Our flight from USA arrives in Paris at 8:15 am; we want to take the train to Bordeaux to board our river cruise by 5:00 pm. There is a direct train from CDG that departs at 11:18am. Is this enough time between landing, customs and travel to train station? We will not check bags.
Posted by
Florida (previously California)
3718 posts
General rule that I have seen is to allow three hours between the ETA of your flight and a train departing from CDG and that assumes checked baggage. Of course, anything could happen in terms of delay but usually three hours should give you enough time.
Posted by
OP
22 posts
Between landing and train departure, I am exactly at 3 hours. My flight has a very good on-time departure and lands in Terminal 2. So I may just cross my fingers and hope for the best!
Posted by
Paris
6919 posts
It sounds like the right buffer under normal conditions, even allowing for some plane or immigration delays. If things do go very wrong, you'll have to hop on a cab to Paris Montparnasse Station (55 euros fixed) and take the TGV there (about 120 euros last minute per person) : significant cost, but less so than a missed cruise.
Posted by
Chicago
8089 posts
It should work but there is always some risk in plans that require things to go as usual. You should have a plan B in mind.
Posted by
Paris
9652 posts
You are taking a bit of a risk by arriving in France the same day that your river cruise departs from Bordeaux.
If your flight arrives on time, you will have ample time to make that train, but if your U.S. flight is delayed by anything more than about an hour, things are going to get tricky. Let’s hope that that on-time percentage stays in your favor that day!!