mp413

Dear Paris aficionados, I will have a very long layover in Paris in June. As I live in Africa where there isn't much opportunity to shop, I'd love to spend the day in a mall. Is there a shopping mall / centre commercial that is easy to access from the CDG airport? Preferably on public transport.

If it's a mall that has a salon/spa, even better!

Thanks!

mp413

kerouac

The nearest shopping mall to CDG (until Aéroville opens next year in Tremblay) is O'Parinor (formerly Parinor 2) with 220 shops and restaurants: http://www.oparinor.com/

There is a bus from Roissypôle -- CIF line 93 (not RATP) -- which runs about every 30 minutes and takes about 15 minutes to get to O'Parinor. A normal metro ticket (T+) is valid on the bus.

Roissypôle is located right in front of the CDG1 RER station.

mp413

Dear kerouac, thanks so much for the info, but I can't get that website to open for the life of me! Have you managed? Maybe it's just temporarily down. But I'd like to see what shops are there etc., to make sure it's worth the trip.

Alternatively, someone told me there's a mall in Paris, which I wanted to avoid, but which they said is right on the RER direct from CDG - they said it's right at the Les Halles stop, and you can access the mall right from the RER. That sounds pretty ideal, does any one know it?

apersuader65

mp413: You heard correct. It's called Forum des Halles. Here's a link to their website: http://www.forumdeshalles.com/W/do/centre/accueil

Much more expensive to get there than Kerouac's recco, and a lot longer trip as well.

kerouac

The Parinor website opens just fine for me.

mp413

Thanks again for the help. I would much rather go to Parinor as it's closer/cheaper, but... the website just won't open!! I even googled "oparinor" to get to the website that way, and i see that it's there but even by clicking on their links from google it doesn't work. Weird!

Anyway, by chance does anyone know if they have salon/spa services (i.e. face and body treatments)?

kerouac

That would be unlikely, but it does not exist at the Forum des Halles either. On the other hand, there are certainly "beauty shops" that might have extended services at the mall.

immimi

..Actually, they do have a 'Beaute Institut' - it's a
franchise of BodyMinute and they seem to offer most of the
spa services you would typically expect.

The mall has 200 stores - many of the usual suspects but
perhaps not as many are high-end.

They do have Sephora, etc.

immimi

...and I had trouble getting the site to open and stay open.

ParisAmsterdam

Maybe this url will open it:

http://tinyurl.com/73k5ufm

But I suspect it's a browser problem. It just opened fine for me with FireFox on a Win7 computer. If you have problems with a site it's always a good idea to retry with another browser... having 2 or 3 will not slow down your machine or cause problems.

http://www.firefox.com
http://chrome.google.com
http://www.opera.com

kerouac

<i>but perhaps not as many are high-end</i>

High end brands do not open shops in most malls. Customers of such shops do not like to go to malls.

mp413

Thank you all, I finally managed to get the website open in my office (same browser Chrome but maybe different settings or something?). Anyway, Oparinor looks like a good bet, it has most of the shops I wanted to go to in Forum Des Halles.

HOWEVER, I land in Paris at 6am, and Oparinor doesn't open til 10! So I am thinking it might be worth it to head into the city and walk around St Eustache and Rue de Montorgueil, have some breakfast, and then shop in the Forum. Otherwise I'll be "wasting" 3 hours waiting for Oparinor to open.

That is, unless there are some interesting things in the Oparinor vicinity that are walking distance (e.g. churches, sidewalk cafes?).

Thanks again for all the great help!

mp413

kerouac

That would be simple to do, expecially since the Forum is sitting right on top of the RER station. And it will probably take less time than the bus, even though the ticket is considerably more expensive.

annhig

depending on which CDG terminal you are leaving from, you may be able to do some shopping at the airport. there are a load of high end shops at terminal 5 for example [far too high end for us] and other opportunities land side at other terminals.

you might find a spa at one of the CDG hotels.

but with the time available, i think I'd head for central paris on the RER, have breakfast, shop/sightsee, have lunch, then head back.

fast train to Chatelet from CDG is 30 mins each way; 40-45 if you get the slow one. it will probably take you 15-20 mins to walk to the RER station at CDG once you exit the customs hall, longer if you arrive at terminal 5.

mp413

Yeah, the kind of shopping one can do at CDG is not what I'm after! I'm boring, just want big chains like H&M and Mango! I did check for spas in the hotels around CDG but just seems easier to do everyhing in one fell swoop. So Forum it is!

Thanks again, as always I got great advice/information here.

mp413

kerouac

You will find yourself at H&M heaven at the Forum, because the store there covers 3 levels. And if that one doesn't satisfy you, there is another nearby big one on rue de Rivoli.