anything to see/eat between CDG & Latin Qtr?

By the time you get through immigration it will probably be noon or later. In your shoes I would cab got your Airbnb, identify it, take your luggage to a nearby outdoor cafe, have lunch and veg until you can check in. Paris is a great walking city but not dragging luggage.

You might also consider a luggage storage service. We used the platform www.nannybags.com in Paris but there are others similar. We had almost the whole day in Paris between arriving at CDG in the morning and connecting on to another flight from Orly in the evening. The actual places are different hotels, shops, etc. and you book on line through the platform in advance based on where you want to store and for what time. Our storage place was a small hotel in the 5th. When I saw the closet our bags were to be stored they were obviously keeping bags for quite a few people.

You could stash your bags and go hang out in the Luxembourg Gardens for awhile.

Alan is right about immigration and the time it will take to get into the city.
His suggestion about hanging out at a local cafe is also a good one, but do keep your bags under the table and close to you, especially if you are outside.
Have you asked your landlord if it's possible to drop your bags early in case the cleaners are there in the early afternoon? It might be worth inquiring if you haven't already done so.
Enjoy Paris!

thank you all for your thoughtful replies. our airbnb does offer a place to store our luggage. but I wanted to see if there are any gems to discover north or northeast of Paris that we probably won’t venture back to once we are in the city center. Or even a cool suburb experience that is off the beaten path and worth visiting.

Depending on when you are traveling and where your Air BnB is located in the Latin Quarter, if you decide to spend time in the sunshine in the Luxembourg Gardens, I like the cafe there, La Terrasse de Madame. Nice outdoor space and getting sunshine in my eyes is my main concern on arrival day. I often see people pulling luggage thru the garden as well, lol!

I've not ever hired a car but a taxi from the taxi rank outside baggage claim is very easy and is a flat rate in to Paris. It will be 58E to the Left Bank where your Air BnB (or Luxembourg Gardens) is located.

There are some youtube videos by both Corey Frye, A French Frye in Paris and current RS guide Vero of Luxembourg Gardens.

I usually figure the time from stepping off the plane to arriving at the door to my hotel will be about 3 hours. Sometimes it's a little less even the last 2 times when there were not a lot of travelers coming thru Immigration.

How do you plan to get to the cool suburb experience? Where will you keep your luggage while you do it? Will you have a driver? Because without one, I don't see this working because of transportation or luggage storage logistics. Maybe you could do a tour of the Stade de France.

If you have a driver who keeps your luggage you could visit either Stade de France as mentioned, or the Basilique de Saint Denis, a wonderful Gothic church with a fascinating crypt where the kings of France were buried.
A driver for a few hours will be much more expensive than a cab straight to the Latin Quarter (definitely into triple digits) but if you're happy with that, then why not!

Hanging out in the Luxembourg Gardens would be my choice, the LG is my idea of heaven.

I agree with others : get to near your apartment( that presumably is legally registered?),
store your bags, keep valuables with you, and go to the Gardens.
No time for anything else, really, especially with jet lag and luggage in tow.
How many are in your group?

Thank you all so much for the ideas. I presented my daughter with 3 options: Basilique de Saint Denis, Stade France and Luxemburg Gardens. Thanks to this thread I had become particularly keen on visiting Basilique de Saint Denis…but this is her birthday trip and she chose Luxemburg Gardens. I’d rather see the royal tombs but this saves me quite a bit by skipping the private driver and just going with a taxi into town. Thanks again!!

I may be wrong but I think a taxi from CDG to the Left Bank is now 80E.

It's not 80€, still 58€ to the left bank.

I had a trip to France in June, staying near Luxembourg Gardens at the beginning. I tried taking the train from CDG to city center, but there was an electrical problem and we only got three stops away from the airport, then it took an hour to find a cab. Definitely take a cab from CDG. Agree with dropping your luggage off where you will be staying, then finding a spot to relax before checkin.
Luxembourg Gardens are terrific and huge, don't miss the Medici Fountain. Beautiful, shaded and relaxing.
If you want to explore farther north, use the Metro.
You are likely staying near Notre Dame and Ste. Chappelle on the island. Notre Dame is a construction site but still lovely to see, and many people visit. They have a long barrier in front of the building, beautifully illustrating the reconstruction process and what they are finding.
Ste. Chappelle is a short walk away, the most beautiful stained glass Gothic building anywhere, and they have evening concerts that you can buy tickets for. You'll see posters.
Have a terrific trip!!

I’ve taken the RER from CDG into Paris more times than i can count and the train has never had an issue. Can happen of course, but not likely.

@Susan--actually the RER B has been running for years at twice the capacity for which it was built. Consequently, it does breakdown every day at one point or another. Usually, it starts back up, but this electrical break and trying to get a taxi in the middle of the burbs is a pretty extreme breakdown.

Bets, if it starts back up then not a big deal. An extreme breakdown would not be fun, but not the norm sounds like.

Defnitely visit St. Denis but by metro once you are in Paris. It would be really expensive to have a cab stop and wait for a sidetrip like this.

To follow up on Janet (above), the Metro 13 line will go directly to Basilica St Denis.
It's definitely worth a visit.

Here is one of the videos in the Luxembourg Gardens where Vero, a Rick Steves guide, takes us on a short walk in the Luxembourg Gardens and talks about the Medici Fountain. (She walks by the cafe I was talking about!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yd3T-5Z0fw

Here is a cool video walk by Corey Frye...it's his first one so he's not quite got his stride yet but he walks from the side steps of the church Saint-Etienne-du-Mont to the Pantheon, to the Luxembourg Gardens. It gives you an idea of how much history is just in a few square blocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yd3T-5Z0fw

BTW, if you have a chance, watch Midnight in Paris before you go. I am neither a Woody Allen or Owen Wilson fan but I LOVE this movie. He gets picked up by a time-traveling taxi from the steps at this church.

I think being jet lagged, the Luxembourg Gardens is a better choice than Basilica of Saint-Denis. I LOVE that church but there is a LOT to see there an I, personally, would not be able to do it justice in a travel tired and jet-lagged manner.