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Boulogne-Billancourt to CDG?

[Note: I posted on the England forum about the poorly-designed itinerary our travel agent put together for a London-Paris trip for my family of four (2 teenagers), and was grateful for the advice I got there about how to make the best of bad hotel and flight arrangements in London. I have a similar issue on the Paris portion of our trip. Specifically, I'm trying to figure out the best way to get between CDG and Boulogne-Billancourt. The travel agency is very slow to respond to my requests and has made several errors in this process, so I'm planning to make adjustments without their help. And if I switch hotels it's unlikely I'll get a refund, because the hotel was part of a discounted package. Next time I'll know to start on the RS forums and plan the whole thing myself.]

We arrive at CDG Terminal 2D on Sat. April 20 at 10:20. We're booked at the Hotel Paris Boulogne, 20-22 Rue des Abondances, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt. The hotel reception desk told me to take an Uber to the hotel. Given the time of day and the possible length/expense of the cab ride, would it be a better use of our time to take the metro from CDG into Paris - near the Louvre, perhaps, stash our bags using the Stasher app, do some sightseeing and then use metro to the hotel in the evening?

We fly out of CDG Terminal 2D on Wed. April 24 at 07:20 (I know, I know...I looked at using Eurostar instead, but this late in the game it's just too much $. Lesson learned.) The hotel reception desk suggested reserving a car to take us to CDG in the early morning. But is it too risky/stressful taking a 03:00 cab from Boulogne-Billancourt? I'm considering eating the cost of the last night at Hotel Paris Boulogne; I've made a refundable reservation for Apr. 23 (night before the flight) for a 4-person room at the B&B HOTEL Paris Roissy CDG Aéroport (17 Rue du Verger, 95700 Roissy-en-France), which has a shuttle to the terminal (~€20). We'd still get up super early, but there would be fewer variables in the trip to the terminal. We would take our bags from the Paris Boulogne the morning of Apr. 23 into central Paris, stash our bags, do some sightseeing, then take the metro to the CDG hotel in the late afternoon.

Thoughts? I greatly appreciate any input and/or consolation you can provide.

Posted by
8599 posts

I had similar experiences with a travel agent 30 years ago and have arranged all my own travel every since. This is a ridiculous location for a trip to Paris. However. you can take the train to your hotel because it is near the Boulogne Billancourt stop of the metro line 10. You would take the RER B to St Michel NOtre Dame and then do a long walk underground to the Cluny Sorbonne stop of the metro 10. This would all work on one CDG to Paris ticket which I think right now is about 12 Euro.
Yes you have to be able to lug baggage up and down stairs of the metro, but it is a way.

Otherwise just get a taxi from the official line and pay whatever is on the meter.

I would eat the last day of hotel and get a hotel at the airport; we stay at the Novotel under these circumstances which is right on the CDG VAL intra airport transport. On the other hand a 3 am cab is not risky -- and at that hour there isn't a lot of traffic so it would probably not be crazy expensive.

but yeah, your travel agent sucks. for a first visit to Paris to not even be in Paris when the trip is so short is just criminal. At least you can get into Paris on the metro so you an use Navigo Easy cards with a carnet of ten metro tickets loaded for a discount.

Hope you have a great trip -- and maybe you will have an interesting adventure as a result of all this.

Posted by
4007 posts

Given that your hotel is outside of Paris and a flat rate taxi fare will not apply to your trip, I understand why the hotel told you to take an Uber instead of a taxi. However, If you are willing to take the train into Paris, I suggest that you just go ahead and go to the hotel. You would have to change trains from the RER to the metro to get to the Louvre so my thinking is why not get the trip to the hotel out of the way at the beginning. Your hotel is only about a 25-minute metro ride on line 10 from the center of Paris. Your hotel is only a 5-minute walk from the closest metro stop. You are out of Paris but in a location that I sometimes suggest for people who want to be near a metro line but be outside of the city. So yes, your travel agent is awful but I don’t know if the budget affected this itinerary. The good news is that line 10 is a pretty nice metro line.

On departure day, just take an early AM taxi from Taxi G7 that you arrange through the hotel or yourself. You are not doing yourself any favors by picking that particular hotel which is not at the airport. I know it has a shuttle but I am not a fan of hotels that are not on the airport grounds and relying on a hotel shuttle.

Posted by
8599 posts

oh absolutely do not count on a hotel shuttle at 3 am. If you want to stay at the airport, stay AT the airport not NEAR the airport. You will have trouble getting a cab there and the shuttles off site are not reliable. I'd probably just arrange a G7 Cab yourself -- they have never failed us in many many trips from Paris to the airport.

Posted by
16 posts

Thank you for your responses. If I decide not to splurge on a hotel AT the airport (rates are pretty steep for Apr. 23) and just stay at the Hotel Paris Boulogne, I'm not crazy for taking a 3am cab across Paris?

Posted by
8599 posts

It won't be across Paris -- you will be going around Paris on the peripherique. At 3 am it should be fast barring some catastrophic accident. One advantage of cabs is that they can use bus lanes. We would have missed our train in a downpour last fall if we had been in an uber instead of a cab. We thought we had allowed plenty of extra time and it was still close in a gridlocked Paris in the rain. Because our driver could use the bus lanes we were able to make our Thalys to Amsterdam.

Posted by
33991 posts

some folks here may be assuming that your flight out is transatlantic so going along with the 3am taxi for a 7:20 flight, but I think that you are having to fly to Gatwick to resume the London part of the trip, in which case you may be getting to CDG check in a bit early.

I was surprised where you are staying, but then I have realized that with your travel agent I shouldn't be shocked by anything.

I continue to be saddened by what you are being put through....

I hope that you will have such a great time that all the travel craziness will just wash away....

Posted by
16 posts

Thank you, Nigel. I'm grateful for the opportunity to take this trip and we're looking forward to it. Yes, the 7:20 flight takes us back to London. I was wanting to leave extra time for the ride from Boulogne-Billancourt, but do you think that's overdoing it? We won't be checking any bags at CDG.

Posted by
4007 posts

I’d plan to get to the airport two hours before scheduled departure time. I’ve taken early flights (before 9 AM) from CDG and staff showed up about one or two hours before the departure time. It’s about a 30-minute trip from your hotel without traffic. I’d double the time in case of emergencies on the road and aim for arriving at the airport at around 5.

Posted by
8599 posts

I agree. I am very conservative about travel times and would leave 3 hours before this flight. G7 has an English speaking phone line. +331.41.27.66.99
I'd arrange my own taxi a couple days before.

Posted by
16 posts

My apologies, but I'm still a little confused about getting to the hotel from CDG mid-morning Saturday. For a jet-lagged family of 4 who want to maximize our time in central Paris while minimizing the stress of getting into central Paris, would you say it's worth the money to pay for a cab from CDG to the Boulogne-Billancourt hotel Saturday (around noon)? We'd then drop off our bags at the hotel, and take the metro in to spend the rest of the day sightseeing. Or would a cab trip likely take too long at that time of day to be a sensible option? Google maps says the cab trip is "typically 40–55 min" at that time on a Saturday, but I don't know how trustworthy that estimate is.

Posted by
10285 posts

Yes, absolutely take a cab.

Boulogne-Billancourt isn't that far outside of Paris as the crow flies, but that metro stop is on the very (far) end of the line. Getting there by RER and metro will take forever (and be a bit of a pain).

A taxi will take you around..unfortunately you can get stuck in traffic, there is no way to know ahead of time,.but at least if you are, you are sitting and not managing luggage.

I am so very sorry that this travel agent has been so horrible.

Posted by
16 posts

Many thanks to everyone for your help. Our trip went very well, and we were able to do and see all we'd hoped and more, thanks in large part to the assistance provided by this forum.

Posted by
8599 posts

So glad it went well. Weird bits of adversity are the stuff of family legend. It will get more amusing with time.

Posted by
10285 posts

I am glad you went and conquered ! Next time you can plan and reserve all on your own with the help of everyone here.

Posted by
46 posts

NYC Dad, glad your travels worked out! I have booked myself in at a small hotel in the Boulogne-Billancourt area, along the metro 10 line, and it looks like it will be a short metro ride in to the main city sights. Did you find getting around from there worked well? I am wondering if I should find something in a different location, but the price and quality looks good to me...and I see there are only a few, but intriquing restaurants a short walk away...

Posted by
16 posts

My sincere apologies, I just saw this. I didn't realize my notifications were turned off. I'll reply via private message.