Gina

We will arrive in April at CDG at 5:30 pm from Africa and next morning at 10:20 am flying back to Montreal. <BR>Would you suggest we stay near the airport? Any ideas what hotel to stay in? <BR>Or would you rather take a shuttle, stay in the city and go out for a nice dinner and then next morning take a shuttle back to CDG? <BR>This is not our first or last trip to Paris.

Leslie

Based on your parameters, I think it best to stay near the airport, and then take transportation into Paris for dinner. What you don't want to do is get into a traffic jam on the day you depart CDG. You might as well get a good night's sleep, as you still have to be at the airport 2 hours prior to departure. <BR> <BR>

Lori

Personally, we do this regularly and we always stay in Paris and not at the airport on the last night before catching a flight (usually one around 10am) back to the States. Its very easy to grab a quick cab to/from the hotel. We usually leave the hotel around 7:30am and have never had a problem no getting there on time. This way we find there are great, charming places to stay in the city and we enjoy walking around enjoying the "City of Lights" after dinner and before heading home. We're doing this again in late November. If you find a great place near CDG though, please let us know.

YS

For what it's worth - there's a Sofitel and (I'm pretty sure) a Sheraton right at CDG. I think I would book it, and if I don't feel tired take a dinner trip to Paris.

John G

Go into Paris....what the Hell? Who wants to stay at some boring airport hotel when you could be living in up in Paris? Go have a nice dinner, take a walk. Who cares if you have to get up earlier? Sleep on the plane. Have fun, John G.

Christina

I would probably do something in the middle -- I'd stay at an airport hotel but still go into Paris for dinner etc. That seems most efficient as you won't have to spend extra time in the morning getting to the airport or worrying about traffic, nor the extra time getting to and checking into a Parisian hotel (which will take more time than just checking into a simple airport hotel). Depending on budget, I'd stay at either Ibis (2 star) or Novotel (3 star), maybe Hilton (4star) at CDG as both are right near the CDG1 (Roissypole) RER stop. You don't even need a shuttle (there are probably some other hotels right there at that stop also, I just don't know which ones, most are elsewhere and require shuttle buses). I'd check into hotel, freshen up, dump bags, and take the 45 min RER ride into Paris to have dinner, walk around etc. and then take RER back around midnight (it runs until 1 am, I think) and crash. Taking the RER is pretty quick and efficient when you have no baggage, etc, to fool around with. Also, you'll save any cab fare to/from. Here is a URL of most CDG hotels (ones near metro stop will have Roissypole in address, probably--be sure to note the correct Ibis, there are several):http://www.gaf.tm.fr/95/ht/roissyenfrance.htm

Ruth

My husband and I were in a similar situation this summer having returned by train from the south of France the night before our flight back to Toronto. We stayed at the Ibis at the airport, right at the Metro station which we used to go downtown for dinner and a late evening stroll. Then returned to the Ibis late at night (it does run quite late) without any concerns about traffic and transportation to the airport in the morning. A good plan that worked well.