DejaVu

I'm looking at options on getting from CDG to the Quartier Latin (Rue des Ecoles). I'm traveling alone, so I want to avoid taking a taxi because of the cost. Also, I did the RER line on my last trip 6 yrs ago, and I remember I felt uncomfortable waiting alone at the station, particularly having luggage to schlep. So I'm considering the AirFrance bus. I see Line 4 goes to Gare de Lyon and then Gare Montparnasse.

Where would it be wisest to disembark and then get a taxi? Are there taxi stands nearby at both stops?

Can you buy the ticket on the bus, or is it better to buy at a booth in the airport? (And where is the booth?)

Thanks, DejaVu

ira

Hi D,

6 years ago you were a tyro. Now you are an experienced traveler.

Take the RER to Luxembourg. It's about 4 blks to the Rue des Ecoles.

DejaVu

Ira -- yeah, I know the RER would make sense, but I'm not crazy about schlepping the bags 4 blocks any more than I am waiting alone in the station. (I may be a more experienced traveler, but I'm also not as young as I used to be...I'm a whopping 34 now) When I took RER Line B 6 yrs ago, I was staying in a hotel less than a block from the St Michel station, so that was ok.

It may be the roundabout and pricier way, but I'm still leaning toward the AirFrance bus...

AnselmAdorne

DejaVu, we've taken the Air France bus from CDG to Gare de Lyon, and yes, it then goes on to Gare Montparnasse. I would think the latter station is a touch closer to rue des Écoles, but maybe someone else can weigh in on that issue.

You buy your ticket on the bus. It was something like €12, if I recollect properly. I think the airport diagram on the adp site shows the location of the bus stops at CDG. We're in the midst of cooking dinner here, so I'll look the link for you later.

Anselm

Robespierre

Four blocks? You're kidding, right? RER B stops ON Rue des Écoles, at the Cluny-La Sorbonne stop.

Waiting in what station? At CDG? I've never been there when there wasn't a crowd.

Robespierre

The Air France stops are diagrammed at http://cars.airfrance.fr

Press <i>Lignes</i> then &quot;4&quot;

AnselmAdorne

DejaVu, the A&eacute;roports de Paris website includes maps of each terminal. So, find out what terminal you arrive in (it should be on your itinerary from your airline), then go to this link (www.aeroportsdeparis.fr) and select the little Union Jack in the upper right corner for the English version. Look on the right side of the page for the link to &quot;maps of the terminals.&quot; If you look at those maps, you'll see that they indicate the stops for line 4 of the Air France buses. And yes, it is &euro;12, according to that site.

Anselm

Robespierre

Anselm, what a prodigious effort! Read the preceding post.

AGM_Cape_Cod

We used the AirFrance bus recently from CDG to Gare Montparnasse. If you walk across the street toward the hotel (I can't remember which it is off the top of my head) there is a taxi stand there. The bus is 12&euro; one way and 18&euro; round trip. It is best to buy the tickets in the booth at the airport. Going back to the airport we took the bus from Arc de Triomphe since the schedule we had said it ran every 15 minutes where the one from Gare Montparnasse ran 30 minutes.

AJPeabody

Wrong question. Cab's too much money, Air France bus leaves you another trip within Paris, RER means a shlep. So use the other method:

Take a shuttle van. It's less than half the cost of a cab, but still goes door to door. The drawback is that you will go also to the doors of the hotels of the other travelers in your shuttle if you are the last drop-off, but there you are at your hotel door with your bags next to you and no shlep, and you could be the first stop.

You can book online before you go. On arrival, you call a toll free number and the van picks you up. You can also arrange for a van to take you from your hotel to the airport when you leave.

Economical and efficient.

Robespierre

Unless, of course, you of the persuasion that schlepping one's own luggage to save $12 is a good deal - in which case the Roissybus or RER plus M&eacute;tro is still the best deal in town.

Except the N&deg; 350 and 351 buses.

francophile03

Choose whichever method you want, but we prefer taking the expensive taxi. If shuttles have others they drop off first, that's not efficient. And taxis are convenient rather than to do the bag schlepping on the RER after a lonnnng flight.

DejaVu

Taxi for one person is more money than I wish to spend. Hence the query. At least I have some options. It sounds like everybody has their favorite! Thanks for weighing in, folks, esp Anselm and AGM for specific info on the AirFrance bus.

Robespierre--ah yes, so there is a station at Cluny-La Sorbonne. Something to think about. And I was talking about CDG station. I remember arriving there just after a train had departed, kind of early in the morning, and was waiting by myself for a while. Being a young gal alone, I didn't like that feeling, not having my bags and such with me. Safety first!

kerouac

You are under complete videosurveillance at the CDG RER station, so you should never feel alone at any time. Anyway, since the train times are listed, you don't even have to go down on the platform more than a minute before departure if you don't want to. Of course there is always that interesting statistic that the crime rate in the Paris metropolitan area is 6 times lower &quot;underground&quot; than above ground.

AGM_Cape_Cod

Robespierre, I understand what you mean but some people are quirky about money. My DH will spend 26&euro; on an Armagnac without blinking but thinks the money for a cab is too much. Go figure!

Robespierre

Figure this: if one <i>creates</i> the disposable income by taking the train, the Armagnac becomes easier.

Besides, DH gets to enjoy the brandy for days and weeks; the taxi ride is over in an hour.

francophile03

As said already, some people wish to spend their euro on taxis while others won't. Choose whichever is preferable to you.

ira

According to Mappy.com, the distance from Cluny-La Sorbonne to the corner of Rue St. Jacques/des Ecoles, is the same as from Luxembourg.

There is a taxi stand at the Luxembourg stop.

Christina

First, there are taxis at every train station. I've taken the AF bus to Montparnasse and I think maybe they have moved that location for the bus stop, as it used to be that you had to walk about two blocks to get to the taxi stand from the bus stop. I don't think it would be closer than Gare de Lyon anyway, and I know that bus stop is right in front of the gare. I'd go there, anyway, as it's the first stop, so no advantage to going all the way to Montparnasse.

As far as I know, the RER B doesn't have a stop at Cluny/Sorbonne (which is not on rue des Ecoles, either, but on bd St Germain). Cluny is a metro stop on a line where you can walk from the RER stop to that metro stop, which is connected.

I'm not sure where on rue des Ecoles the poster is going, but mappy.com must have a different map than I do if it says the Luxembourg RER stop is the same distance from the corner of rues St Jacques and Ecoles as the Cluny metro stop. That just isn't true. I think it may be the same distance, or close to it, from the St Michel RER stop, though, and that was sort of why I think the RER stop is more important than Cluny.

I wouldn't get my hopes up about trying to get a taxi to take you from Luxembourg RER stop up to rue des Ecoles. That isn't far enough for a taxi to do it (unless you promised to pay them at least 10 euro, maybe).

So, I'd take the AF bus to Gare de Lyon (which I think may be cheaper than Montparnasse, anyway).

Robespierre

Uh, oh. Quaffing too deeply of the <i>Blanc de Blanc</i>. There certainly is no RER station anywhere near Rue des &Eacute;coles. It's about equidistant from St-Michel (437 yards) and Luxembourg (492), according to the measuring tool on AutoRoute.