Hi all,
Can you help me do a little planning? I'm trying to figure out how long it will take to get from the Pagalle area of Paris to the airport following the metro/RER lines. Has anyone done this route? Or could anyone suggest a better way to the airport, other than a taxi? Last year it cost me nearly 50 euro to go by taxi! I will be traveling with two other people and need to be at the airport for a 7:20a departure.

tia,
Melissa

It will take you at least an hour via metro/RER - and that's to terminal 2 or the RER station in the airport - if you're leaving from terminal 1 as many non-Air France flights do then you have to factor in an up to 30 min transfer by free navette (shuttle bus) from the RER station to terminal 1, which itself does not have an RER station in it as terminal 2 does. the metro RER starts very early - check schedules at www.ratp.fr.

Do you know what time the airline requires you there to check in? If it's two hours prior to departure, your transport choices are limited.

The first RER train doesn't arrive at CDG T1 until 5h28, and T2 two minutes later. To catch it, you would have to take a taxi to Gare du Nord for the 4h56 departure, because the Métro and day buses start too late, and the night bus doesn't get near Pigalle.

But if there are three of you, why can't you split a taxi fare? By the time you've paid for a cab to the station and the RER fare, you're in the 40€ neighborhood anyway (night taxis cost extra) - so another 5 apiece and you get door-to-door service and no worry about changing terminals.

You could also book a private car service like www.beeshuttle.com (E17/person) or www.parishuttle.com (E19/person).

bookmarking for upcoming trip, thank you Tim.

We took the Bee shuttle from CDG to the 7th a few years ago and would NOT recommend them. They were and 1 1/4 hour late for pick-up.

It would be a fast taxi ride at that time and if it costs 60 euros that's 20 each. I doubt a shuttle would be much less. I also wonder if shuttles run that early in the morning.

Absolutely no problem by RER. Just take metro line 2 from Pigalle to La Chapelle (3 stations away), which connects to the Gare du Nord RER station. From there, it takes about 25 minutes to get to CDG1 or 27 minutes to CDG2. 8 € per person. For a 7:20 departure, an arrival by 6:40 is more than enough (I myself would want to be there by 6:15 a.m. for safety but that's just me). You have more than enough time, since the RER runs every 8 minutes after 5 a.m. and the metro runs every 6 minutes. The first metro train from Pigalle goes through at 5:42 and arrives at La Chapelle at 5:47. The 6:00 a.m. RER from Gare du Nord gets to CDG1 at 6:27 and CDG2 at 6:29. So it all depends on how fast you can run.

Note: the very first train to CDG leaves the Gare du Nord surface suburban staiton (not the RER B staion!) at 4:56 and arrives at CDG1 at 5:28 and CDG2 at 5:30.

Note #2: the person who said that it can take up to 30 minutes to get from the CDG1 train station to the terminal by the shuttle bus is completely incorrect.

kerouac - are you serious about arriving at CDG 40 minutes before flight itme? Even I, notorious for cutting it razor close, would not do that at CDG. Processing time at CDG is legendarily capricious and often loooonnnggg - either at the ticket counter, security, or both. Mel, unless it will absolutely break the bank, I strongly suggest taking a taxi - and I would have that taxi pick you up no later than 5:00 AM.

A taxi from the Pigalle area wouldn't cost anything near 60 Euros; particularly at that hour of little traffic. It would be close to half that. Take one.

Actually, Seamus, for Schengen departures before 8 a.m., 40 minutes is fine.
In terms of a taxi, don't forget that it will be using the "C" rate at that time of the morning, the minute it passes the Paris city limit.