Tinling

Arriving on an overnight train at Bercy at 8:30 AM on a weekday. Have a international flight out of CDG at 11:15 AM. What advice can someone give me on making sure I get to airport in time for check in. 4 people traveling with check in luggage. Taxi, train?

Robespierre

That's going to be pretty tight no matter what you do. The choices are:

Taxi: ~1 hour, 50€, not much wait time, possible traffic delay

Air France bus from Gare de Lyon: ~1 hour, 60€, up to ½ hour waiting, same traffic

Shuttle bus: same as AF, plus coordination issues

Métro/RER: 40 minutes, 30€, virtually no waiting, no traffic jams

Given your time constraints, I suggest you head straight to the train. (If it were me doing it, I'd be in Paris the night before.)

Métro Ligne 14 (Direction St-Lazare) to Châtelet
RER B to CDG

PalQ

Should re-think the overnight train, which could be late - even if arrives at 8:45 getting to a taxi by 9amis iffy then maybe up to an hour by road if traffic jams - don't you have to check in 2.5 hours early - and train could be later. Go to Paris day or night before is my advice - and certainly take taxi if you don't - otherwise you have to take metro to Gare de Lyon and then transfer once at Chatelet-Les halles to RER B then take bus link from RER station at Roissy to your terminal - 1, probably - RER serves terminal 2 not 1.

Intrepid1

If you are absolutely committed/determined to do this I wouldn't try finding the nearest Metro station or trooping over to Gare de Lyon..I'd be in a taxi and taking my chances on traffic delays, etc.

Robespierre

Just FYI, the entrance to the Bercy M&eacute;tro station is visible from the northwest side of the train station, just across rue Corbineau. Here's your map: pull down the first list, select <i>Bercy</i>, click OK.

<b>http://www.ratp.info/orienter/plan_telech_quartiers.php</b>

No GPS required.

RonZ

Where are you boarding the train to Bercy? What's happening the previous day?

Christina

Unless I read that incorrectly, your flight leaves in less than 3 hrs from when you get into Bercy--it is almost impossible for you to get at the gate before it closes at the airport. The only exception is if for some reason you have a flight with no checkin line at all and there is almost no security line. I've never had that happen myself, so have backup plans.

Tinling

Thanks to everyone. The consensus is that 3 hours is not enough time. I should have posed this question differently. How much time do you need to get from central Paris to the airport. What time would you leave your hotel to get to CDG for an 11:15 flight?

Robespierre

You can <u>always</u> get from Paris to CDG in 30-40 minutes on the train. Complete timetables for RER B are found at:

<b>http://www.ratp.info/horaires/</b>

The time you should leave your hotel depends on how long it takes to get to an RER station.

Gretchen

To get an 11:15AM flight we leave our hotel at 7:30AM.

RonZ

The plot thickens...

Learned by e mail that the poster is going from Venice to Paris Bercy with a change of trains in Milano.

PalQ

30-40 mins by train is to terminal 2 - you no dobut leave from terminal 1, which means after getting off the train you must find the free navette (shuttle bus), wait for it to depart and then get to terminal 1 - adding as much as 30 minutes onto the train trip. Incredibly, CDG built a people-mover to connect terminals 1 and 2 years ago but though it is there, it has never been put into use due to some safety concern. Now if you're departing from terminal 2 then it's 30-40 mins by train.

Robespierre

RER B serves both CDG Terminal 1 and 2-TGV. It stops at the latter two minutes after the former. See the RATP site for details:

<b>http://www.ratp.info/orienter/aeroport_rerb.php</b>

Tinling

Thanks people. I conclude that
1. If you are staying in Paris, and leaving on a weekday, you should leave your hotel at least 3 and 1/2 hours before your flight and you should take a cab.
2. That if you are arriving from another city by train, with a flight before noon, you should get to the airport the night before and stay at an airport hotel.

Robespierre

1. If you are staying in Paris, and leaving on a weekday, you should leave your hotel at least 3 and 1/2 hours before your flight and you should take a cab. <b>I always take the train, so 2½ hours is plenty of time.</b>

2. That if you are arriving from another city by train, with a flight before noon, you should get to the airport the night before and stay at an airport hotel. <b>From my hotel in Antony (13km south of the Seine), I can be at CDG T2 faster than some of the airport hotel shuttles.</b>

PalQ

No there is no RER service in terminal 1 - the terminal 1 stop you're talking about is still a 15-minute bus ride away from terminal one itself - unless they built a new station in terminal 1 since i was there last September - there definitely is a bus link from RER to Terminal 1 and you must factor in at least 30 minutes after arriving via RER.

PalQ

The RATP site Robespeter cites says: &quot;navettes sur les aerogares 1 et 2 - this is talking about the free shuttle buses (navettes) that go from Aeroport CDG 1 RER stop to the actual terminal 1.

Robespierre

Just to be clear: there are two RER stations at CDG. The first stop serves Terminal 2 directly, and the second is where you get the shuttle bus (Ligne 2) to Terminal 1.

Robespierre

No, the train from Paris stops at CDG1 first, then CDG2-TGV.

Dave_in_Paris

Robespierre,

Hard to believe it, but I do think you're &quot;off&quot; on one point. The RER does indeed stop at &quot;Terminal 1&quot; first (before Terminal 2), but you do need to take a shuttle bus from that stop to the departure area -- unless things have changed very recently.

Otherwise, Terminal 2 is vast -- and in my opinion, confusing. Depending on the departure hall it can be a long, long hike from the RER stop to the check-in counter. No doubt that's why some of the signs in Terminal 2 also head you toward a shuttle bus, although the whole terminal is walkable inside.