We will be getting to Paris about 5:30 ish on a Monday. Is that too much rush hour/people to take the train to our hotel.

The hotel said they can arrange shuttle services. Should I just call them? Do I just ask if they can speak English first? We are staying at the Hotel Relais Bosquet

Please excuse my spelling mistakes.

Going into Paris by road around 6:30-7 am would be pretty bad for rush hour.

The train is fine at that time of morning. The real commuter rush is more like 7:30-8:30 am on the RER. Of course, if you have any metro connection to do, it will be pretty crowded in the city (but not nightmarish in most cases).

Sorry I meant 5:30 PM, not AM. 17:30 I guess that would be military time.

We stayed at the Hotel Relais Bosquet apartment last year and allowed them to make our transportation arrangements. It was easy and not that expensive. After a long flight, taking a service is so much easier IMO.

The hotel uses Yellow Van Shuttle which you can use on your own as well. The cost is 36E for 2 people door to door. Here is their website:

http://www.yellowvanshuttle.com/en/i...age=tarifs.php

Dejais, Thank you for replying! Using the link will save an international call!

They hotel actually sent a welcome email and asked if we needed shuttle service. I emailed back but they do not see swift at emails. I'm wondering if I should go ahead and book the transportation for when we get there and then once we arrive have them handle the other transportation - which will be transportation to the train station , not the airport. Not sure how this will go?

Yes, they were a bit slow at times answering my emails but they did always answer them. Actually I just looked through my notes from the last trip and the hotel charged me exactly what the shuttle cost...36E. So it wouldn't really matter which way you arranged it. And yes, I believe they could also arrange for you to go to the train station as well and this could be done once you are checked in.

Just back from Paris in July...I definitely recommend the train. We took the AirFrance shuttle (took about 2 hours!). No matter if you take a hotel shuttle, city bus, taxi...they ALL get stuck in traffic if something happens.

I have tried a number of different transportation methods into Paris from CDG (Air France bus, RER, taxi, shuttle), each at least twice. What works for you depends on your budget and how long your incoming flight is. For me, after a long overseas flight I want "door to door", which means a taxi or shuttle (the other methods will require a combination of different modes: bus to taxi, bus to metro, RER to taxi, etc.). I also don't want to deal with hauling luggage after a long flight, altough granted I'm travelling all the way from Hawaii.

Taxis are expensive, but faster than a shuttle which will make a few stops as it drops other passengers at their destination. So this is where your budget comes in. I think a shuttle is a nice compromise between and expensive taxi that will take you right to your door and a very inexpensive bus or RER that will require that you get off at a fixed point and find another means of transportation to your final destination. Shuttles are relatively inexpensive, get you right to your destination door, but take a little longer than a taxi.

Dejais, thanks but with us leaving in a few days I can't wait for the hotel to reply to an email about a shuttle.

The train worries me because we are landing at 5:15PM - which I would think would be evening rush hour. Would the trains be packed? I hate lugging luggage around crowded trains, worrying where to transfer (the directions to the hotel confused us already) and worrying the more crowded teh more likely it is to get pickpocketed.

Our flight to get there will leave us with over 12 hours of traveling with very little sleep. We fly the red-eye to England but with the time difference we will not get much sleep.

Happy...I would reserve Yellow Shuttle online then. They should confirm right away. And the price is reasonable. Have a safe trip!

It is not rush hour going IN to the city at that time. It is rush hour going back OUT.

Dejais, the hotel finally emailed me back and they made the shuttle reservation.

Even if it takes long I feel more comfortable than figuring out the train. For our flight over we are running on very little sleep, landing in London, going from one airport to another there, then to Paris. It's going to be so tired I wouldnt' mind sitting on a shuttle for awhile to sleep.

We have the opposite problem from happytoes: We're landing at 7:30AM - 7 of us! Our hotel is within walking distance of the RER (5th arron.) Thought about taking the train, that it would be faster than the roads - although it's rush hour going into Paris, and so maybe it would be a problem whether we'd take the train or a taxi or shuttle!

Also wondering if there would be a lot of stair climbing in the RER.

Any suggestions?

The RER has escalators.

IMO
With 7 of you it would seem like the shared cost of a private van (vs. a "shared" van) would be affordable yet easier than 7 people traipsing through the RER together...and deliver you right to your hotel/apt door...check it out on the shuttle websites.

Happytoes, take a taxi.

Kenav, we arrived at CDG on a Monday morning around 8 am and did not have trouble getting seats on the RER into Paris. There were escalators.

We encountered a little problems with the distance between where our plane landed and the train station being incredibly long and finding the correct train. We made a transfer at Gare du Nord and again had difficulties finding the right train going the right direction. When we got out of the train at St.Lazare, we had to walk a few blocks in the rain to locate a taxi. We finally got to our hotel three hours after landing at CDG.

I think a shuttle would have been a better choice. We took the train because it was free (we had Eurail passes). The cab was 12 euros for four of us.