Can anyone give me an "approximate time frame" for landing in Charles de Gaulle airport at 10:40 A.M. and getting to Gare
Montparnasse in Paris?
That would include deplaning, going through passport control, retrieving my luggage, locating a taxi, the taxi ride itself into Paris, and arriving inside the station's train platform.
Thank you very much.
I would only be comfortable with about 4 hours. If you get to Montparnasse, with a lot of spare time, you can have lunch.
The rule of thumb for taking a train from Paris from landing at CDG is 4 hours. No guarantees -- sometimes planes are 5 hours late, happened to me once, but usually that is a safe cushion. It averages about an hour through immigration and an hour to the city; over the past ten years most of my flights to Europe have come in an hour to half an hour late, although it is getting better since airlines now add a little cushion to their ETA in order to keep their 'on time' stats up. Montparnasse is big and confusing and you want to be there about half an hour before your train -- the platform goes up on the screens about 20 minutes ahead and you want to be in the right hall ready to move then. Be sure you know if you are leaving from Montparnasse. main station or Montparnasse-Vaurigard which is an outpost and about a 15 minutes walk from the main station. With 4 hours you will probably have time to get coffee or pick up sandwiches for the train at the station but you will almost certainly make your train. With 3 hours, you make your train if everything goes smoothly.
That is very difficult to pin down as there are so many variables.
First, you can't predict if your plane will actually land on time.
Second, you can't tell how many passport inspectors will be working at the terminal you land at, or how many big jets from anywhere in the world will be landing at the same time.
I suspect your luggage will be waiting for you when you get through passport control, then it is just a matter of walking out the green door. Taxi could be an hour or more depending on traffic.
I am guessing you are wanting to know for the purposes of buying train tickets. If they are deep discount nonrefundable tickets, I'd give yourself 4 hours, and then only if you are paying about 25% of the walk-up price for the tickets. If the discounts are close to the walk-up price, just buy them when you get to the station.
We arrived at CDC around 10 am and were in the taxi line around 11:15 (plane was parked out on the tarmac and bussed in). Taxi took an hour and 15 minutes.... Busy traffic and odd route... Didn't mind as it's a flat fee 55 ₠. At gare montparnasse around 1230 and had lunch before getting out 3 om train to tours.
We prebought our train tickets for 10 ₠ so if wr missed it from a serious airlibe delay, no big deal. (Ouigo website)
I've flown into Paris three times through CDG. Each time I was fortunate enough to route through Iceland (so passport control for Schengen was there and lines are non-existent) with only a small carry on. Not needing to stand in line for either luggage or passport, it consistently took me right at one hour to be on an RER leaving CDG (including getting to the train and buying a ticket). RER B takes right at one hour to get to Montparnasse from CDG (I'd rather use RER B because it isn't subject to street traffic).
You want to be at Montparnasse about fifteen to twenty minutes before your train, a little more if you need to get a ticket.
Four hours leaves you less than two hours for everything else at CDG. Is that enough to get your luggage and through passport control? I've heard horror stories so I wouldn't bank on it.
Personally, I'd plan for train times but buy my ticket when I got to the station. I've missed my train before and talked to someone dressed like a conductor at the station. It was no problem to catch the next train (but the next train had more stops than my planned train so lost nearly another hour). Some tickets are worthless if you miss your planned train and you'd be stuck buying a new ticket anyway.
