars from time to time -- never having owned one -- because sometimes I want to go somewhere that is not served by other transportation devices.)

Sarastro: It is 29 Euros for one person, so in that instance, it is cheaper. You are correct that for 3 people (and maybe 4 if not too much luggage for the trunk), the taxi is the better option. However, the original poster did not state the number of riders on his post, and I assumed it was one person. You assumed 3.

The RER Metro, as other posters point out, require hauling luggage, stairs etc. The shuttle also avoids those challenges. The driver has your cell phone number and calls you while you are in customs and tells you where he will be. It was very easy.

We used this company twice. For 5 people to our apartment in the 18th. And for two people back to CDG from the 18th, as part of a shared ride in 2016. I can report that it was fast, reliable both ways. On the way from CDG, the driver was waiting for us and called my cell phone before we even made it through customs to let us know he was here. On the way back, he arrived on time.

Further, I can report that this was really the best option for the 18th arrondissement. There were no metro stops at all nearby. We would have had to walk up a hill quite a bit to get to our lodgings.

But if we are going to be specific, I think it's worth talking about the return to CDG as well.

We were not all leaving Paris at the same time. I did try to find a taxi to order online for my husband and son's return to CDG from the 18th. I found those sites to be a bit confusing. Nor did I find a guaranteed return price to CDG in my own search. I had asked our van driver on the outbound drive just how many stops they would make on the way to the airport, and he told me, he did not think more than three and they would be clustered in the same area. This was not a guarantee, and I knew that. But, not finding a better option with a taxi, we booked the same company for the return for them. I can report that their ride was fast and efficient.

From our lodgings, one had to walk down several blocks to a taxi stand by the Anvers metro stop. My daughter, son and used this taxi stand to go to our hotel in the 6th arr. We waited 30 minutes for a taxi. When a taxi came, the driver would only take cash, as he did not have a card-reader. We were able to go in front of the other party waiting because they did not have cash. Had a taxi not come soon, we would have taken the Metro but with our luggage, I wasn't keen on this option.

Finally, we also needed to return to CDG a few days later from the 6th arr. Our hotel was the Hotel Clement, which I found on this board. It was only a couple of blocks from a taxi stand. The hotel staff advised us to walk to the stand as it would be more expensive to call a taxi to their door, and taxis did not regularly stop there. So we did not find the set price to be true on the ride back for our particular lodging, but by walking, we were able to get it.

"push a particular company"? That is kind of ugly, don't you think? To be clear: I don't otherwise know this company, do not work for them, and have had no other dealings than the two rides described. I have been on this board since 2005, and I have had many posts. I also "push" the hotels I stayed at and liked, the museums and restaurants I liked. Furthermore, other posters have "pushed" those things on me. I was appreciative of having several options.

At the end of the day, it is on the traveler to explore the options presented in detail. I am confident the OP will be able to figure out the best choice for his/her circumstances.

In any case most folks will find a car transfer much more amenable than taking public transit - even though RER CDG to RER C is easy but you won't save that much and after an all-night flight just have your booked private car waiting for you - I assume most are competitively priced.

It really depends on the time of day, also, I often find the bus easier with luggage than the RER, you never know. Because the RER is not a regular train, it doesn't have overhead luggage racks. Neither does the bus, of course, but you don't have the tunnels/stairs, etc to deal with. But if you are getting on at the airport. finding a place for your luggage isn't hard.

What is quicker is irrelevant for me upon arrival for a multi-day vacation. I just don't see what difference that makes in the grand scheme of things and would never make my decision based on whether one will in theory be 10 minutes quicker than the other or not. Besides, you never know how long you might have to wait for the metro/RER transfer to throw that precise calculation off.

Frankly, I'd take the Air France Le Bus direct, it goes from CDG right to the Eiffel Tower (line 2) and since the cost is fixed, it doesn't matter about the traffic, and it is very comfortable and you just get your luggage put in the hold, and you don't have any of the stairs/tunnels, etc issues like the RER/metro. I wouldn't even consider a taxi given that bus goes right to the Eiffel Tower (it goes to 19 ave de Suffren) unless I had several people.

I order a Blu Van shuttle once and it never showed up, I would never use them again.

fyi this is the Air France bus map

Attachment 1364

Sheesh! Take a taxi! Talk about a no-brainer!

Yes, pollute the planet! Yay! Let future generations fend for themselves!