ssander

...is there a T4????

SSander

kerouac

Not yet. They are still expanding Terminal 2, which is already a behemoth.

Michel_Paris

Monsieur Kerouac,
One of the complaints about the RER seems to be that it is hard to do with luggage. Perhaps some photos of the obstacles that could be encountered, space on trains,etc..?

kerouac

There are special luggage conveyors at certain turnstiles.
They are usually the ones on the far right side.
There is no lack of elevators and escalators, which people do not always take the time to find.
There is absolutely no lack of space for luggage on the RER, although there is no specific space to store luggage (because people would not want to use it on a train like that anyway -- they want to have one hand on their luggage at all times).

I admit that I do not know why some people complain about non issues, when the real problem is their travel skills.

The metro, on the other hand, can be a problem at rush hour with major luggage. Everything can be a problem at rush hour anyway.

I will soon add a few photos of 'luggage aids' however.

travelgaya

Thanks for this post. This is a great reference. So would you recommend this even for first timers to Paris? We also have an early flight to Prague from Paris at 7am, would the RER still be a good option in the wee hours of the morning?

TDudette

Hi back, yestravel, Doing fine and hope the same with you. I'll keep bugging Capital One!

"...when we arrive in CDG in a couple months." Business or pleasure?? Will you do a trip report?

Sorry to hijack, K.

yestravel

pleasure in January and we'll see about a TR... (ditto on the hijack)

TimS

travelgaya,

The first RER B train to CDG originates at Gare du Nord. It leaves there at 04:56 and arrives at CDG at 05:30. The metro won't be running that early. You would need to take a taxi from your hotel to Gare du Nord.

ssander

Travelgaya...

I'm not sure 1.5 hours is enough time to catch a flight at CDG...the security lines can be bad at times...though maybe not that early.

SSander

kerouac

Check-in for European flights is open until 45 minutes before departure, so the flight to Prague is easily doable by RER.

kerouac

However, I do not recommend checking in at the last minute if at all possible. It is always better to do so earlier. However, it is good to know that when you are delayed for some reason and only get to the airport one hour ahead of the flight, for example, there is no reason to panic.

travelgaya

Thanks for your suggestions Kerouac, SSander and TimS

Andrew

I returned to Paris last week via CDG for the first time since 2002. At that time there was no VAL (little train connecting the terminals and RER) so you had to take a shuttle bus outside. Now THAT was confusing! (Which bus? Is this the right one? If I don't quick hop on this one will I have to wait a half hour for the next one?). The VAL greatly simplifies things, let me tell you!

I arrived late morning in Terminal 1 from Croatia so not huge crowds as in T2 with the arrival of international flights from the states. Took the VAL to the T3 RER station. There was a bit of a line at the human ticket counter for RER tickets; I just waited in it and didn't bother to try my credit card at a machine, given that I'd heard my chipless cards wouldn't work in them. The line moved quickly. My card didn't work with the ticket agent running it anyway (she seemed to think their system was down, not my problem) - lucky I had enough Euros for the pass.

I found it very easy otherwise to navigate at CDG, especially with VAL!

kerouac

I am going to be taking the infamous 4:56 a.m. RER to CDG on Friday for a 7:00 a.m. flight to Rome, and I will report on it if I survive.

I have also been studying the Noctilien bus that runs all night from Gare de l'Est every 15 minutes, but I think I'll stick with the first RER anyway.

Andrew

Gosh, I didn't realize there WAS an RER that early! Probably would have been hard for me to catch it anyway from my original hotel choice in Paris...I wound up moving to the CDG Sheraton for my last night there on my recent trip before catching the 7:20am AF flight to Amsterdam. I could WALK to Terminal 2F, pretty sweet! And a decent hotel to boot.

kerouac

One thing to know about that first train is that it does not leave from the underground RER station but from the surface suburban station. (However, anybody who goes down to the RER will see the information on a screen -- "the 4:56 to CDG leaving from track XX upstairs". That's how I found out the first time.)

kerouac

Update!

Since I had a 7am flight to Rome on Friday, I took the first RER to the airport and it now leaves at 4:53 instead of 4:56.

It arrives at CDG2 at 5:31 as usual. Although there was a long line for the Alitalia/Air France check-in at terminal 2F, there were lots of agents on duty and I was checked in before 6am. Anyway, there were about 20 automatic check-in machines, so it really sped things along. Security was reasonable, and I was at the gate about 30 minutes before the flight started boarding at 6:40.

MademoiselleFifi

kerouac,

re: <<However, I do not recommend checking in at the last minute if at all possible. It is always better to do so earlier.>>

About how much earlier? This will be my first time flying within Europe from CDG. How far before the flight would you plan on arriving at CDG for a Saturday afternoon flight (AF/Austrian Air) to VIE?

kerouac

Well, that is still a Schengen flight, which pretty much operates as domestic, so check-in will be open until 40 minutes before departure. It would be pretty useless to show up more than 2 hours before such a flight, in my opinion.

MademoiselleFifi

Thanks kerouac. So if I leave from Chatelet-les Halles 2 hours before the flight, would that be safe?