Transportation

From the airport, I usually take the RER train and transfer to metro if necessary. It's about 11 euro/person. The more people you have, the more sense it makes to take a taxi. Taxis are 55euro. In my opinion, taxis take longer, but they are easier for a first time visitor feeling nervous. I don't believe Uber is allowed to pick up at the airport. I walk a lot and use the metro when I need to. Many sites are in walking distance. You might buy a carnet of ten metro tickets to share with your husband. I do like the Paris MUSEUM pass if you plan on visiting a few of the museums and places like Saint Chapelle, the roof of the Notre Dame, Arch de Triomphe, pantheon and more. I haven't been to Epernay. The French train website is SNCF. Its been a couple years since I've been on that site, if you don't find it user friendly, loco2 and trainline.eu are more user friendly.

Hi Jules, Thank you for the response. Super helpful! Do you do a Paris Visite pass?

I would echo what Jules said except we do not take public transportation to or from the airport. I don’t like dragging luggage and, inbound, we are quite jet lagged. Taxi’s (be sure it’s a legal one-join the queue and avoid guys who try to steer you to their car while you’re still in the terminal) are regulated-either 50 or 55 Euro’s depending on where you are going (left or right bank). We tip a couple of Euro’s but it’s not necessary. Welcome Pickups is a company that will meet you and they are the same price as a taxi. Uber-we have used it in Paris. It’s status in France is an on again, off again thing. I’m not sure about Uber at CDG. As for getting around the Metro is your friend and is easier than it looks at first glance. A carnet is a good idea. If you are visiting multiple museums (and you should) the Museum Pass is a must.

1. Take a taxi from the official taxi queue. Do not accept rides from clandestine drivers soliciting from within the terminals. Cost is as Alan states: 50€/55€ to the Right/Left Bank respectively for up to 4 passengers. Drivers are not tipped. There are other options but nothing beats door to door service when you are tired and not sure.

2. The Paris Visite Passe is relatively expensive for what it provides. It´s a foolproof solution but if you are only traveling around Paris, you can purchase and share groups of 10 tickets t+ for 14.90€. The t+ is valid for travel on the RER (train) within Paris only as well as the bus, métro, tramway, or funicular. For heavy usage there are other options but the single ticket works very well for many visitors.

3. For tickets to Epernay, use one of these sites and purchase your tickets are soon as they become available (usually 3 months before travel):

www.loco2.com
www.trainline.eu
www.oui.sncf

Yes, the Paris Visite pass is very overpriced. I usually buy single-journey tickets in blocks of ten called "carnets", each of which gives one journey in the central Paris area (the numbered arrondisements). You can make changes between lines on the Metro/RER on one ticket, and from one bus route to another, but if you change between bus and Metro or vice-versa you need a new ticket.

If you are travelling a lot in central Paris you may want a Navigo Day or Week pass. These are more complicated - read the linked page. The main disadvantage is that there is an initial fee to buy the electronic card your passes are stored on, and hence it is probably not worth it unless you intend to visit Paris repeatedly.

And yes, the trip to Epernay is longer-distance and you will save money if you book in advance at one of the sites mentioned above. The advance fares go on sale about three months in advance and can sell out fast on busy days and times. Be careful though, as they strictly require you to travel on the train you picked, and if you miss it you will have to buy a new full-fare ticket.

More tools:

https://www.ratp.fr/en

https://parisbytrain.com/

Start practicing now so you will be comfortable once you arrive. The regional transportation link includes interactive planning to establish your daily travel. Google Maps can perform a similar function. My general strategy is that any pass should be considered last rather than first, so your choices are not confined by bargain-hunting.

I believe that the RATP website, in its present form, is one of the most confusing, poorly constructed, and haphazardly assembled websites currently available on the world wide web. It's perfectly designed for those who do not need to use it.

For transportation information, there is no better app than Citymapper. Googlemaps is OK for a walking reference but it's transportation information is too often either incorrect or incomplete.

Citymapper is your friend.

I always map out metro rides on the ratp.fr web site and find it easy to use and it gives both the routes and changes as well as a map showing the routes you need. It is also easy to map out a metro ride with a metro map.

The Visite pass is 95% of the time WAY overpriced compared to all other options. The only time it makes sense is if you are living for free with your uncle in zone 3 and commuting into Paris every day (or zone 5). All of Paris is zone 1; the basic t+ ticket 10 for 14.90 covers all of Paris and everywhere the metro goes even into zone 3 occasionally. You have to be careful using it on the RER as it is only good for that within Paris i.e. zone 1. If you have a day where you will be using the metro 5 or 6 times (I don't think in years of visiting Paris we have ever had such a day, but a short term visitor might) then a day pass called a Mobilis can be useful. Be sure to put your name on it to make it valid. If you are 25 or younger you can get a day pass on weekends for about 60% of the Mobilis cost.

And I would use a taxi from the airport ONLY from the official queue; anyone who asks you if you need a taxi or tries to direct you to a different line is a cheat. If you use the train and whenever you ride any public transport or are visiting crowded attractions like the Louvre be sure you are pickpocket proof. Paris is very safe from physical danger but pickpocketing is organized crime in European tourist cities and they are very efficient at it. It is easy to avoid by not carrying wallets in pockets or backpacks.

Another pile on against the Paris Visite I'm afraid. Way too much money. You can use t+ ticket carnets, you can use Mobilis - still have ride quite a lot to pay off but the pay off is much earlier, or, depending on how your 5 nights fall and how you realistically expect to travel - sounds like quite a lot in your OP but is that realistic as you see things when there? - you might save money and get convenience with one week long Navigo Découverte. I'd advise checking your options before buying Paris Visite.

Hi RafT.
From CDG we caught the train into Paris and connected to a metro to within 400 metres of our hotel. We had no idea how to do this so simply asked a very helpful attendant to show us how to purchase the tickets and to ensure we were going to be heading in the right direction. It was that easy. Don't stress.
As others have said the taxi is a fixed price of 50 or 55 euro. We had a hold up on the metro on our departure day and shared a taxi with a young Japanese gentleman. Either way it will be easy.

Getting around Paris is incredibly easy utilising the metro. We are dumb Aussie small town country hicks who never use public transport at home. We had it all under control like a pair of Parisians after just one trip. If we can do it anyone can. It is a simple matter to purchase metro tickets via the ticket vending machines.

Epernay is to the east so you will probably have to travel to Gare de l'Est for that trip. Easy to do by metro (line 4 I think).
You will get hit for a seat reservation surcharge (20€ each) if it is a TGV/ICE train.
We had no issues reserving seats on such trains the morning of departure (we had a rail pass) during July and August.
I expect you can get much cheaper rail tickets booking wll in advance however.

Where are you planning on staying in Paris?

You will get hit for a seat reservation surcharge (20€ each) if it is a TGV/ICE train.

Mo'pak - I looked closer at the Epernay trains as I have never heard of a seat reservation surcharge on any TGV train (unless someone was traveling on a pass of some type). The nonrefundable, 22€ fares are mostly on TER trains with a couple of connecting possibilities on TGVs via Reims. I see nothing in the SNCF T&Cs referencing seat reservations on these trains.

The Corail trains used to have a 5€ seat reservation fee which was entirely optional to the traveler. To what possible seat reservation surcharge of 20€ are you referring?

I am thinking of the surcharge we had to pay on such trains using our railpass.

I always get a Navigo pass when I go to Paris, but I generally stay there at least two weeks at a time. If you are thinking of a Navigo, be advised that it covers one week, beginning Monday morning early and ending Sunday night late. So if that meshes with your arrival date, it might be worth it. It is also good for the bus, and I always try to take the bus in Paris - you get to see the sights as you get around the city. Peter

The Paris Visite Pass is a colossal rip off. Look into the 2, 4, 6 consecutive day Museum Pass.

I cannot ever imagine taking anything BUT public transportation from the airport. Look into purchasing the weekly Découverte Navigo card for public transportation which includes the fast RER B commuter rail into Paris. The card is great if you're staying at least 4-5 days in Paris between Monday and a Sunday.

For optimal advice, open up a Travel book for Paris like Rick Steves, Fodors or Lonely Planet. Planning is half the fun. Don't cheat yourself of that.

Get your TGV to Epernay well in advance for MUCH cheaper fares. The seat reservation is part of the ticket cost so just ignore the comments about needing to pay some sort of surcharge. Nonsense.

WE have used the train from the airport and cabs -- these days in our 70s, it is always cabs -- door to door where we stay for 55 Euro rather than hauling our luggage up and down stairs at metro changes and then carrying it another few blocks to the apartment. Once in Paris we use the metro; we find the buses annoyingly slow and I rarely get a seat on the bus and rarely don't get one on the metro. Except at full on rush hour, I find it easy to get a seat on the metro -- while young people don't often offer a seat, they don't race me for one either these days.

RafT
Two useful websites for your consideration: tomsguidetoparis.com and parisbytrain.com

Coming in April (they say): Navigo Easy Pass. It will be an electronic replacement for the faithful old carnet of 10 paper tickets. Same prices to start.

 https://www.cntraveler.com/story/paris-metro-ditches-paper-tickets-moves-to-london-like-system