freedom2travel

Arrivng at CDG airport. What is the best, easiest and least expensive way to arrivie at hotel in the Rue Cler neighborhood. Mid morning arrival.

RonZ

What's the address?

spaarne

<i>best, easiest and least expensive</i>
Select one of the above.

Rick Steves would be the person to ask. Rue Cler is his specialty.

StCirq

I almost always stay in the rue Cler neighborhood and take a taxi - about 50euros depending on the day and time of day.

RonZ

Good point made above. The least expensive--public transportation with two transfers, dragging luggage up and down stairs--is also the most difficult.

avalon

A taxi is the easiest as St Cirq pointed out. That or a shuttle, which is a set fee. ShuttleInter is 55 Euro but if you are caught in traffic it can be cheaper than the meter running on a taxi.
RER to St Michel then a taxi, would be less expensive but there is the luggage hassle with stairs

Gretchen

You can't have it all!! Taxi is the easiest. RER to me, and I've done it, is just a nightmare unless you have no luggage. No one mentioned the Air France bus. Doesn't it stop at Invalides? Or is that only from Orly.

alienor

I had a terrible time lugging suitcase up at St. Michel. Does anyone know of an escalator or life. Is it easier to take the RER to Chatelet and take a taxi? Or are they sadly lacking in lifts and escalators too?

isabel

Key question is how much luggage. With just a rolling carry on (and daypack or pocketbook) then the RER is not that bad at all. I always do that. If carrying your suitcase(s) up and down a few flights of stairs will be difficult then you need to opt for the more expensive taxi or shuttle.

Also how many people? IF 3 or 4 the taxi can be as cheap as the RER, but then again, if you have lots of luggage you won't all fit in one.

So - one or two people with carry-on only the RER is the way to go. Three or four people with carry-on only then a Taxi. More than carry-on luggage taxi(s) or shutle and it will cost you more.

Christina

I think the AF bus is only to Invalides from Orly, but one could check their website to be sure. In any case, that's pretty far from rue Cler, so then you'd have to take a taxi from there. If I were going to plan taking the RER and then a taxi, I would not get out at Chatelet which is still pretty far away. I'd get out at either Port Royal or Denfert-Rochereau, and I would choose the latter because I think it is more obvious and easier to get a taxi there. They are used to people getting out there from the airport as the Orlybus goes there. There are taxi stands at both, though.

librarychica85

We stayed in the Rue Cler neighborhood on our last visit to Paris and took a mini van shuttle back to CDG (we came from Beligum originally). We booked on Expedia and only paid $25 (US) pp-service was great, driver on time. Very convenient and not too pricey either. Also only three stops total including ours so not that big of a wait deal.

traveltalesfromtheredheadedtraveler.blogspot.com/
(My travel writing blog!)

freedom2travel

Thank You. Rick suggests the Roisy bus and then to the metro. We arrive in Paris at 11:30 a.m. The Hotel is du Cadran and they will reserve a shuttle for 65 euro but they did not say if that was for both of us or pp. We each will have one carry on. We are light travelers.Being tired I'm sure, I'm leaning towards a shuttle service. However, we did have a bad shuttle experience last visit. We were the only folks on the shuttle and the driver stopped several times, personal break, smoke break. By the time we arrived at the hotel, we were car sick!

RonZ

Roissy bus then Metro it is a straight shot, involves walking a few blocks.

No shuttle service is 100% with all the variables involved.

Celticharper

We stayed on Rue St. Dominique last year and we found that the RER then transfers to Tour Maubourg worked very easily for my DH and I. You'll be between the Tour Maubourg and Ecole Militaire Metro stops, but closest I think to Ecole Militaire, either is only a few minutes walk.

We used the The Metro interactive maps site to plot our transfers and print them out for our arrival. It was very easy and cheap, but we only had 22" carryons and computer bags.

http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/

This interactive site is a great way to learn the Metro system It's only in French but it's fairly easy to figure out.

To get a route, click on your departure stop a menu will pop up click on the green flag to set your departure
then just click on your destination stop when the menu pops up again click on the red flag and your route will be marked clearly with all stops and transfers indicated. It was very reassuring to have the route printed out ahead of time when we arrived in Paris, but we ended up using the Metro and buses so often we got very comfortable with the system by the end of our week and knew the transfers by heart after only a few days.

Good luck and have a great time.

Gretchen

Well, there might be one more possibility with only one RER stop--Gare du Nord and then the bus to almost anywhere in the rueCler area. A little sightseeing on the way also. I think it is Bus 42.

Christina

That price from the hotel must be for both of you, it would be obscene if it were per person. It is still too high, you can get lots of shuttles cheaper than that, like this one
http://www.bee-shuttle.com/

Someone else on Fodors likes www.shuttle-inter.com but their website is unreachable to me, they look like they are out of business. They are a private van, not group, but are still less than that, I think (I think they are 55 euro).

Rick's idea isn't bad for one connection, but you are still maybe two blocks from the hotel. That's a lot of traveling to do upon arrival, in my opinion (buying tickets and waiting for Roissybus, taking it, then getting to the Opera metro stop and navigating the metro to Ecole Militaire, than walking those last couple blocks, although they aren't too long ones). People do a lot to save a few euro, it seems, but some people just don't mind all of that upon arrival. It's not worth the money to me, I used to do all that when I was younger but just decided those several hours and the hassle just weren't remotely worth the 25 euro or so it saved me.

Christina

oh, I checked and for the bus idea, I don't think there is a good way to do that as no bus goes near right near that hotel from Gare du Nord. The 42 bus goes to the 7th arr. but not real close to that hotel, you'd have to walk from approx. rue St Dominique and Bosquet, which is farther than from the metro stop. But you could do it, of course, it is several blocks but longer ones.

spaarne

The answers so far leave more questions than they answered.

Which Roissy bus? There are 2 going from CDG to the city, lines 2 and 4. Where do you get off? Do you make a connection to line 1? Note: the bus is labeled Air France Les Cars, not Roissy.

Which Metro line and stop to get on and off?

spaarne

<i>Well, there might be one more possibility with only one RER stop--Gare du Nord and then the bus to almost anywhere in the rueCler area. A little sightseeing on the way also. I think it is Bus 42.</i>

Bus 42 does go from Gare du Nord to the Rue Cler area. It is a zig zag route and will give you more than a *little sightseeing*.

dlejhunt

I just visited the Shuttle Inter site and it looks like it is working fine. I've used this service three times (round trips) from CDG to the rue Cler area and I've never had a problem. They are 55euros each way - cash only. The drivers have been extremely conscientious, appearing promptly to pick us up after arrivals that were three and five hours later than scheduled. I'll be booking them again in June when I'll be traveling to France.