Hi all, we are flying out of CDG on a Tuesday in October. We will be coming from London on the eurostar the Monday night before (train arrives in Paris at 18:47). Does anyone have any travel tips/recommendations on what we should do? Traveling with 2 seniors/3 adults/1 toddler. I am wondering if it would be beneficial to eat/sleep close to Gare du Nord then take a morning train to the airport (our flight is at 11:30 am) or if we should go ahead and make our way to the airport from Gare du Nord. I would imagine the hotel near the airport would be more cost effective and relieve some stress of being close to our take off point but would think the food/fun would be bad. Anyone have any advice here on a good solid plan??? I considered eating near the train station and then going to the airport but what would we do with all our luggage? I can't imagine any Parisian restaurant would appreciate bulky luggage in their establishment.
Posted by
Panguitch, Utah
2544 posts
There is a baggage check at Gare du Nord where you can leave your luggage if you were to eat near there and subsequently overnight at the airport.
11h30 departure gives you time to take the train in the morning and stay in Paris the night before. If your flight is transatlantic, I would leave Paris by 07h30. It would be much easier to arrange for a taxi to take you to the airport. It might cost about the same as the train because for 6 from the Right Bank, taxis charge a fixed fare of 62€ (there is an additional 4€ charge for calling a taxi and 7€ for arranging a pickup).
Hotels at the airport may or may not be cheaper than hotels in Paris, it´s difficult to say without exact dates.
One thing is certain, the restaurants at CDG are disappointing and you do have the time to stay in Paris and travel to the airport in the morning.
Posted by
Chicago
7828 posts
Take a picnic on the train to Paris. Eat it on the train. Once you arrive at Gare du Nord take the RER B to CDG. Check into one of the hotels at the airport. Or stay near Gare du Nord and leave for the airport the next day.
Posted by
Columbus, OH, USA
2026 posts
Personally, I would just head to the airport and call it a day. You arrive at the station at nearly 7 pm after several hours of travel already. What time will it really be before you get out of the station, deal with luggage, find a restaurant and have dinner, get to hotel and check in and settle in....all with seniors and a toddler. And then leave early the next morning? Sounds like more stress and bother than I would want. There are restaurants in Roissy and a range of hotels. The Marriott had a nice breakfast and shuttle to CDG; I imagine others might as well? Your choice of course, good luck and safe travels.
Posted by
Queens, NYC
548 posts
If I were traveling solo on this schedule, I would absolutely choose to stay in Paris at a hotel within walking distance of Gare du Nord (I don't actually love the area that much, but this is a situation in which it makes total sense to stay there), have a nice dinner in Paris, and then take the RER to the airport the next day. I agree with Tocard that time-wise this is a perfectly doable itinerary time-wise. Many Paris restaurants don't even start their dinner service until 19:00 or 19:30 anyway (20:00 being a popular time to start dining) so after dropping off the bags at the hotel there would be time to head to dinner anyway.
However, in this situation I'm not quite as sure. With the traveling party in mind, will you be able to take advantage of Paris city restaurants and/or enjoy a late night stroll through the city, or are you just going to end up eating at somewhere like Pret a Manger for the convenience and head straight back to the hotel? (I hasten to add I'm not judging you -- a party of 6, even if all adults, can be hard to work with!) If it's the latter, I think I'd probably just head straight to the airport once you get to the Gare du Nord since it would just as easy to do a quick take-out dinner and settle in at the hotel.
I would not eat near the train station and then go to the airport the same night, which I think kind of merges the two options in a bad way (aside from the luggage problem as you mention). If you go out to a leisurely dinner that night it's likely it will be on the later side when you leave the restaurant and you probably won't want to schlep to the airport at that point.
Posted by
Chicago
8047 posts
I usually want to capture a decent meal and last minute stroll in Paris on that last night. But with a toddler I think I would get a very nice train picnic and check into a hotel AT not near the airport. It is not cheaper than going into town, but will make the morning easier. You get another hours sleep and the budget hotels at the airport usually have decent enough free breakfast. If it were all adults I'd go into Paris and have a nice dinner. The food at the airport hotels in my modest experience is expensive and terrible. The worst meal we have had in all our European travels was at the Airport Hilton in Paris and they were rude and it was very expensive as well. Expensive and mediocre I was prepared for; expensive and almost inedibly dried out, I was not.