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Feedback on Paris trip 8/15/2021 to 8/22/2021

Since everyone on the site was so helpful with our trip planning I thought I would share some of our experiences relative to the health pass, COVID Tests, etc. I posted earlier that my sister and I applied for our passes on 8/10/21 when they first became available. She got hers in less than 24 hours I had not received mine by the time we left.

I used by CDC card everyplace we went with NO incidents or even second looks. Eiffel Tower, Versaille, Louvre, metro, shops, cafes and the hop on hop off sight seeing bus. Most places did ask for it but they were very familiar with the CDC cards and happily accepted it. One or two really looked at it to be sure there were 2 doses but most did not. We took the highspeed train from Montparnese to Bordeaux and they did not ask at all either way. Also Bordeaux was fine as well - no issues with the CDC card there or at Paris Disneyland. I want to add that you should apply anyway and keep your eyes open because I am sure they will crack down as time goes by.

Second I want to mention the COVID tests. We did ours at a pharmacy. It was a bit of a challenge because while hotels and restaurants typically have english speaking employees the pharmacy did not but we managed to communicate using google translate. The whole process took about an hour to an hour and a half because of a couple of things. We went on Friday but on Wednesday afternoon we checked with a pharmacy down the street who said they did give the rapid antigen tests for travel. Their business hours were posted as Mon-Sat 08:00 am to 09:00pm. It was a mid sized pharmacy so we were surprised when it did not open at all on Friday when we needed to test. We went to two other pharmacy's before finding one that would do the test. By that time it was later in the day and the line was longer. There were probably about 6 people ahead of us when we got there. We took the test and left and when the results can to our email almost exactly 15 minutes later we opened them and saw that they were negative all in the correct format and closed them back up. The next day after we changed hotels to be closer to the airport on our last night we realized they had spelled both of our middle names (maiden) incorrectly. Fortunately it wasn't an issue when we got ready to leave as we did not have time to go back and get them fixed. So the moral of the story is stay in the area and wait for your test - AND CHECK THE INFORMATION THOROUGHLY.

Finally, we were leaving out of CDG and chose to stay at the Hilton Charles DeGaulle the night before. We went over in the afternoon and surveyed the airport - which was a good move. All the airlines have been moved into one terminal and the place is a madhouse. After taking the shuttle over we determined we did not want to do that with luggage. Not only is it very crowded it drops you off miles from where you need to go with signs that are hard to read if you don't speak the language. So consider that as an option if you haven't been through CDG before. Our flight boarded at 10:12 and we arrived at the airport at 7:00 - it started really filling up by 8:00. We made it to the gate by 9:00 only because we were super early.

We had a wonderful time and we are very glad we did go. I actually did get my health pass 5 days into our trip so they will come thru eventually. Last but not least I want to recommend a tour that we took in Bordeaux. 2 hours on the train each way. The company is called Olala Bordeaux. Our guide was Yam, who was an expert on wine and the area. Here is the link but we couldn't have asked for a better day trip from Paris and the city is AMAZING - if you can squeeze in more than one day you should but we saw quite a bit on this tour including the Medieval City of St Emilion which was really interesting.

Thanks to eveyone for helping us plan our trip and good luck!

https://www.olalabordeaux.com/en/home-olalabordeaux/

Posted by
6265 posts

Thanks for posting, Cheryl. I'm glad to hear how smoothly things went, even without the health pass. And thanks for the Bordeaux link; I can't wait to check it out.

Posted by
122 posts

@Cheryl...what terminal did you fly out of? We are on Delta and according to the Delta/CDG page it says terminal 2E. Does this sound right?

Posted by
2613 posts

Thank you very much for taking the time to post this!

Posted by
46 posts

Can’t figure out how to tag people on here but for whoever asked - yes terminal 2E is Delta which is what we were on.

Posted by
56 posts

Cheryl, many many thanks for your post! We applied for our QR code last Tuesday and leave this Friday and have not heard back. Fingers crossed our CDC cards will do the trick for us as well as they did for you.

This forum has been invaluable to our travel plans during the pandemic and we appreciate you taking the time to give us your anecdotal travel experiences.

Merci,

Diane

Posted by
15 posts

Cheryl, I can't thank you enough for posting this! And for the testing tips. I have been hearing the same info about CDC vaccination cards working as well, so certainly we will do both the pass and bring our cards. We are headed mid-Sept to go to an Artist residency 2 hours south of Paris. Often it has seemed overwhelming to attempt this trip, but reports like your make me realize that if we take our time, plan, be thoughtful, and safe we can have a very good trip.

Posted by
46 posts

BTW for anyone that might want to know, the pharmacy we used was Grande Pharmacy on Victor Hugo Blvd in Trocadero. I believe it is a chain so you might check in your area.

Posted by
5697 posts

For anyone planning a departure from CDG -- we have used the IBIS that is actually at CDG ( not "near" as the Roissy hotels are) so you can walk from the IBIS to the free CDGVAL free train shuttle which goes directly to terminals. And reasonably priced.

Posted by
46 posts

@Laura, the shuttle I mentioned was the CDGVAL. It was VERY convenient to our hotel but I guess it depends on the individual and what you are willing to do at 7:00 am. It was very crowded and because it was designed to run when the whole Airport is working the drop was at Terminal 3 which was actual quite a ways from terminal 2E where our flight left. For $20.00 Euros we got dropped right at the door by taxi so very worth it to me!

Posted by
10120 posts

Cheryl-- Your trip sounds great. Happy for you.
FYI CDGval ends at T3 and does go to T2. The Hilton is the furthest at T3 from the CDGval. Last February, when the Hilton wasn't running a shuttle due to C19 and no vaccine available, we took a taxi to the 2E terminal also. Hilton had its own shuttle pre-C19.

Aimee-- Lucky you. The Sheraton just reopened July 19. Last February we wanted to stay there, reserved, but when I called with a question, we learned they had closed and nobody knew when they would reopen. So I called them just now to be sure, and they reopened in time for you and will have the red carpet rolled out.

Laura B when Aimee says Roissy Sheraton, she means the one in the airport. Roissy is what the airport is called in France because that is the name of the original village, right next to where they've put the satellite hotels. CDG is used on this website, but I'd tell a cab driver Roissy terminal 2E.

Posted by
1362 posts

Glad you had a nice trip and thanks for the info. 94 days and counting.....

Posted by
13808 posts

Cheryl, my thanks as well for your update!

Yikes to the pharmacy being closed on a day when it was supposed to be open....good to know so that I have a back up in mind.

And yuck to the crowds and mess at CDG. Someone on Trip Advisor indicated recently they saw nothing open in the airport (except Duty Free, lol!!) before their flight. Was that the case on the Delta concourse? I discovered the mint jasmine tea at EXKI last time and that was great to have ahead of a flight.

Posted by
46 posts

@Pam, when we arrived we had quite a walk thru the airport and TONS of things were closed. I’m not sure where we arrived but almost nothing was open on the way out. When we departed from T2 there were plenty of things open so must have been a different part of the airport.

@Bets may know more about the particular store you ask about.

Posted by
2252 posts

Thank you so much for this information! I copied parts and am forwarding to my eldest grandgirl. She is currently in London but will be leaving Thursday for Aix-en-Provence, where she will be doing her semester abroad. Poor kid….right?!?😉

Posted by
13808 posts

"When we departed from T2 there were plenty of things open so must have been a different part of the airport."

Thanks...yes, must have been a different terminal so it's good to hear the Delta concourses have some services open. No big deal on this food outlet (really just thinking aloud)...and truly things may have changed in the weeks between now and my arrival/departure!

Posted by
9460 posts

Pam, 2E is like most things — some of the stuff is open, some isn’t. I haven’t flown out of 2E since May, last week my intra-European flight was out of 2F, but it’s the same thing there.

Cheryl — thank you for your post, it’s really thoughtful of you to take the time to provide assistance back based on your experience ! I am glad you had a great time (and finally got your health pass !! Sheesh!!)