My daughter is going to Paris for a semester arriving at CDG next week. Was considering an airport shuttle service to get her to her dorm but wasn't sure about reliability. Any recommendations?

Where in Paris is she going (what district/arrond.?)

How much will she have with her (bags, etc).

Is she "big city savvy"?

~Jay

the 14th. She is staying at the Cite Internationional Universitaire Paris. I think she will have too much luggage to go on the train so am looking for something less expensive than a taxi.

A taxi is just fine if she doesn't want to take the train. No need to worry about finding somebody holding a shuttle sign -- or phoning if nobody is there.

The train is DIRECT to Cité Universitaire.

Hi Iz,

See what www.ratp.fr suggests for public transport.

A cab will be the most reliable - about 55E.

Yeah it is shame that she might have too much luggage for the RER-but I agree coming over to study it is likely. Another possibility that would be cheaper would be to take the number 4 Air France bus from CDG to Gare Montparnasse and then catch a cab from there. The coach is only 16.50 Euros and it would take her 90% of the way there. From there a cab is likely to cost somewhere from 15-20 euros with luggage from there. So total around 36 euros or so. Still a lot cheaper than a shuttle or cab I think-but she will have deal with getting her luggage to the taxi.

Here is a site that give you some info on the shuttle with cost where to buy tickets etc.
http://www.easycdg.com/pages/cdg_air...oachespag.html

Here is a link to a price calculator that I use for taxi fares that seems pretty close to what I have paid in general:

http://www.taxisg7.fr/public/infospr...imercourse.php

I hope she has a great time and that you get over to visit

I think you need to suck it up for the maybe 25E it will cost over the train or the bus, and get her and her luggage to her apartment. In the grand scheme of things, getting her there safely, with little hassle would seem to be priority #1. Sacrifice a dinner entree for the exchange.

We used PAris Airport Service for our trip in March 2009 on the recommendation of a friend who lives in Paris. They were fine.

This company was recommended to me:
http://www.parishuttle.com/

I remember the first time I arrived from London around 10 pm and had to go to Cite Universitaire, and I took a taxi -- which actually wasn't that expensive at night, as it was fairly quick. Also, Cite Universitaire isn't too far off the peripherique so the taxi route really isn't as bad as you'd think in terms of time. Depending where she actually has to go, the RER stop could be some blocks away from her residence (it was at least 3 blocks from mine, as I recall). So it isn't just the idea of taking the RER with luggage, she will have to get from there (including the stairs within the RER) to her actual dorm with all that stuff.

I don't think this is the time to be cheap, but if you find a shuttle service you want to book, be sure to check on whether they have luggage limitations or surcharges. For example, Parishuttle is like an airline -- one piece of baggage plus a hand piece.

Thank you all for your replies. We ended up booking a shuttle with Paris Airport service, complete with a confirmation number and explicit instructions as to where the driver would be. My daughter's flight arrived this am 2 hours late and guess what, no driver, no shuttle. She ended up taking a taxi which is what I probably should have planned on anyway. Maybe other services are more reliable.....