A few questions about arriving at CDG airport

Customs is no problem, and there are numerous little cafes there....but it's still just airport food. Have you thought of taking the Air France Buses? Metro can be a little difficult if you have luggage to heft up and down stairs.

Thanks, Mary Ann. We will each have one rolling carry-on and one backpack, so I think we will be okay on the train. As for the food, I am thinking that just some juice and toast would be good--the kid is generally a really good traveller but when she is hungry she can be cranky (yes, I did say "teen (not toddler) daughter"!).

Toast? No, by no means common in Paris. You might find a delicious croissant! Bon Voyage!

Molly, you'll probably be served at least a snack an hour or so before your flight arrives at CDG, so that may help to alleviate the hunger to some extent. You'll probably both be suffering a bit from "flight fatigue" so your teenager might be cranky anyway.

When are you heading for Paris and which terminal are you arriving at? I'll be flying into CDG in about 10-days, so could scope out the food services for you. However, as someone else mentioned it's still going to be "airport food", although even a Croissant and Coffee would probably help.

Cheers!

I would take a close look at the post about lugging bags up and down Metro steps. In my experience on the Paris Metro, there are a LOT of steps, even moving around to change trains. Some stations have escalators, but not many. Even a rolling carry on can be difficult to manuveur with a back pack.

We are always served a "breakfast snack" on flights to Paris. Usually a bread with butter and jam, some yogurt and fruit. But even an airport food establishment is better that US ones. We have had coffee, even went in a sit down restaurant and found the food good--not great, but good.

Sue, I'm probably also going to be using the RER and Metro method to get to my Hotel. I use Backpacks rather than wheeled luggage, so stairs are not too much of a problem.

Cheers!

There is a little cafe right in the train station area at CDG. We have eaten there many times after arriving and have used it as a meeting point for friends. The first time I flew to Paris this was my first taste of "French" food (a croissant and cafe au lait) and I thought it was fabulous. I have since learned differently but it's not too bad.

Just flew in from CDG yesterday and we had crossaints and coffee at Paul (www.paul.fr) which is a small stand right outside the Sheraton Hotel(main entrance not the conference center below) and the escaltors by the RER at Terminal 2, the level above the Relay. They were so good I got a box of 8 to bring home. Enjoy

Thanks for all the croissant information! And I am rethinking the Metro plan. Would it maybe make sense to take the RER to the Nord station and then get a cab from there?

You may want to consider the taxi as an option if you don't want to deal with stairs on the metro. Some questions to think about; Do you know exactly where your hotel is? Is your hotel steps from the metro? Are you familiar with the metro and how to get around? If you answered yes to all and can handle the luggage just take the RER-metro, if not I would consider taking a taxi. Someone mentioned the Air France bus which may be a good option too.

Page 436 of RS Paris 2009 guide book recommends several ways to get from the airport to different sections of Paris. Since we were staying in the Rue Cler neighborhood, we took the Roissy-Bus to Opera and then the Metro from Opera to a stop 3 blocks from our hotel on Rue Cler. We each had RS roller bags and attachable carry on and found that recommendation very effective. We use that method on May 9, 2009.