Hello all

We are on the verge of renting an apt for 3 nights on Ile Saint Louis for enxt month - and the only glitch is that a couple is leaving that morning, so the owner will not let us drop off our luggage there> (We arrive around 7 AM to CDG: apt is available after 13:00)

Rather than traipse around Paris for a few hours with our bags; I thought of trying to find a way to do a tour for a few hours that would take us to 1 PM or so. Even if we slept throu parts of a tour it seems more relaxing than sitting somewhere with our bags.

The only options I've found are getting to Paris itself and getting on a hop on off bus, or another 2 hour tour or so. thought of a TGV train from CDG directly to somewhere close but that still begs the question of what to do w/ bags.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Hoping for your collective wisdom here!

thanks

You could look into a tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours of Paris. They have bike, segway, and walking tours. They have a large office and may be willing to store your bags. Send them an email.

You might be able to store bags at one of the larger 'gares'...

forgot the detail - we are trying to avoid taking RER/.Metro to Paris to then going somewhere else then going back to pick our luggage then gerting to our apt. It seems like a lot after a long day/night of travel

thx

You don't say which terminal you will arrive at, but if you get yourselves to 2A, then go outside of Door 9. RATP bus No. 350 stops there about every 15 minutes. You can buy tickets from the driver (3 tickets per person, make sure you have euros) and the bus will take you to Gare du Nord. Takes about 45 or 50 minutes and there is always lots of room for luggage because this is almost the beginning of the journey to Paris. Store your luggage there and catch the hop-on-and-off bus which stops outside the station. Oh, and the bus fare will cost you less than 5 euros each.

It may be approaching 11 before you would actually arrive in the neighborhood of your apartment. You could go there and have a nice lunch somewhere with your bags with you. then go to the apartment. I think you won't have as much time to kill as you think.

I don't think you are going to have as much time to kill, either, but I'm not clear on what you expect to do with your luggage while on a tour. I just don't understand where you expect to be leaving your luggage for a tour. A lot of them (if not all) aren't going to look after it for you, either.

I agree with the others, you are not going to have as much time as you think.....and I would probably sit my self out on a curb and wait before I would do some tour....go to lunch....

7:00 am / checked luggage / travel in to Paris by cab during the morning commute = getting to the Ile St Louis probably around 11 AM. Not really long enough to go somewhere for any sort of tour.

I agree w/ the others - just plan on having a nice leisurely lunch and then head to the apartment.

Really the simplest thing to do would be to take the RER to Gare du Nord and stash your luggage in the lockers by the rental car desks.

Then when you pick up your bags, you could take the RER again straight to Saint Michel-Notre Dame and just walk to your apartment from there.

This does not apply if your baggage is as big as steamer trunks.

amazing how people's answers vary - thanks to all who are replying

We have been to Paris several times before and we know we will be tired and lagged for little sleep. Last time we had a similar situation and it was hard to sit in a cafe for several hours.

to clarify further

we will have 2 smallish but heavy to lug around carry on bags, no checked luggage

we do NOT want to take a taxi into paris - we would do a shuttle or the RER /Metro. Last time we did this we arrived CDG around 7 AM and were in Paris itself about 9:30 - 10 AM

I assume we can sit with our small bags on a hop on off tour?

Small bags are no problem on such a tour.

But if you are coming into Paris by RER (for example), they would less of a problem/worry in a locker, no?

The only disadvantage would be having to return to Gare du Nord to pick them up.

OH - I mis-read your post. I though you meant you wanted to &quot;<i>avoid taking RER/Metro to Paris . . . . . </i>. But now I see you meant you don't want to take the RER in, leave your bags and then have to come back for them . . . . .

Boy I have to think first, post later. In my haste many folks misunderstood my dilemma -


I KNOW I can go to Gare de Nord, or Blue Marble to leave our bags.

What I am trying to avoid is crisscrossing Paris after a long day/night of travel , which in my experience,is when problems, losses etc occur.

So my thought was to get to a bus tour etc where we could leave the airport with our bags, sit on a but for a coupel of hours and then go to the apartment. There is a VERY expensive tour directly from CDG which is not an option.

It seems to me that the 2 circular bus tours that operate in Paris go by Gare du Nord -- and they obviously must pass by Ile de la Cit&eacute;/Ile Saint Louis.

Since they are hop on/hop off, it wouldn't be that much of a problem to pick up your bags and go to the apartment, would it?