Paris to Antwerp - many options, lots of money and some confusion

Don't think anyone here will recommend purchasing an advance ticket for the arrival day. We have done it a couple times and have been burned once when our original flight was cancelled. Too many variables that you cannot control. Buy it when you are on the ground standing in the station. Everything is more expensive these days especially with the declining value of the dollar. Did you consider flying into Brussels? For others, that probably would have been a better option.

What you are seeing is typical, many more trains stop in Brussels, than Antwerp. The trip from Brussels to Antwerp is not long (under an hour), there are very frequent trains, so if a train to Brussels works better, then I would just take that, rather than waiting for one that goes to Antwerp.

As for buying ahead? You have to accept risk. I look at the ticket cost, if it is low enough that I can accept the loss, then I might book ahead, otherwise, I buy when I get close to being there.

Have you looked at more expensive Eurostar-branded trips? Certainly the walk-up fare is higher than advance purchase. But a change of trains in Brussels is nothing to fear. Most all trains to Antwerp from Brussels stop in all three downtown stations. And there are many unreserved, one-price Brussels-Antwerp trains per hour. You don't even care if you do miss the next one. The ticket is good all day.

Thank you for your responses Paul, Frank, and TIm. Great advice from all. We could not get a nonstop flight from our home city to Brussels or Amsterdam (another option closer to Antwerp), so we opted for the flight to Paris and thought it would be relatively easy to get ourselves to Antwerp from there. It may indeed be easy, but the options are numerous and it can all get confusing. What I have learned from all of you just now is that in this case it makes more sense to go from Paris to Brussels - and it's cheaper too. We will then do as you advised and catch one of the many trains from Brussels to Antwerp - they are numerous and appear to be well priced. Thank you all so much for steering us in the right direction.
Now comes the next decision - Eurail pass or no Eurail pass!

You can start your rail pass idea research with the Search box top left. This is an FAQ. Railpass is seldom the cheapest solution, and often requires paid seat reservations or premium train surcharges. When you know you will be on time, you can get a cheap advance purchase (good only on a specific train) and print out the bar-coded ticket before you leave home. Or you buy a lower speed route with tickets good on any train that day.

You don't need to travel towards Paris-Nord for a train to Brussels. TGV trains are running between CDG airport and Brussels.

Thanks Tim for the info on the rail pass - and thank you Windyram for the info on a train from CDG to Brussels. I did as you said and looked at those options, and because I waited too long to secure the tickets, the price increased (of course) and it seems it 's cheaper (half the amount) to now do this route, below, which looks ridiculous in hindsight in terms of inconvenience:
CDG to GDN
GDN to Brussels
Brussels to Antwerp.

I do have another question - on another forum it was mentioned that my Eurostar ticket from Paris to Brussels also entitles me to a free ride to Antwerp - that the regional train ticket is included in my original Paris to Brussels tiicket. I cannot find if this is so, and I wonder if any of you know.

Any advice too for going from Antwerp back to Paris, any Paris station? I am leaning toward the Eurostar again, direct route,. Even given the fare it might be worth it to save us from repeating all the running around we are doing at the front of the trip.

The Any Belgian station option station option has been discontinued. But it only applied to Eurostar Blue (the London trains) not Eurostar Red (ex Thalys).

The cheap option is the Ouigo Classic trains from Gare du Nord 3 x a day- the one you could take is at about 12 noon and takes 3 hours to Brussels.

No idea on which location you are searching for these journeys (in both directions), especially as you are mentioning the high prices for the TGV.
I can only give you the hint to also check the belgian international railway website https://www.b-europe.com/EN

Wonderful advice. Thank you isn31c and Windyram. I have booked a OUIGO from CDG to Antwerp (with a transfer at Lille-Flandres) and it was reasonably priced. For the return to Paris GDN, I will look at the Belgian international railway website. I see already that there are many options and better pricing.
I can't thank you enough - all forum advisers.

I didn't look it up, but double-check that you don't need to walk between the (adjacent) two stations in Lille. They have different names.

I didn't look it up, but double-check that you don't need to walk between the (adjacent) two stations in Lille.

Direct trains from Lille to Antwerp (so without a change in Brussels) run departing from Lille Flanders. TGV from CDG runs towards Lille Europe. So yes, a walk between these stations in Lille will be necessary in that case.

The same is valid for CDG where a walk (subterminals 2A to 2F) or the CDGVAL shuttle connects the different terminals (T1 or T3 towards T2 where the RER B/TGV station is located).

Thanks again Tim and Windyram - it seems we change trains at Lille Flandres but not stations (I believe I am reading the ticket correctly!). There is a 41-minute layover between trains.

Lille Europe and Lille Flanders are very close together. The distance was easily walkable for me with my wheeled but over-30-lb. suitcase. The trick is to exit Lille Europe on the upper level so you don't have an uphill walk to Lille Flanders.

I think there's also a metro connection, but I didn't explore that because the walk seemed so straightforward.

it seems we change trains at Lille Flandres but not stations (I believe I am reading the ticket correctly!). There is a 41-minute layover between trains.

Yes, perfectly possible. So you can take a coffee at the So! Coffee stand in the station Lille-Flandres (sorry for the expensive prices).
Have a nice journey... and enjoy your arrival in the world's most beautiful station, Antwerpen-Centraal https://www.thebulletin.be/antwerp-named-worlds-most-beautiful-station

Yes indeed - a very beautiful station!