It looks like we will be arriving at CDG around 5:00 on a Friday night, coming from Spain. Our flight back to the USA is at 9:00 am the following morning. We are thinking it makes the most sense to spend the night by the airport. The question is... what might we consider doing between checking into the hotel and coming back to sleep. Go into Paris? Senlis? Restaurant recommendations? Hotel recommendations?
Thanks!
Since is going to be the end of your trip and you will have already had a full day you might not feel like going anywhere. I would stay at any hotel located near the airport terminal in your price range or budget. You have to be at the airport 3 hours before the flight if it is direct to the USA
Definitely stay at an airport hotel, there are several in different price ranges. If you have the energy, you could take the RER "B" into Paris, maybe the St-Michel station, for dinner and a stroll along the Seine.
When we have done this we have taken the RER into town for dinner and a last stroll along the Seine and then trained back for bed and to be up for that early line and check in.
Last time we were in Paris we had an early morning flight and spent our last night at the Holiday Inn in Roissy (took the free shuttle to and from the airport). From there we could walk through a park to the Avenue Charles de Gaulle where there were quite a few restaurants that looked good. It was a very pleasant little street. We ate at aux Trois Gourmands which was wonderful. All the other customers seemed to be local. We enjoyed it and I’d definitely consider it again. Of course if you are up for the trip to Paris that late, it might be more fun.
We stayed at the CDG Pullman Roissy in October the night before our return flight to Orlando. We checked in to the hotel about 3:00 pm and thought it would be great fun to take the train to Paris, grab a bite to eat, see Notre Damme again, walk along the river, etc. Dinner menu at the hotel looked good, but seemed pricey, so off we went.
What we didn’t give enough thought to, was the fact that we were at the end of a five week trip and I guess we just didn’t want to face the fact that we were both really “done”. Our trip into Paris was exhausting. With the price of the two round trip train tickets and eating at a restaurant in Ile Saint Louis, we both agreed it would have been much more relaxing and probably cheaper, if we would have just stayed at the hotel. Lesson learned. Just our experience and thoughts.
We are staying at the same hotel the night before our flight next year and will stay put once we get there.
Sue's post touches a not uncommon issue pertaining to travel , about being " done " before returning home . By the day before departure to the States , we also find that last day to be anti climactic . Since we have an early flight home ( nine or ten AM ) we land at an airport hotel by three on the preceding day and relax , aware that the trip has left us , before we leave . The writer John Steinbeck had similar sentiments about this , well elucidated at the end of his book about his travels through the States - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_Charley
