Transportation from Charles De Gaulle

"I know not to take cabs or the metro."

I don't see why -- unless you have a lot of luggage. The RER "B" line goes directly into downtown Paris, costs only about 8.50 Euro, and will be faster than the bus because of the Paris traffic, which can be awful.

When I flew into CDG in 05 and 09 I took the RER/Metro into Paris and it was very convenient, and I think it is the most economical. I hopped on the train at the airport and got off at the St.Michel stop, near Notre Dame, and walked just a few blocks to my hotel.

I have taken the Air France/Roissy bus several times as it dropped me close to where I was staying. Not sure it is the best or most efficient way but it was easy. You'll need to visit the ATM at CDG for euros if you don't have any, then you just pay the bus driver and hop on. There are several pre-determined stops in Paris, see your guidebook and map for the nearest one to your hotel. Once you get in Paris, you can walk, take the Metro, or take a taxi to your hotel.

On my last trip to France in December I took the RER "B" myself and also got off at the St. Michel stop, just a few blocks from my hotel. Very convenient.

The only inconvenience is, you have to stand in line at the airport to buy your RER ticket, unless you have Euro change for the ticket machines. I did have change, but lost my ticket somehow -- it either didn't come out of the machine, or I wasn't looking in the right place, because I picked up another ticket from the machine that turned out to be an old discount ticket, that didn't work. The lady at the ticket counter told me it had been purchased weeks ago. Strange. I never figured out what actually happened to my ticket, and had to go to the ticket office to buy another one.

Be careful of jet lag, which makes it easy to make mistakes when you are just off the plane.

Take the RER/metro. Super easy and cheap.

I did not want to take the Cabs due to the expense. I also steered away from the metro due to thieves, pick pockets, etc. Not that I am too concerned about this, but thought if there were other viable alternatives, I would consider them first.

Sounds like the metro is the way to go. Thanks for the help.

I think as long as you pay attention to your stuff you wouldnt have problems with pickpockets and thieves. I was worried like you before my trip but I did use the RER and metro with no problem.
I hope you'll have a great time on your trip.

I've used the metro thousands of times and have never, ever had a problem. It's 1000x safer than Atlanta.

Susan, I have never had a problem on the Atlanta Rail, but would probably agree that anything thrown our way in Paris will be nothing in comparison. Thank you all for the advice. 7 days and counting!