Well, it's not quite a 12 hour layover, because most of it will be at night. I would arrive at CDG at 7:30pm and have to catch a flight at 10:20am. Should I I take advantage of the night in Paris, or take a flight without the stopover?

If I stay, what can I hit at night, or take advantage of early-early! the following morning before going back to CGD?

I don't think the morning is the time to visit Paris. You will be fighting the commuter rush on the way in, and you'll constantly be looking at the time to be sure you don't miss your plane. Even if you sleep in town, you'll have to be on the train pretty early for a 10h20 flight.

Depending on where you're flying in from, it may take up to two hours to get out of the airport and into a hotel. By then, it will be 21h30, with Paris still a half-hour away by train.

If you get to town at 22h00 or so, you can still boogie for a few hours - but the last train leaves Gare du Nord at 0h15. Your options for staying out later are a Night Bus or a taxi.

But two hours in Paris is better than no hours in Paris - so I say go for it!

We had almost exactly this same scenerio one time two years ago. We opted to go into Paris, had a wonderful meal, walked along the Seine, took a river cruise and caught about five hours of sleep. In the morning we were able to enjoy a cafe creme and croissant before taking a cab to the airport, remember you need to be there three hours before flight time so that means you have to be there by 7:20 a.m.
We very much enjoyed our quick evening in Paris but then again it is one of our favorite cities. You will have to weigh the cost of the cab fare, hotel and meal and see if it is worth it for you.

When will you be going? If your layover is during the summer, Paris is lit until quite late. I would check into a hotel near the airport, then head into Paris. You'll have time for dinner, an evening boat ride on the Seine (past many illuminated sights, including the Eiffel Tower), and a walk along the Champs Elysee. Dinner might be on Ille St. Louis, one of the two islands in the middle of the Seine, then walk across to the Ille de la Cite to see the outside of Notre Dame before going for your boat ride.

If I stayed, the two top things to see would be the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower...I think those are fairly reasonable expectations for the time of day I have to deal with...but what are your thoughts once I combine hotel/transport/etc into the mix?

Money isn't a huge deal, but I am fairly certain there will be an offical trip to Paris at some other point.

I would be there June 16th coming in from Athens.

June is a perfect time! The walk along the Champs Elysee will end at the Arch. As I mentioned the boat ride will take you past many other sights you have heard of for years, including the Eiffel Tower. At night it will be quite magical!

If you stay at a hotel near CDG, you can take a shuttle to the hotel, check in, then shuttle back to the airport to take the RER in to Paris proper. Others on this board can give you better directions that I can on where to get off and see the most. At the Brasserie St. Louis (on the Ille St. Louis) you can sit out on the sidewalk for your meal and watch people go by. Then you can go across the street to Berthillon for Paris' best ice cream as you go on your way. There will be skaters on the bridge between the two islands and a lot of street entertainment. Paris will be full of life on your summer evening!

When you go back to your hotel near CDG you can get a good night's sleep without worry about the ride in to the airport from the City, as you will be close by.

I am hurridly trying to make my decision! AF is giving me a decent price at the moment! ha!

The other flights they are offering me have very short connection times of about an hour. So that's why I'm considering the stop-over. AF and their "legal" connections...

With so little time, I don't think a shuttle would be as good as the train, as the former takes an hour and the train half that. After checking into an airport hotel:

Go to the RER station in Terminal 2
Buy a one-day, five zone <i>Paris Visite</i> pass for all your transportation
Go downstairs and take the next train
Alight at St Michel-Notre Dame
Behold Notre Dame Cathedral and Boulevard St-Michel
Go back into the ground, and ride the RER C to Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel
See the tower twinkle on the hour
Ride M&eacute;tro Ligne 6 to the Arc de Triomphe
Take RER A to Ch&acirc;telet
Change to RER B back to CDG

If wish to see the Arc, the AF bus takes you there from the airport ( we took the bus at the hight of the morning rush - it was an hour drive). Get a hotel close by and make the most of the night.

A friend of mine who travels Paris often says trains on the north side (will I be on the north side) are dangerous at night for a single woman. Thoughts?

If it were me, I would consider foregoing the hotel, and simply enjoying the city all night long. Did you see &quot;Before Sunrise?&quot; (it was set in Vienna). A few years ago, we ate in Paris at around midnight, and then walked from almost one side of town to the other. Of course, it depends if you do not mind being tired for your connecting flight. Bon voyage!

That's a thought I hadn't considered...thought this would be at the end of a 10 day trip that included Istanbul, Athens, and Santorini. I'm fairly certain I coudn't drag my bags around for the night. Though pulling an all-nighter in Paris would be an experience! Much better than when in college at IHOP, ha!

The north side of what? I can't think of any &quot;trains&quot; in Paris that are dangerous for a single woman, though I wouldn't hang around Chatelet m&eacute;tro station much late at night.

It will be light until about 10 pm on June 16. Go into town and enjoy yourself!

AF may check your bags all the way through. If not, I think there are some lockers at one of the train stations that connect to the airport.

Why would they check my bags all the way through for a stop over? Couldn't I tell them not to and I want them back?

A friend recently had an overnight stopover at CDG, and AF checked the bags all the way through. My guess is that that would be the exception, and that normally they would return your bags for an overnight stopover.

Two of my close well-traveled in Paris friends are staying don't stay?! I expected them to be the first to say go for it. What to do?! AF just went up...I love how they change at whim.

ttt

Actually, I'm suggesting taking a hotel shuttle to the hotel directly from the airport to check in and drop off your bags, then taking the hotel shuttle back to the airport to get the train. You'll need to see if the hotels near the airport have a shuttle that runs too and from.