CDR - La Defense
 

First time traveling to Paris. Speaks no French. Need help getting from the airport to La Defense on outskirts of Paris. What's the best way - shuttle, taxi, or the Paris Metro. It'll be mid January, 2004; not sure what the weather's like in Paris, so please take that into consideration.

Oops, meant CDG (Charles de Gaulle), not CDR.

Also, i'd appreciate any good hotel (4/5 stars) recommendations in La Defense area. If there are none, someone close accessible via Metro.

Thanks.

You can take the RER to the Chatelet station and transfer to the RER going to La Défense. It probably would be the fastest way of getting there.

Honestly? Take a taxi.

The Metro and RER can be quite daunting for the first timer, especially when jet-lagged. You'd have to take the RER B from CDG to Chatelet/Les Halles and switch to the RER A to get to La Defense. Chatelet/Les Halles is one of the most confusing and biggest transfer points for the Metro.

I stopped at a very nice Renaissance (associated with Marriott) hotel this spring. I was in the lobby asking for directions.

I'm assuming you're in La Defense area for business, 'cause that's all there is out there. It gets pretty devoid of people after all the office workers go home. You can easily take the Metro into Paris proper for dinner. Some people prefer to stay in Paris and commute out to La Defense.

Keep in mind that the RER and Metro both serve La Defense, but the fare structure is different. You can't use a Metro ticket for the RER like you can in most of Paris, you need a more expensive RER ticket.

While you can't use a metro ticket on the RER, you can use a metro ticket to get to defense by the slower metro line that was recently extended out there - slower but cheaper than RER.

My husband had a conference in La Defense a couple of weeks ago and I tagged along. For the conference period we stayed at the Le Meridien Etoile which is only 3ish metro stops from La Defense but has lots going on around it at night. The hotel is a typical big business hotel, no character or charm but comfortable. We took a special on the website and ended up paying 189€ per night instead of the 525€ that was posted behind the door! I can't believe anyone would be paying that rate! Mind you we paid 27€ in the bar (once) for a gin and tonic, a beer and a mineral water! We stayed at another hotel on the left bank for the weekend before and took taxis too and from CDG because we arrived very late Friday night and left very early the following Friday morning and didn't feel like dealing with the Metro at those hours. If you choose to stay at Le Meridien the Air France bus stops right across the road and may be another alternative.

I would do as Indy suggested- stay somewhere else and commute to La Defense. Since this is your 1st time in Paris, it would be nice to get a feel for the city, which is not La Defense. Search for some suggestions for a "Parisian" hotel in a quaint Parisian/French setting, rather than something more Americanized. You'll love it!

Hi xb,

One more voice for finding a hotel in the city and commuting to La Defense. That's what the Parisians do.

You can use thr Route finder at http://www.ratp.fr/index_eng.htm to find out how to get to La Defense from anywhere in Paris.

For your first time to Paris, take a taxi or a shuttle to from the airport.
Others have recommended the following:
Taxi G7
01.41.27.66.99 English-speaking
01.41.27.66.66 Airport transport
Taxi Bleus
01.49.36.10.10 English-speaking

From CDG to Paris there are the Paris Shuttle (parishuttle.com), and the Bee shuttle (bee-shuttle.com) about 15 E each.
Also [email protected]--make it to the attention of EVELYN

A nice well-located hotel in the 6th is the Hotel Bonaparte at 61 Rue Bonaparte FAX 33 (0)1 46 33 57 67
Phone 33 (0)1 43 26 97 37

RATP says it is 40 min from La Defense by metro with one change of trains.

I would probably recommend a taxi if you aren't that familiar with transportation in foreign cities and isn't very familiar with metro systems. I do think the RER is the best bet if you are comfortable with that, and have minimal luggage and not a lot of business stuff to lug around. I wouldn't worry over costs of RER versus metro tickets, this is pocket change. The weather is cold in Paris in January, most likely, similar to Washington DC and NYC.

La Defense is a big business area, that is its purpose, so there are lots of higher-level hotels out there. I believe there is a marriott Renaissance, and the Meridien Etoile is a good idea. Actually, I think the Marriott on the Champs-Elysees might be a good choice -- it's the kind of hotel you want but a straight shot on the metro to La Defense, and not very far at all. HOwever, if you will be spending any time at all there other than your business, it will be convenient for seeing Paris.

I want to add that I wouldn't worry about the difference between the RER and Metro cost to La Defense either. As Christina says it is just pocket change. And I can't imagine one is terribly much faster than the other.

I would worry about the potential fine and hassle for having a validated Metro ticket when you're in Zone 2 on an RER train.

If the RER B between the Gare du Nord and St. Michel is any indication, the RER is considerably faster than the Metro because it has fewer stops.