Transporting boxed bikes and passengers from Charles de Gaulle to Gare de Lyon

Unbox them and roll them on the train/underground.

Are your bikes in cardboard boxes or a bike specific travel case? We have soft sided bike travel cases on wheels and had no problem taking the RER from Charles de Gaulle to our hotel. A few days later we walked with them a reasonably short distance to Gare Montparnasse. They are light weight and highly maneuverable once you get the hang of it. Maybe you can rent some locally before your trip?

Due to limited luggage space I would not recommend taking the TGV trains though.

The actual “traveling” part of a trip with bikes is definitely not something we enjoy. We pack as light as possible otherwise to compensate.

The bikes will be in cardboard boxes. Thanks for your response!

We didn't use it but the trains in France advertised - book your bike - on TGV/Oui routes. I think it's 5 or 10e depending on the service and supposed saves a bike spot for you. I'm assuming a boxed bike would qualify as a "not dismantled" bike for their purposes.

https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/train/bike-onboard

We saw many people with bikes on the trains so it's pretty common.

Hope that helps,
=Tod

Thank you Tod. These suggestions are really helpful with our planning.

There is a train from CDG to Central Paris, on which I am pretty sure you can take bike boxes. Might be difficult to manoeuvre them - airports are OK because they have carts. Boxes and bags are a PITA when you try to leave an airport or train station with them. In Vancouver BC airport, I tried to muscle my bike bag around (it even had a pair of wheels), get it on the Skytrain, and go downtown, and it was HELLISH. I also had this issue in Aberdeen, Scotland and in London, so I ditched the cardboard boxes upon arrival and had leisurely rides to my hotels. The question is, have you bags that can be mounted on the bikes, so you can do this? If not, you have a bit of a problem - that isn't fun either. Any reasonably sized van should be able to take all your stuff though.

It is a problem worth spending time on researching and planning. Good luck! Mr. Joefarnacle above's last sentence is key!

Thanks so much for your reply! Really appreciate it. So our group has grown to 5 now and we have decided to put the bikes together at the airport and transport them on the train that way. Hopefully that will work. Your trips sound great!

Make sure of your hours (or not, if you're arriving on a weekend)

https://www.ratp.fr/en/question/it-possible-carry-my-bicycle-ratp-network#:~:text=On%20the%20RER%2C%20you%20may,p.m.%20on%20all%20other%20days.

Got it thanks!

And of course distribute yourself among the cars -- this is local transport without much space for luggage, or for bikes or wheelchairs etc so spread out.