We will arrive at CDG at around 7:45 AM on a Sunday. As first timers to this airport as well as to France, are they any tips, tricks, or advice to help us not make avoidable mistakes as we learn our way through CDG on arrival? We will have carry on and a personal item only, so no baggage claim.
Thanks much!
Posted by
1513 posts
This is probably the most common question asked in the France category and nobody will tell you anything different. Once you clear immigration; Follow the signs and footprints on the floor to the official taxi stand. Don't let anyone steer you different; or persuade you that you can get a ride from the them...ignore...just get in the quick moving line. Rates are fixed depending on left bank or right bank. Then go directly to your accommodations!
When we arrive that early from the west coast we are wiped out. We always reserve our hotel for the night before and let them know we will be there in the morning. Then we can immediately check in; drop our luggage; freshen up and get out and about until we are ready to call it a day. Otherwise the slow wait until 3/4pm seems endless and exhausting.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
11278 posts
When you see the restrooms, use them, in case you are stuck in a long line to get through passport control. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can just wait until you get out into the public side of the terminal.
Otherwise, just follow the signs. There are employees to direct you along the way.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
7457 posts
How many people is "we". I always use the RER B train from CDG. At that time on a Sunday, the train shouldn't be that busy. If we is a family, at that point, a taxi becomes similar in price.
Posted by
OP
29 posts
Thanks folks!
Twin Cities... The We is my wife and I and my question was about fight arrival at CDG (Immigration, Customs, etc...). Sorry if I was unclear about that. Thanks for your reply.
Posted by
Florida (previously California)
4258 posts
I will mention the escalators. Each one has no steps and one steps on a sort of spongy/soft conveyor belt and the entire thing is enclosed a clear tube. I used to fly into CDG in United a couple of times per year and many times there would be person having difficulty with the escalators. I think that the effect is sort of cool like you are an envelope in a slow moving pneumatic tube but I have seen may people trip on those things or get very confused by them maybe because you can see all the others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2_W3YT0yuY
Posted by
Chicago
9271 posts
Use the bathroom on the plane when you are about half an hour out so you don't have to stop in the terminal and lose your place in the immigration queue which CAN be very long. It took us two hours a couple of years ago -- usually it takes about an hour from arrival to the cab line and we do check bags.
You follow the crowd to baggage control as immigration precedes that and then the only tricky point is to get in the right passport line. They are pretty well signed and you will go in the line for Canadians and Americans. There is an automatic kiosk that reads your passport, no glasses or hats, and then when authorized you go through the gate and have the agent stamp the passport. At that point you exit through baggage control
Posted by
Seattle
152 posts
You'll be arriving at Terminal 1. Do not try to take the RER into Paris--it leaves from Terminal 2, and the transfer can be confusing. As others have stated, take an official taxi from Termnal 1 to your hotel. As KD has noted, it is very smart to book your hotel room for the night before you arrive, telling them that you are actually a morning arrival. There is nothing worse than trying to stay awake in a Paris cafe all day waiting until 4 p.m. to check in.