Gare du Notd to CDG
 

We're at the end of a wonderful 4 wk trip. Came in on the Eurostar this morning & flying out from CDG tomorrow afternoon. The locals ( including the information booth at the airport) have suggested it's not safe for us to travel by RER to CDG with all our bags. This sounds a bit odd to me. It will be daylight. Should we be worried enough to take a taxi instead?

HUH - I've never heard such a thing. Where the heck are you staying? Or do you have a mountain of luggage?

I've never heard of such a thing either. it's not as if you are travelling with very small children or loads of luggage.

but given there are four of you, you could ask your hotel to organise a taxi or I believe that there is a hotel shuttle to CDG - they probably won't be a lot dearer than the RER.

<i>The locals ( including the information booth at the airport) have suggested it's not safe for us to travel by RER to CDG with all our bags.</i>

You have been mislead. I use the RER to the airport frequently and it is not unsafe at all. However, I would watch my belongings and keep them near me at all times.

The RER is probably the fastest way to get to CDG. The Gare du Nord station is enormous, and can be confusing. It used to have quite a bit of petty crime and annoying forms of panhandling (my experience) but police patrols have been increased. You should have no problems. One suggestion, because buying tickets with a lot of luggage can lead to inattention, which is when things like pickpocketing occur, is to buy the RER ticket in advance from any metro station. That way the only thing you have to worry about is getting on the proper platform and taking the correct train – the line does split in the suburbs.

Thanks for the quick responses. We do have a lot of luggage (it grew while we were away & Emirates have such a generous allowance....) We managed it ok on the Eurostar & TVG . Maybe if we go mid morning when it's perhaps a bit quieter?

If you are schlepping a ton of stuff -- I'd just get a van taxi. It will be door-to-door and very easy.

But the RER would be perfectly safe.

I would absolutely only take the RER from Gare du Nord to CDG. There are escalators and elevators at both Gare du Nord and CDG, so luggage should not be a huge problem.

Beware there are two RER trains serving CDG from Gare du Nord - be sure to take the 'sans arret' - non-stopping train and not the ones that stop at every station, including some in the dread banlieues where a seedy crowd may swarm on - like at Aulnay/s/bois IME - there have been warnings about theft on the CDG RERs and just be very vigilant and do not fall for any diversion ruse like someone coming up to you with something to read - while you are reading their plea for money or whatever - written in English always - their accomplice may be taking your bags.

Definitely avoid the often overcrowded stopping trains that even though they may be the next train leaving will not arrive probably before the next (usually every other one) sans arret non stop RER. There are two RER stations in CDG make sure you get off at the right one for your flight - usually the TGV/RER station in Terminal 2 - with people movers connecting it to terminal 1.

Pay no attention to PalenQ. Non stop trains are wonderful, but they are absolutely not worth waiting for if another train is leaving first. In any case, there is no place for the non stop trains to pass the trains that stop at a few stations, so you will not arrive any faster.

kerouac you are wrong about that I believe - I have been on sans arret trains that pass stopping trains at Aulnay - no place to pass - check it out - show me timetables that prove you are right - in any case the stopping trains often are mob scenes.

Again this question came up before and I could have boarded a stopping train at CDG and would have except there were some suspect looking types hanging in the doorway making silly comments to me - I took the next Non Stop train and it passes the stopping train at Aulnay.

Pay not attention to what kerouac says here - you will be much more comfy on the non-stop dedicated airport trains IME.

Aulnay is where the trains split to the other destination -- that's why you can pass a stopped train there, but not on the rails that your own train is using. Almost all of the trains stop in Aulnay-sous-Bois in any case. I only worked for an airline in Paris for 35 years, but perhaps PalenQ has special information to which I never had access.

I will say that I sincerely believed that and it was the same train from CDG that I could have boarded - I noted the train code - just because this question had come up just before that time - so it did happen once but I will certainly defer to Kerouac's immense more current knowledge and experience and say for sure he is right about the timings.

My take on the non-stop being more comfy and relaxed however stands - when a swarm of folks come on at say Aulnay you have to watch your baggage and belongings much more. My advice as a tourist is to take the non-stop trains which are rarely crowded and have mainly tourists on them - and the ubiquitous harmonica player and also folks asking for money - on a crowded train be very careful here of your belongings to - the State Department not long ago issued an alert about theft on airport trains from CDG - not sure of current status of that but be careful here and everywhere in Paris, one of the most likely places for a naive unsuspecting tourist to be victimized.

Sorry kerouac about my strident rebuttal but it was based on experience - an experience that I know now was probably an exception for some reason - but it was the exact same train I have no doubt about that and you can believe me or not.

Kerouac is correct. The express RER B trains to Roissy/CDG do NOT pass any train which may have departed earlier. The train getting you to CDG the soonest will always be the next train, whatever it is, express or otherwise.

The RER B is perfectly safe. I don´t stand near the doors and prefer to be near the ends of the cars, leading or trailing.

The RER B is perfectly safe>

no place in Paris or on the metro system is perfectly safe IF you are a naive tourist who thinks that is true - look wealthy and naive and carrying bags you become a target - I feel perfectly safe when taking any Paris metro or RER train because I know they are not perfectly safe.

I think folks who say blindly they are perfectly safe do a disservice to naive travelers who then may let their guard down.

I understand locals get their hackles up when someone says their town may not be pewrfectly safe but they are coming from a whole different thing than a baggage-ridden naive tourist.

Be on you guard and you will be perfectly safe if not you may not be IME everywhere in large tourist meccas and in tourist areas.

>>no place in Paris or on the metro system is perfectly safe IF you are a naive tourist who thinks that is true - look wealthy and naive and carrying bags you become a target - I feel perfectly safe when taking any Paris metro or RER train because I know they are not perfectly safe.

I think folks who say blindly they are perfectly safe do a disservice to naive travelers who then may let their guard down.

I understand locals get their hackles up when someone says their town may not be pewrfectly safe but they are coming from a whole different thing than a baggage-ridden naive tourist.<<

You are making kwaussie sound like clueless rubes from some village in northern Michigan. They have traveled successfully through the UK and Paris for the last month. No worries using the RER.

OK the metro and RER, especially from the airport, is perfectly safe, janis says so - again that is just not true and can not be said of any metro in Europe - 100% safe is an oxymoron - they are very safe maybe but perfectly - no folks should not let their guard down - foreign travelers are a different case than locals doing it everyday.

Here is some good advivce on the subject from Trip Advisor, which does not consider the metro perfectly safe as janis does. Heed this advice and it may be perfectly safe.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g1...p.And.Rer.html

A salient part of the above Trip Advicor Metro Cautions:

<Thefts of backpacks on RER from CDG to Paris. According to police common occurrence>

This is what Paris police say janis or is TripAdvisor just making this up?

paint . . . sad but true

janis - do you think the Paris metro system is "perfectly safe" and that Trip Advisor's warnings are a needless Cassandra - do you really believe that - and do you really think that is the message to tell naive tourists?

Seriously - do you REALLY believe that?