Layover in Paris

I would challenge Tim & Ed that all those trains will beat a taxi, but all in all I like Frank's idea the best.

Too close for me. If everything is perfect (and your plane arrives on time and you have your train tickets in your paw), and assuming you need to be back at the airport three hours prior to departure: If you magically poof yourself from the airplane seat to the train station (skipping passport control, etc), to get to the closest metro/rer stop to the ET will take something like an hour and fifteen minutes. There's a train change in there somewhere, you'd have to have footprints painted on the floor to due it exactly right. Once you're near the tower, you have to pop above ground, take a look, and run back down. That's ten or fifteen minutes more. You have to get back to the airport as expeditiously as you left. Two hours and fourty-five minutes from the airport train station to town and back and you still have to find your departure gate. Nope.

You could do it, but the only feasible way would be by taxi. Expensive, but you'd avoid the transit problems Ed described. Even by taxi, you're looking at about a 45-minute drive each way.

We had a five hour layover at CDG a few years ago and considered going into the city. Friends who live in Paris said don't even think about doing that.

I'm not so sure I agree with Tom. I thought of driving first, since I drive all over the place and have driven in and out of Paris close to a couple of hundred times. You might make it in less than an hour at mid-day, but early in the morning (it looked like an eight am arrival) the roads from about Le Bourget through St Ouen are clobbered. Then you've got to run the darn NW quadrant of the peripheriqe which always stinks (or cut diagionally through the city). It's bound to be more than hour each way, at best, maybe a lot more - - surface transportation is unpredictable (a couple of months ago I took an hour and a half to make a run that usually takes about twenty-five minutes). Call it two hours of road time (which is really generous). You've still got at least twenty minutes from the arrival gate to find the taxi rank (you know exactly where it is, right? - - and your plane was exactly on time). Then, even if the taxi lets you out at the top of the Trocadero and you run across the plaza to take a look and dash back to the cab, that's another ten minutes. Since you already know exactly where you departure gate is, you can get there from the cab in ten more minutes. That's your whole 5:40, right there. You've also already gotten the hundred euros or so the taxi will cost, so you don't have to wait in line at an ATM so that won't be a problem.

The only possible way I can think of to pull it off (and the idea really stinks) is to take the RER B through G. Nord to Saint Michel / Notre Dame (55 min?), hop off and dash to the middle of the Pont Neuf (10 min?) look at the tower from two miles away down the river, and retrace your steps. That's 2:10. Add ten minutes to get in and out of Saint Michel station, add twenty minutes get from the plane to the RER station, and ten minutes to get from the station to the departure gate. That's 2:50 and it's really a lot of guessing and ignoring the need to get money, buy tickets, etc.

I'm with Ed. The RER will be faster than a taxi, especially during rush hour. Lines at RER ticket windows at CDG can be long. There are ticket machines that accept coins (no bills). There are machines that change bills to coins. The fare is €8.70 each way. For detailed information, including photos, see the Paris by Train site. According to the Transport for Paris site, it will take a total of 45 minutes to get from CDG to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame, including the time it takes to get above ground at S-M N-D. According to viamichelin.com, it will take 10 minutes to walk from S-M N-D to the Pont-Neuf. You'll get a good look at the Notre-Dame cathedral, too. Be aware that the RER B line divides northeast of Paris. Be sure to get on a train that is going to CDG. If your flight to Rome departs from Terminal 1, you'll need to allow time to ride the free 24/7 CDGVAL driverless shuttle train from the CDG 1 RER station to Terminal 1. (The same is true in reverse if you arrive at Terminal 1.) Take note of what Ed said about finding your gate, etc. All in all, I don't think you should risk it.

I call the 5, 6 hour lay over a sucker play. It looks like it should be long enough to do something but it isn.t. There are a couple airports that you might be able to pull this off but CDG is not one of them. The is a large, sprawling complex that takes extra time to get through. Find a nice bar for the time period.

Thank you all so much for your comments. I thought it would be way too tight but my son is studying French and I thought I would try. Hopefully he will be satisfied with CDG airport and the fact we are spending the next 10 days in Rome, Venice, Florence and Siena. Is there anyway that we can see the city and possibly the Tower from afar? I had a chance to take the next flight out but wanted to have dinner in Rome. Thanks again!!!

There's no observation deck (nor upper level hotel bar that I know of) at the airport. The prevailing surface winds favor landing on the easterly runway. The flight path passes north of the city. Even with an apporach from the north (probable with the general location of the jetsteam) to the westerly runway, the city will be to the west. Sit on the right side of the plane and pray for no clouds. The above is inbound. If the easterly runway is used for departure you probably have no chance of seeing anything. If the westerly runway is used for departure, the side to sit on is a coin toss depending when the turn on course for Rome is made.