drewguy

I'm arriving early morning at CDG next week (Tuesday) and headed straight to Reims. There's a train about 2 hours after arrival, with the next one about 5 hours after arrival. Any need to buy tickets in advance or just walk up? (I should have time, but always worry about arrival/immigration delays . . . )

andrewesque

This is a TGV ticket, so the pricing is dynamic and it is (very remotely) possible that the train could sell out. However, given that Reims is not too far from Paris/CDG the pricing spread is not too bad, as opposed to more far-flung French cities where the spread between cheapest advance purchase tickets and day-of tickets can be quite large.

If you do a dummy booking for 2 October, for example, most of the tickets are in the €44 range whereas if you push out a couple of weeks there are many tickets that are roughly half this price in the €20 or so range.

It's worth noting that SNCF has simplified the ticket types for second-class TGV and Intercité tickets and they are all (with the important exception of Ouigo low-cost trains) now modifiable and/or exchangeable under certain conditions up until departure, though of course if you're on a plane and can't access the Internet or phone in order to change your ticket before the scheduled departure time that' may not help. Seat 61 translates the policy as:

Goldorak

In case the train is fully booked, and if you don't want to wait 5 hrs for the next one, you have the option to go to gare de l'est downtown Paris from where you have plenty of TGV trains to Reims.

drewguy

Thank you both - our flight arrived early and had no problem buying a ticket at kiosk (though last minute price was higher than prebooking).

Merlin666

What is the best way to gare de l'est?

ajGoes

The RER B will take you from T2 to the Gare du Nord. From there it's a ten-minute walk or one stop on metro line 5.

DCJoe1

One additional note on that- your ticket for the RER will include the ride on the Metro 5 if you elect to go that route. The special CDG ticket is good for travel anywhere in Paris on any RER/Metro combo.

Merlin666

Thanks I am actually planning on going to Strasbourg/Offenburg and the options from CDG don't look promising so I am wondering if it might be better to go via Gare de l'est?

mlin32

Depending on date or time, perhaps. There are hourly departures from Paris-Est to Strasbourg as it's the main eastern destination on the LGV Est. But factor in the approx 70mn time it takes to transit from CDG via the RER B and another 15mn to walk between la gare du nord and est.

dergon darkhelm

Hi all -- Bumping a "CDG to Reims" thread


Arrive CDG at scheduled 1055 am. Options for the CDG to Reims include one at 11:59 am (seems a bit too tight to clear customs) and the next at 2:59 pm, leaving me hanging around the airport for a few hours. I can do that easily enough and just loiter about the terminal. Arrive Reims about 4:20


Or ...

I can grab the RER B to gare du nord, walk over to gare l'est where there's a seemingly quite doable 1:58 pm departure putting us in Reims at 3:30




seems like a fair bit of additional effort to shave off 50 minutes of total travel ... but maybe it'll be more fun to be on the move and do the little hike between train stations.

Which would you do?

mlin32

Depends how much luggage you are carrying and how many people are in your groupe.

Personally I am happy hitting the Gare de l'est in a timeframe you mentioned, but then again, it's not a foreign country to me and I can move quickly.

Goldorak

Saving 50 min don't worth the hassle to go to gare de l'est IMHO

dergon darkhelm

Plane landed on time, breezed through customs, got to the CDG train station with 12 minutes to spare on the 11:59 am departure to Reims. SNCF app is great. Booked the tickets right there online in front of the attendant waiting to see our tickets.

bing bang boom and we’re in Reims by 1:20


(and there’s nothing like arriving at your hotel a couple of hours before the “official” check in time and being told your room is all ready and they’ll bring you up some complimentary champagne . )

dergon darkhelm

Return from Reims a bit messy …. Added a bit of spice to our day


was supposed to be a direct train to Gare l’est but there was a rail accident and the train stopped at Noisy le sec. Everyone got forced off the train and was told to wait for a bus that would come at some point

We (and lots of other people ) grabbed an Uber. On the plus side, while waiting outside the station for 40 minutes I figured the code of the local drug dealers. One guy would come by a set a yellow cigarette lighter on the lamppost. A minute or two later another guy would drive by on a scooter to confirm. Then another minute later a couple of others would make the exchange, pick up the lighter, and it would all start again

Glad it was the middle of a nice sunny day… I get the vibe that the station there would be a bit rough at night for a bunch of tourists schlepping luggage

kerouac2

When I was younger, taking the train from Metz, seeing the Noisy-le-Sec station whizzing by indicated that we had almost arrived in Paris. The next landmark was seeing the domes of Sacré Coeur in the distance.

In this day and age, being blocked at Noisy-le-Sec would not really bother me because I am very familiar with the T1 tram that leaves from there and could easly circle the suburbs to an adequate metro station to get into the city. But of course most people would not know that.