My husband and I are flying home Portugal to Los Angeles on a Sunday this July. We land at CDG in Paris at 12:30pm and depart for LA at 7:30pm. We are thinking of taking a quick hop over to the La Marais or Notre Dame to grab a quick bite, say hi to the grand dame, and maybe get a pastry.
We'll probably take a taxi to save time and avoid interruptions on the RER. We will check our backs since heading home and won't have to store luggage. Thoughts from this great group - can we do it?
JK/NK
You’ll want to be at CDG by 4:30/5, which means leaving central Paris at 3:30/4. It will take a good 40-60 minutes to get to the city. I don’t think a taxi will save time. The RER will probably be faster. So you’ll have about 2 hours in the city.
We land at CDG in Paris at 12:30pm
With good luck you are in Paris not much past 1:45PM.
Collective wisdom says be back at CDG by 4:30 so by around 3:30 you are looking for your ride back.
So you have less than 2 hours to 'be there'.
I know I wouldn't enjoy constantly looking at my watch.
My choice would be to look at getting lounge access and just kick back until boarding time.
Your trip, your choice.
Possible. A taxi will be fast because you can pick one up in the queue right outside the terminal door. No ticket machines to deal with or getting to the station. Take only taxis from the official stand. Traffic will still be light.
Yes, you should be back 3 hours before your flight to go through passport control, get to your terminal and pass security. Either taxi or RER would do the job. Each has its own perils and positives. Traffic will be heavy coming into Paris but shouldn’t be heavy leaving…unless there’s an accident somewhere. And yes, you are correct, the RER does have its breakdowns.
With good luck you are in Paris not much past 1:45PM.
With a landing time of 12:30, this seems doubtful to me. I usually count on it taking an hour from the time the plane lands to when I am out the front door of the airport .
You could get lucky though.
I would estimate getting into town at 2:30 and having to leave town at 3:30 to be back at the airport in time to check in etc for your LA flight. I would be very wary of trying this, but people have very different risks for appetite.
A taxi can of course always get stuck in traffic, just as the ReR can always have a loss of power or other issue.
Thank you all for the advice. Paris is one of our favorite cities and even a couple of hours to have a bite at a cafe and enjoy the city would be a great adventure for us! I'll let you know how it goes.
JK/NK
