We will be arriving at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris and need to take the train to Bordeaux. Is there a station at CDG that goes to Bordeaux? I am nervous about making connections. I've heard that this airport is very confusing/complicated. How do we get to the correct station that serves Bordeaux?
Thank you.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6285 posts
So, someone else will be able to give you exact information, but there is definitely a train from CDG that goes to Bordeaux, and it is also possible to take RER B and then a metro to Montparnase Station and get a train to Bordeaux there. What my point will be is, these train tickets are expensive day of and you may want to purchase the tickets in advance at significant savings. However, with air travel such as it is and the fact that you never could really plan a specific time table anyway, I would be hesitant to prepurchase train tickets for the same day that you arrive CDG. One option could be to spend a night or two in Paris prior to your travel to Bordeaux, then you will not need to be nervous about connections and you could save money on the train ticket (and spend some time in Paris which is always a good thing!)
I am going to Bordeaux in a couple months on a trip that was rescheduled due to COVID. Our original plan was to fly into CDG and take the train/metro to a hotel close to the Montparnase station. Enjoy Paris in the evening and hop on an early train to Bordeaux in the morning. When we rescheduled this trip, we lucked out on getting a cheap ticket with miles directly to Bordeaux. I wouldn't call the itinerary great, but it does have the advantage of getting us directly to Bordeaux.
Posted by
Florida (previously California)
3883 posts
The long-distance train station at CDG is quite easy to find. The airport is large but if you review a map beforehand, it should not be confusing. See https://easycdg.com/airport-guide/maps-terminal-paris-cdg-airport-charlesdegaulle/ You do not state your arrival date or time but it could be that as mentioned above, the schedule will make traveling into Paris make more sense. In that case, I’d take a taxi to Gare Montparnasse. You can check the train schedules allowing three hours between flight arrival and train departure if leaving from CDG and four hours if leaving from Paris. Look at https://www.sncf-connect.com/ for schedules. It might make more sense to go into Paris even if there are frequent trains from CDG because the trip from Paris to Bordeaux can be as short as 2 hours and 3 minutes with no connection while the trip from CDG might have connections and take as much as 6 hours.