There are 6 of us flying into Orly from Nice on a Wednesday at 10:30am. We will have luggage. What is the best transportation to use to get from Orly to Notre Dame since our hotel is near there?
Since you brought up the luggage issue, it must be substantial. A minivan is out.
Two cabs.
If you can handle your luggage, you can take the Orly Val shuttle train to the Anthony RER B station. You then take the RER B to the St. Michel station. You'll be fairly close to Nortre Dame and will be able to see it when you come out of the RER station.
You should be able to get a van type cab at the airport -- they hold up to 7 passengers -- and cram in the luggage. This would cost about 35 plus 1 Euro per bag and 9 ( 3 each) for the 4-6 passenger. If you don't fit then two cabs at about 35 each give or take 5. The dispatcher will match you to a cab that works for you or two cabs if necessary.
Public transport is more expensive from Orly to Paris than from CDG to Paris although it is much closer to the city. You will pay about as much at the Orlyval and RER/metro for that and have the hassle of stairs with your luggage and walking from the metro stop to the hotel etc, saving nothing over just getting in a cab and being whisked door to door.
To clarify -- it will cost 3 people about 34 Euro to use public transport from Orly -- that is of course 68 or so for 6
A cab for 3 is about 35 to Notre Dame and for 6 in a maxi cab would be about 50 with luggage and extra passenger charges.
It makes no sense with a group this size to undergo the hassles of the RER/metro, pickpockets, stairs etc and then have the walk to the hotel.
Ed and Janet are correct. The party-of-six detail escaped me.
The Orlyval-Antony shuttle is 9 euros for an adult, pretty costly for a short ride. The fare into the city comes on top of that so the cost of taxis begins to seem not such a luxury.
http://www.orlyval.com/eu/index_eu.htm
When we were there last year we used the Paris-shuttle service..they met us at the airport and dropped us at the front of our hotel in the Odeon area. We did splurge because we figured after that many hours of being on a plane we would be tired and just want to get to our hotel! The website is Paris-shuttle.com..worth checking out to compare anyway...we do plan on using them this year when we return with our kiddos.