hunterafri

My wife and I arrive CDG next month on Saturday 8AM and leave 11:35PM on our way to BKK. What is the fastest way to get to Paris? The train, bus, taxi, shuttle? Where would we find the best solution? Thanks In Advance, Vic

TimS

Your fastest route would be the RER B to Gare du Nord (or beyond), transferring as necessary to either another RER line or the Metro. A slower but convenient option would be either an Air France coach or the Roissybus to central Paris and then either the Metro or a taxi to your first destination. Visit www.adp.fr, the Paris airports site, for a good breakdown of all your options. The site is viewable in English.

seafox

one never knows....trafffic, train problems, missing shuttles......I always take a taxi...it costs a little more, but in my head I've convinced myself that it is fastest, safest and easiest. Others may disagree

Travelnut

You're saying you have a few hours layover? Where will you store your luggage or will it still be in the hands of the airline?

MorganB

If you have no luggage and just want to get into central paris for some quick site seeing I would take the RER and get off at St Michele or Luxembourg. It takes about 35 minutes.

PalQ

If taking the train there are direct and non-direct trains. Be sure to take the direct train to Gare du Nord and not the one that stops at quais slums like Aulnoye-sour-Bois. I've taken both and the local train is not only likely to be very crowded but a seedy type gets on at some stations. The US State Dept recently issued a warning about the RER airport trains in general for tourists being targeted for theft - watch your baggage! I always take the train but am on my guard. there is no place to store baggage at the airport, the left-luggage being closed now for some time. You can store bags at the Gare du Nord in lockers there; the consigne des baggages was open when i was there a few weeks ago.

hunterafri

I want to thank everyone for their help.

Our luggage should be checked all the way to Bangkok, leaving us with just some toiletries and camera equipment. Would like to be able to find a locker to check the toiletries.

How does one know whether the train is a local or an express? If you don't speak French, how difficult is it going to be to find the RER B?

Thanks again, Vic

TimS

The Paris airports site I mentioned upstream gives instructions on finding the free shuttles between the terminals and the RER. Another helpful site is www.ratp.fr, the Paris transportation site. It, too, is viewable in English. Go there to download and print a RER/Metro map and to use the Route Planner to determine which RER or Metro lines to take between any points in the system. I believe lockers are no longer available at CDG. If you want to haul your toiletries as far as Gare du Nord, you'll find lockers there.

Travelnut

The express RER from CDG is labeled KROL.
The departure times on Saturdays are:
Depart: CDG-T-1.....Arrive: Gare du Nord
8:13 8:41
8:28 8:56
8:43 9:11
8:58 9:26
9:13 9:41 and so on...

The express RER from Gare du Nord returning to CDG is labeled EKIL.
The departure times on Saturdays are:
Depart: Gare du Nord......Arrive: CDG-T-1
20:00 20:27
20:15 20:42
20:30 20:57
20:45 21:12 and so on...

You can find this out by going to www.ratp.fr
Click "Horaires" (hours = timetable)
Click RER / select B and "tous les horaires de la ligne"
Click "valider"
Direction: TO Paris is 'Robinson, Antony....', FROM Paris is 'Aeroport Charles de Gaulle'.
Jour d'application: Lundi et Vendredi = weekdays / Samedi, Dimanche, ferries = weekends, holidays
Click "Rechercher"
The timetable will open in pdf format - page thru it to get to the times you are interested in. Compare the train/times above to the other times - you will see the other times have interim stops, therefore they are not the Express.

Happy travels.

Robespierre

Hunterafri, if you decide to use the RER (the express trains are frequent and generally used by mostly genteel people), you might want to invest in a One-Day Mobilis Pass for Zones 1-5. You can buy it at the airport train station. This will get you from CDG to town and back, plus provide unlimited use of the entire bus and Métro networks.

For a grand introduction to Paris, get on the #42 bus at Gare du Nord and ride it all the way to the Eiffel Tower. You will see many famous sights on the way. Then you can pick your next stop and get there by bus or Métro, your choice. There is also a river boat service called Batobus right at the Eiffel Tower. See their web site.

Here's a link to some wonderful maps (be sure to get the <b>Bus touristique</b> and the <b>Bus Paris (avec rues)</b:

http://www.citefutee.com/orienter/tous_plans_pdf.php

To find your bus at Gare du Nord, you can select <u>Plans de quartier de Paris</u>, then click the second dropdown and select <u>Gare du Nord</u> and OK. Your bus stop is right outside the terminal next to the tracks, where it says <i>42 H&ocirc;pital Europ&eacute;en Georges Pompidou</i> (which is the furthest stop in the direction you're going).

<i>Bon voyage!</i>

MAC1

The easiest is:
Paris Shuttle arriving where they take you
right to your hotel ($25)
http://www.parishuttle.com/
and I take a taxi to go back to
the airport to insure I get
there on time (about $45).
After 6 trips, it works out great.
Bon chance!

Patrick

Maybe it's a matter of interpretation, and sure Paris Shuttle MAY be a tiny bit cheaper than a taxi (although at $50 for two travelers, I wouldn't guarantee that either), but I fail to understand how it is &quot;easier&quot; to arrive, go somewhere to buy a phone card, find a phone that isn't busy, call up Paris Shuttle, and then wait and meet them somewhere -- as opposed to simply walking out the door where the sign says &quot;taxi&quot;, getting in the usually short and quickmoving line and getting in one.
My definition of &quot;easier&quot; is obviously different from MAC1's, and the last time I had to use a public phone in Paris, I kept my eye on three of them, but still had to wait over half an hour for any of them to become available.

Patrick

My apologies on the price comparison if MAC1 meant Paris Shuttle is $25 for two people. But it still isn't &quot;easier&quot; than a taxi in my book.

Flyboy

Vic, since you're simply planning a day of sight-seeing in Paris, I'm going to offer you another alternative to consider. The Air France runs buses from all CDG terminals at regular intervals (15 minutes max). Although I've never purchased a roundtrip ticket, I believe they are around 20 Euros per person now. It's a substantial savings from a taxi, less hassle than a shuttle and probably only five Euros or so more than the RER. You buy tickets at a booth that you'll see just outside the terminal.

Advantages are that you can probably board more conveniently to your arrival point in the terminal and instead of arriving at Gare du Nord, you can hop off right at the Arc de Triomphe at the head of the Champs-Elysees. It's worth a look for what you're doing.

If you DO decide to go with a taxi, I would suggest beginning your sight-seeing in Montemartre. The taxi fare will be less than it would be to travel to the heart of the city and the savings will be more than enough to cover all of the Metro tickets you'll need to cover the rest of your day's adventure.

Flyboy

Make that Montmartre. quot;&gt; (Just ask to be dropped off at Sacre Coeur.)

Christina

I think the Air France and Roissybus buses are probably good options for those without luggage, as they should be3 easier for someone who doesn't know the city or French than dealing with the RER. I don't know how difficult it would be for someone who didn't know French or the city, but sometimes those things are more complicated than you think when you don't know the language. I know I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out such things in countries where I didn't know the language.

Parishuttle isn't $25 for two. I think it's 18 euro per person if there are at least two, and 25 euro per person for one.

I think this is an indication of personal tastes for something fairly straightforward like transportation. I'm like Patrick, it's a lot easier to just walk out and get in a cab--not to mention you don't need advance reservations and all that fuss. I think some people are intimidated by talking to cab drivers and like a set fee, though, and prefer to do the reservation, phone, waiting thing. With two people, there wouldn't be much advantage to that monetarily, and it will take more time.

hunterafri

I looked on the website www.ratp.fr and I have a question. Does the Paris Visite pass allow you to use all buses as well as the trains?

Thanks for the info, leaving in 5 days.

Best Regards,
Vic

francophile03

Personally I choose a taxi each time from CDG to the city center. It does cost about 45 euro not including tip. But if the shuttle costs $25/pp I don't see any savings much. To me it's pretty inconvenient to look for the pay phone to call the shuttle co. and then wait for them. If you miss them too bad, you have to call and wait some more.

platzman

If I use a taxi upon arrival, then that means I've had a VERY bad flight or am feeling so tired I am ill.
Part of the fun of traveling to me is studying the local transportation system map of whatever city I'm going to. You can get them on-line. I love making the cheap and efficient public tranportation work for me, since it is so pathetic where I live. Its good to know I can arrive with as little as $20 in my pocket and still get out of the airport to the hotel.

Robespierre

hunterafri, it is pretty well agreed that the Paris Visite card is designed solely to extract money from tourists. It <u>does</u> allow travel on all modes, but if you're going to be there for more than a couple of days, a Carte Orange is a much better value. Even a daily Mobilis gives you unlimited travel for less than the PV. For example, a Paris Visite for Zones 1-5 (CDG) costs &euro;16.75, but the Mobilis is only &euro;12.10

The various zones and prices are at indexed at

<b>http://www.citefutee.com/informer/tarif.php</b>

If French isn't your thing, paste the URL into the &quot;Translate a web page&quot; at

<b>http://babelfish.altavista.com</b>