We are staying at an apartment at 12 rue des Hospitalieres, St. Gervais. I am travelling with my husband and 3 children (12, 9, 7). We arrive at CDG at 11:30 a.m. in late March. I read countless comments regarding shuttle vs. taxi, etc, etc. Because we have 5 people, a taxi is out and the shuttle-inter would be 80 Euros each way. My apartment advertizes a 10 minute walk from the RER line. So, to save some money, how hard is it to get on the RER from CDG? I think we could handle the walk. Also, if somebody has the ticket info/prices handy that would be helpful in making our decision. Finally, we have a 9 a.m. flight to Milan out of CDG on a Saturday. Is anybody familiar enough with the RER to recommend what time we should head out for our walk to the RER? Thanks so much!

I think it will be difficult to monitor 3 younger kids with any kind of baggage. . . There is a website with CDG's layout: http://www.easycdg.com/pages/maps_easy_cdg.compag.html
and it is quite easy to take the RER B into the city. Your location is not familiar to me- St. Germain, maybe? Tickets to Gare du Nord are about 8 euros, but when you purchase these, also pick up a Carnet= a book of tickets for metro/busses for about 10 euros. You may not even have to change trains, but if you do- It will be the most economic in a one or two day time frame. For any flight, it is widely recommended to be 3 hours early to get through security, especially since the recent breaches Amsterdam- US.
Map of the Trains: http://www.ratp.info/orienter/cv/carteparis.php

Our last trip from Paris we arrived 2:15 hrs before our flight, and needed every minute to make it through security. I will add the people who got there 45 mins after us made it too as the line does shorten eventually. So I'd leave 3hrs minimum before your flight back.

You can purchase just one ticket to get from CDG to any metro stop, so include your end stop after transfers when you purchase your RER tix and vica versa when arriving

Hi Jill,

www.viamichelin.com will give you walking times and distances from the train station to your apt.

www.ratp.fr will tell you how to get from CDG to the nearest RER/metro stop.

Did you contact any of the shuttle companiesw to see if you have to pay for the younger kids?
Try www.beeshuttle.com
http://www.paris-blue-airport-shuttle.fr/index_en.php
www.parishuttle.com

Enjoy your visit.

"<i>Because we have 5 people, a taxi is out</i>"

Not so. There are larger cabs - usually minivans. That would be my choice in your situation.

A taxi is certainly not out, and much better and safer to get everyone together for the entire trip. The trip will cost about 50E. That has to be money well spent to get from CDG to your apartment in approximately an hour with no walking, climbing, putting luggage through turnstiles, and on and on. Go to the taxi line and the man there will get you a van taxi. Have your hotel address and a small map printed out to hand to the driver.

Absolutely take a taxi. As noted, minivans are in good supply at CDG and can accommodate your group.
Taking the RER would cost just about the same as a taxi, and you would face considerable walking, kid watching and baggage wrangling.

For your return, book a taxi a day in advance, do not rely on going to a taxi queue. We have had good luck with Taxi Bleu (phone 0891 70 10 10 in Paris). For a 9:00 am flight I would schedule the pickup for no later than 6:30 or 6:45 am. At that hour transit time will probably be no more than 30-40 minutes. Since you are flying from one Schengen country to another it is not as involved as international travel, but still a good idea to allow some leeway just in case. What airline are you flying to Milan from CDG?

Also,to avoid confusion note that the address is rue des Hospitalieres-St. Gervais (hyphen instead of a comma) in the 4th.

Take a taxi. There are scores of minivans and station wagons equipped for large groups.

I'd take a taxi, also, especially since you don't even have five adult people. You've just been misinformed about the taxi situation, that's all.

Your apt. isn't that close to an RER stop, I think the advice that it is only a 10 minute walk makes it sound a lot closer than it is (even if it is a 10 minute walk for someone unemcumbered walking very very briskly), but apts. lie a lot in advertising. It's about 1 km.

You are all the greatest! Thank you so much- People like you take all of the anxiety out of travelling! A taxi is now the obvious choice but the RER info is helpful as I think that is the train we will take to Versailles. Our flight to Milan is on Easyjet. Thanks to input on a different Paris transfer thread, we are going on a fattire bike ride tour which I am the absolutely most excited about!!! (And I did try to research other threads before I hit you all up - Thanks again!)

FYI: Airlines routinely over book their flights by 20%. That means that if everyone who has a reservation actually shows for the flight, 20% will not get a seat. This happened to us at CDG. We had arrived 2 hours ahead of departure and ended up being placed on stand-by. We did eventually get seats but our friends did not. They were placed on a completely different flight that took them through Canada and took 2 additional hours. And, with increased security, I wouldn't take any chances. Take a cab and leave plenty early!