Layover at Orly - Versailles or Paris?
 

We have a 7 hour layover at Orly Airport before catching our flight to Mykonos and wanted to know if it makes more sense to plan a day trip to Versailles or Paris City Center? Both seem relatively equal distance from Orly. Or are there other options we should explore? Also, is it possible to Bag Drop at the airport hours before your scheduled flight or would be have to carry our luggage with us?

Have youse been to Paris before-if not even a quick look could be neat- if there is a baggage check which I presume but don't know for sure given the times.

RER C runs right from the Orly Airport station (just outside the airport with shuttle buses) to Versailles I believe.

For Paris take Orly-VALright from the airport terminals to RER B then to say Notre Dame-Saint Michel stop and get out - see the Louvre, Notre-Dame and walk thru the Tuileries Gardens perhaps.

Another possibility, a short cab ride from Orly, is the suburban town of Sceaux. Not well-known, it has a chateau set within the large Parc de Sceaux, designed by André Le Nôtre who also designed the gardens of Versailles. It's a great place to spend a couple of hours with no worries about getting back to the airport.

http://domaine-de-sceaux.hauts-de-se...glish-section/

I'd do Paris. How do you intend to get to Versailles from Orly? RER C from Orly doesn't go to Versailles directly, but you can transfer to the line (C8) that does at Massy. It still doesn't go to the RER stop closest to the chateau, it goes to the Versailles train station (Versailles Chantier). So then I guess you'd have to take a taxi or something from there, or walk a lot, it's about 4 km away.

We did that once. I'd choose Paris. Not enough time to really see Versailles.

Take RER C towards Paris - Austerlitz and stay on it it brings you to gates of the palace almost -for Paris it also stops by the Eiffel Tower.

I was at Orly yesterday and didn't see the RerC.
I took orlyval to Antony RetB station then Gare Du Nord (chatelet was closed yesterday due to abandoned luggage).

Rer C is not convenient from ORY as You need to take a shuttle bus from airport to station.
Plus right now There are the usual summer Works, and Rer C does not run through Paris.
Versailles would require more time.
Safer bet is to go to Paris (val & rer b to st Michel notre dame is indeed a good option, air France coach is also good, bringing You to arc de triomphe)

The buses formerly known as “Les Cars Air France” (in French, a “car” is a coach), now going under the name of Le Bus Direct, have a line that gets you for 12 Euros from Orly to Gare de Montparnasse. See http://en.lebusdirect.com

Here’s the thing: If you have luggage to worry about during your layover, there is a luggage-storage facility inside the big Montparnasse train station. (You first pass through an airport-style security screening, then you feed coins into a locker. So have some change with you - I don’t recall if the lockers take credit cards.) There are also showers.

The area around Montparnasse is rewarding - there is the highrise tower “Tour Montparnasse” (tour in French is tower), with the “Observatoire Panoramique” on top, open to visitors, see www.tourmontparnasse56.com/en/
It is the only highrise within many miles, and the views are outstanding.

Then nearby is a street that entirely specializes in Crêpes, the Rue du Montparnasse. If you think you know crêpes, think again...

Also fascinating is the (free) Musée Bourdelle, at 16-18 Rue Antoine Bourdelle, 75015 Paris, in the house where the sculptor used to have his studio, and the house next-door - see www.bourdelle.paris.fr/en.

The mile-and-a-half stroll down to the Eiffel tower takes maybe 30-40 minutes and is a good leg stretch after a long flight. It takes you by the Champ de Mars, a large park.

If you go to the Eiffel tower, cross the bridge and go up to the Trocadéro gardens, there are great views across the river to the Eiffel tower and all that. Just splendid.

Get back to the Montparnasse station, hop on the next Le Bus Direct, and your layover will have been well worth it!

If you have a layover will you even have collect your luggage? If you have a through ticket you shouldn't have to bother about the bags.