Hi and thanks in advance for your help
We will be travelling by TGV from Marseille or Aix to Paris on 10/7 ( we can leave super early or not)
Flying out to Sydney Aust 10/8 2pm
Not sure whether to stay that last night in Paris then catch the RR B to CDG, stay near CDG or stay in a villageSenlis.
Any thoughts appreciated
Personally, as long as I was arriving into Paris before dinner time, I would stay there in a hotel near an RER B station. Enjoy a last evening in Paris. Allow about an hour for the train, and plan on arriving at CDG around 11:00. Or you could take a taxi (flat rate to the airport)
I spent my last. night in Paris right inside CDG.
I stayed at the Ibis Styles and it was ok. I would recommend it and I would stay there again. It is at Terminal 3 with easy access to the other terminals. There are other hotels in the immediate area which are more upscale if you prefer more than ok.
My question doesn’t relate to where to stay, but is the 2pm flight the Emirates flight to Sydney? I am debating whether to take the plunge and book with them (they have unsurprisingly quite a few reward seats available)
Personally, for a 2pm flight I would stay close to the airport as my last experience at CDG in 2025, it was crowded and chaotic at check in and it might be easier just to be close to the airport than navigating transport from Paris
Adding my review of Ibis Styles at CDG
The bed was great and other reviewers have mentioned the very comfortable bed.
CDG was chaotic. You want to get there very early
It is more inconvenient to be 'close to the airport' than either AT the airport or in Paris.
With a 2 pm flight I would stay in Paris, enjoy a nice meal and an evening stroll by the Seine or even a Seine boat cruise and get a good night's rest and breakfast and book a taxi for 10 am the day of the flight. I like to book the taxi two days ahead on the G7 English speaking phone line. they are very reliable (but not always available last minute). If you want to take the train then book a hotel near an RER B stop -- St. Michel, Luxembourg both good areas for that.
I like Senlis but it is a bit of a hassle to get to CDG from there. You would need to be confident in having transport lined up ahead of time.
2 pm flight.
Stay near a RER B station (Luxembourg, St. Michel/Notre Dame, CORRECTED: Chatelet/Les Halles, Gare du Nord) Head to the train from Paris at 9 am or shortly after. Get on an RER B by 9:30 or 9:45 and to the airport by 11.. That allows you 3 hours at the airport which should be fine. Adjust this more conservatively by 1/2 hour if you’re more comfortable with 3-1/2 hours at CDG.
That allows you an evening in Paris to walk along the Seine or through a neighborhood, drop in at a church, have dinner. City lights or music? C’est beau. Bonne soiree.
Assuming your train arrives at Gare de Lyon station in Paris, I would suggest staying in the city and enjoying a relaxing evening in Paris with a nice dinner and a stroll. With a next day departure at 2pm, you have plenty of time to get to CDG in the morning by RER B or taxi.
If you must stay at the airport, then stay AT the airport. There are many hotels within a 3 minute walk of both the RER B station and the CDGval shuttle to the terminals. Just be aware that your dinner choices will be typical airport hotel restaurants.
For a 2 P flight I'm with the "stay in Paris" folks.
If my flight left much before 10A I'd stay at the airport but for an afternoon flight, I'd definitely enjoy a last stroll around the city. My flights usually leave in the 10-10:30 time frame so I schedule a cab from my hotel to the airport for 6A. I generally get there in 30 minutes that time of day but I'd allow longer than an hour your time of day in case of building traffic if you decide to do taxi transit instead of RER. October 8 is a Thursday. Unless you are using European dates which would mean August 10 which is a Monday.
Just a few days ago we spent the night at Holiday Inn Express, walking distance from CDG. 113 euros for room with views of airport and includes breakfast. We will stay again. Room was spotless, most efficient use of space I’ve seen. There are about 3 hotels in sight of each other with attractive walking paths. Easy to use tram to connect to your terminal.
Also from Australia, and I would always spend the night in Paris, then I would taxi to the airport the next morning.
Yes it costs more than the RER, but the though of travelling with luggage is not for me. Love public transport, but not with my suitcase.
We always arrive four hours before a flight, and have flown out of CDG many times, it is never an issue if you allow enough time.
If you are flying Emirates, their lounge at CDG is very good if you ended up too early.
I don't consider a 2pm flight "early." Hell, I have a 9:10 flight out this June and plan on staying in Paris and taking a taxi at 5:30am to get there in time (although, that is later than my usual wake-up time). YMMV.
Hi. Thanks for all your replies
Have now organised to be 2 nights in Paris so may stay close to Gare du Nord but not soo close.
Chat GPT has suggested Hotel ESTE or Hotel Whistler. ?? Thoughts??
Unfortunately we aren’t flying Emirates. Husband refuses to go through Middle East at present so we r flying to Hanoi for 3 days then home VietnamAirlines PE. Can give fb later on that
I haven't heard of either of the Paris hotels you mentioned. You might use the booking.com website to help find a hotel. Use the filters to refine your search and read the reviews there. Then make your booking directly on the hotel website.
There’s no reason to stay near Gare du Nord. Any RER B station will get you to CDG, the nicest area being around the Luxembourg Gardens station. The station is simply two platforms, one going north, the other south. I stayed near Gare du Nord last month only because one of my kids booked the hotel and it reinforced my lack of enthusiasm for the area and that massive, complicated station.
During the years I lived in Paris, I lived two RER stops south of Paris, and near the RER B Port Royal station
(another nice area on nobody’s radar) and near Gare de l’Est which is very close to Gare du Nord so I have a pretty good handle on the neighborhoods and the RER.
Normally it’s an hour on a direct train to CDG but RER B carries over twice the number of passengers than it was built for, so daily breakdowns do occur. Avoid getting into one of the trains that stops in every suburb between Paris and the airport.
Unsure if 10/7 means you're traveling in July or October. If July, be sure to book a room with AC.
I agree with Elizabeth that a hotel near the RER B station at Luxembourg Gardens is a better location than Gare du Nord. Or consider something on the Ile Saint-Louis. The entrance/elevator on Rue Saint Xavier Privas at the St. Michel Notre Dame station is about a 10 minute walk.
I agree with the others that advise to spend the night in Paris near an RER B station. Allow 4 hours to get to the airport and get through security to the gate. One trip I had an 8:00 a.m. flight from CDG so the evening before I went to an airport hotel. It was just a place to sleep before walking to the terminal for my flight. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to spend any extra time there. I’d rather be in the city.
We flew back on Delta Airlines from CDG to Atlanta last week. The app showed that boarding would start about 50 minutes before the scheduled flight departure time. We were inside CDG a bit over 3 hours in advance. We had carry-on luggage only and got through security quickly. When we got to our gate, we were surprised to learn passengers would board by boarding group number onto busses that would take us out on the tarmac to our plane. They started putting us on the busses about 80 minutes in advance of our flight time! Thank goodness we were at the airport early!
"They started putting us on the busses about 80 minutes in advance of our flight time! Thank goodness we were at the airport early!"
Those tarmac stands are a pain. My luck is that it is always raining when you have to ascend or descend those outside stairs! Sometimes the people who need assist are taken in a special vehicle that elevates to the door so they get on very early.
When I did something similar (travelled by train from Montpellier to Paris, departing the next morning from CDG), I took the TGV to CDG and booked the CitizenM at CDG. I checked in and dropped my bags at the hotel, then took the Metro into Paris for the afternoon. Headed back to CDG at the end of the day (I was travelling solo so wasn't keen on staying into the evening), had an excellent stay at the hotel and rolled right into the airport the next morning, no worries about missed trains, etc.
