My wife and I are traveling from San Francisco to Saint-Quentin en-Yvelines in August, which is the starting point for the 1200k Paris-Brest-Paris cycling event held every 4 years. (She's doing it, not me, I'm not that crazy.) I'm flying in separately to Orly, arriving around 9 pm on a Tuesday evening. It looks like the RER C line goes from the airport to SQ, although the route is far from direct. Is that my best transportation option or are there better alternatives? If my flight arrives late, does the RER operate all night? Also, in the week while she is busy preparing for and doing the event, I plan on spending as little time as possible in SQ and enjoying Paris instead. Is the RER the best bet for getting back and forth?
Posted by
Green Bay
21152 posts
The RATP trip planner gives a different routing. Does not appear to be a direct way using the RER C, at least anytime after 9:30 pm. You need to depart by 10:55 pm or else get a cab. They say take the Orly Bus to Denfert-Rochereau, then to Gare Montparnasse on the Metro, then a train to St Quentin en-YV.
Look it up at: http://www.ratp.fr/itineraires/en/ratp/recherche-avancee
Posted by
Green Bay
21152 posts
Here is another route planner specifically for the Paris suburban trains including the RER C.
http://www.transilien.com/?siteLanguage=en
There are a few more direct routes until about 10:30 pm. Take the shuttle bus to the Pont de Rungis/Aeroport Orly station and train to Massy-Palalseau, change train to Versailles Chantiers, change trains to Saint Quentin en Yvelines. That's about an hour journey from Pont de Rungis.
RER C will get you into central Paris, every 15 minutes until 9:40, then every half hour until the afternoon rush hour. There are also N trains to Gare Montparnasse. If you plan on many trips, look into the Navigo Descouvertes weekly pass zone 1-5 for 35.40 euro per week. There is an initial set up charge of about 5 euro and you need a 1" by 1.25" passport type photo. It goes Monday morning to Sunday night only.
You might also look at downloading the app from the website for schedule info.
Posted by
OP
San Rafael, CA
6 posts
Thanks Sam, very helpful. From the version of the transit map in the Guidebook, it didn't look like it was possible to take a more direct route (albeit with 2 connections) from Pont de Rungis to Saint-Quentin. If I get in late or am just beat from my cheap but decidedly non-direct flight from San Francisco, I'll splurge on a taxi. And the Navigo Découverte sounds good -- the Guidebook downplayed it in favor of carnets, but that assumes travel limited to zones 1-2, and I'll be going roundtrip in 1-5 for 5 days.
--Rick.