Best option getting from CDG to Paris hotel

If you have luggage, the best option is a taxi. With the RER and Metro you will be dragging luggage around, often walking a long way in the tunnels and possibly up and down stairways. Many Metro stations do not have lifts or escalators. You will be tired and distracted, which will make you a target for pickpockets. A taxi will cost approximately 50€ from CDG into central Paris and will take you directly to your hotel. Just be sure to go to the official taxi rank. Don't accept a ride from.anyone who approaches you. Also, write the name and address of your hotel down to show it to the taxi driver.

Hi, the Les Halles Chatelet station is one of the busiest & confusing metro stations that can cause you to walk a long ways to connect to your metro link. I would suggest this route - a few more stops past the Halles/Chatelet but much less walking between connections with less of a crowd to deal with when carrying a suitcase.

RER to "Denfert Rochereau"; change to Line #6 Charles DeGaulle Etoile, ride 7 stops to the location "La Motte Piquet Grenelle"; change to Line #8 Cretail Prefecture & ride 2 stops to "La Tour Maubourg".

You can expect to walk up & down a few stairways when using the metro. If you're packing light, the RER & Metro are straight-forward, and you don't need to wait for loading an airport bus, etc. It's around 10 Euro to take the RER/Metro from CDG.

Hi, should also mention that Les Halles Chatelet, besides being busy, is also an area to watch out for pick pocketing. The other option I mentioned shouldn't be a problem.

Enjoy your trip! Paris is a wonderful choice for your vacation.

All RER and metro stations are pick pocket havens and people coming in tired with all their stuff are obvious targets; we use the RER all the time for this but we are also careful to be pickpocket proof. Last time we used the RER in from the airport, my husband was walking down the stairs at Denfert Rocherou with a bag in each hand (kindly carrying my suitcase on the stairs) and he was surrounded by 3 guys who frisked him for his wallet -- he didn't have it in a pocket and so didn't lose anything. This was our most aggressive experience with pickers but he has more than once put his hand in his pocket and found another hand already there.

For the trip in from the airport -- especially when several changes are required, a taxi is money well spent.

A taxi is the best combination of convenience for this trip. When you have to change trains and have to deal with transferring luggage and more than one change of trains, the cost savings of around 30 euros if you are a party of 2 just are not worth it in my opinion unless your budget is extremely strict. Chatelet-les-Halles is a relatively complicated station and you are not making the quick transfer from one RER train to another. Instead you and your luggage would be making your way to the Chatelet Metro stop on Line 14. If you decide to take mass transit, I think that the least amount of walking would be to change at Chatelet-les-Halles for RER A which you would take to Auber and change there for Metro Line 8.

I usually pack light enough to be happy with public transport, and would choose the option with fewest connections, such as one connection from RER B at St. Michel Notre-Dame to RER C to Invalides, then walk through the park to your hotel (or make one more metro connection). However, for two people with luggage, sharing the cost of a taxi is certainly easier.

Another option is a shuttle, Paris Shuttle,http://www.paris-shuttle.com/default.asp, is cheaper than the Super Shuttle, yes the Blue Van we see in America is also in Paris. The shuttle costs about $48 Shared Van or $86 Private Van. Again, this gets you to your hotel without all the train changes and lugging luggage.
Tim

Take the Roissy bus to Opera, then take a taxi to your hotel.

ANNOUNCEMENT: New Record.

It has taken only eight responses to a transportation question until twenty-five percent had to do with pickpockets.

Well done.

Hi, the last few trips to Paris I've used Bee Shuttle (45 euros for 2 people). They are not always timely (waited about 30 min) but got us to the hotel without any problems. In my experience, a taxi has been more like 65 euros from CDG to the 4th or 7th arrondissments. We stayed at the Hotel Empereur in May and thought it was a great choice. Hope you have a great time in Paris!

note that these shuttles cost about what a taxi does, are shared and so you wait at the airport and may be the last drop in town AND in Paris shuttles have the reputation of being unreliable. If they don't show having taken your money it will be 'we were there and you weren't' and you will not see your money again. And waiting endlessly is a common experience with phones that ring unanswered. If you do get a shuttle (and you won't save much money with two people if any -- most of our cab trips in have been about 45 Euro as we tend to stay on the north side of town) at least book one that doesn't require paying in advance.

Paris does not have a shuttle culture and does also not have a customer service orientation --- not a good combination. They have excellent public transport with the RER/metro and buses and they have an excellent reliable taxi system. One or the other is the way to go.