I will be arriving in Paris at 11:20 a.m and traveling straight to London. Best option is to catch a train leaving Paris Nord Train Station. Interested in information on getting from CDG to Paris Nord i.e. Metro best or cab? How far / travel time from CDG to Paris Nord? Lastly, planning on purchasing train tickets at train station is this a good plan?

Your best bet, unless you REALLY have a lot of luggage is the RER, since it goes to the Gare du Nord. But I will leave it to more knowledgeable ones about how to do it. It is about 45 minutes travel time.

To get to Gare du Nord you take the RER B suburban train, costs I think 8.10 Euros. But why bother? You can take the TGV right at the airport and be in London quicker, without having to go into Paris - the TGV connects in Lille to the Eurostar.

Look at www.voyages-sncf.fr, input

AEROPORT CDG 2 TGV for departure and Londres for arrival.

There is one at 12:12, try to make it. The next one is at 15:49, so if you miss the 12:12, take the RER B.

The main issue will be whether your tickets are refundable, or if you will be put on the next train, if you miss your scheduled train. Morgan mentioned on another compendium thread that you can book the flight and TGV together in many cases.

Since all bets are off about arriving on time, just go and buy your ticket when you get into CDG. Know your timeable - if your arrival falls badly between those rare departures from CDG via Lille, go into Paris and buy it there.

I would strongly recommend that if you choose to take the train from the TGV station at terminal 2 of CDG you call SNCF and buy the ticket and have it mailed to your home before coming to Paris. You can get an English speaking agent on the phone and they will mail the ticket to your home in the USA whereas they won't when you purchase on line. The line at the ticket counter here can easily be over 30 minutes and a lot more. Don't buy your ticket on-line either as you can not pick it up at the automatic machines at the station with an American credit card which means you will have to wait in line at the ticket counter. If you decide to take the RER to Gare Nord take the free Air France shuttle bus to the terminal 1 RER station where the wait is only a minute or so ordinarily.

Larry J

RER would be my default option between CDG and Gare du Nord. Ideally, if you have loose Euro coins, you can buy RER tickets from the machine. You do need to book Eurostar in advance to get a better fare, and make sure you leave plenty of time for connection.

Good suggestion on taking TGV between CDG and Lille. The total travel time would be about the same--though I'm not sure if Eurostar allows open-jaw (Lille-London/London-Paris) if you're planning to come back to Paris.

Alterantively, there are lots of AF and BA flights between CDG and Heathrow. Fares are usually not that expensive (as they know they have to compete vs Eurostar). Have you looked into this?

Frankly I'd be looking at a flight from CDG to Heathrow or one of the other "London" airports rather than slepping into town & getting the train.

99% of the time I would say take the train between Paris & London but I think this is one of those times when flying is better

According to the timetables at www.bahn.de, TGVs to Lille leave CDG at 12:12, 12:18, 12:35, and 15:30. Lille-London Eurostar trains leave Lille at 13:41 and 15:36. You have virtually no chance of catching the 12:12 train, the only one that would get you to Lille in time to meet the 30-minute Eurostar check-in deadline.

If you decide to take the train, take the RER to Gare du Nord, have a leisurely lunch, and then take the 15:19 Eurostar to London.

BMI flies from CDG to Heathrow and offers cheap tickets. There is a flight at 13:50 that would work for you, IF YOU ARRIVE AT CDG ON TIME. It would be safer to take the 14:40 British Airways flight to Heathrow. Cheap fares are available. Air France's prices are through the roof.

Thanks for your advice. Never expected the cost of a flight to London would be competitive with train...after checking the British Airways web site found cost to be the same as train from Paris. We'll fly to London and train back to Paris later. Thanks again.

Glad to hear you could connect BA from CDG-LHR. Have you booked the London-Paris part of your itinerary? You'll need to book Eurostar early to get cheap fares. Book a return trip, just discard the return leg.

So the suggestion is for OP to buy a one way flight plus a return Eurostar ticket - doesn't that seem a rather costly way of doing things.

If OP had said they were returning to Paris afterwards, I'd have said take the pain & go to the Gard du Nord just to save the money