Paris vacation. Arriving 10am on a Wednesday morning (train) departing CDG at 10am Saturday of same week. Need 2 recommendations: 1) Best unlimited tourist zone (1&2?) pass for Wed-Fri 2) Suggested hotel departure time and best transport method to CDG for 10am departure. Thank you!
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
Paris is still largely a walking city....it's the best way to explore the city. With that in mind, you'll probably be taking fewer metro/bus rides than you think you might. The best deal, IMHO, is to simply ask for a Carnet (car-NAY) at any metro station....10 tickets for 11.10 Euro, a good deal over the single-ticket price of 1.50 Euro. For kids 4-9, a carnet of 10 is 5.55. With these tickets, you can make unlimited transfers within 90 minutes between Metro lines and the RER service within Paris OR between bus lines and trams T1-T3....but not between buses and Metro. As for CDG, the RER B-3 line takes between 30 and 40 minutes to get from Gare du Nord to CDG, but, depending on where your hotel is located, you can pick up that train anywhere along the RER B line. Add 20 minutes to get from the RER station to the check-in desk. You want to arrive AT LEAST 2 1/2 hours before flight time....maybe 3, so be aboard the RER by 6:15 am. (more)
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
(continued) See http://www.ratp.info/informer/anglais/ticket_t.php# for an explanation of ticket prices, and http://www.ratp.info/informer/anglais/index.php for an intinerary planner to help refine your times. Both those web pages also have links to Metro and RER maps. RER fare to CDG from downtown Paris is 8.20 Euro pp.
Posted by
OP
Quincy, FL, US
58 posts
Thanks Norm! Great info. Hotel is Hotel France Albion about a mile SW of Gare du Nord.
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
Believe it or not, getting from your hotel to Gare du Nord by metro is actually quite awkward....so close, yet so far! I would suggest taking a taxi from the hotel to Gare du Nord....even with all the one-way streets in the area, it shouldn't be much more than 1 1/2 miles door to door..10 minutes, tops. On the metro from your nearest stops (Saint Georges or Notre Dame de Lorette), it's two transfers...from the next closest (Cadet), it's still one transfer....hardly worth the effort (and slower than a cab.)