I am looking for some information. I am planning a trip to Budapest that has a 4 hour layover in CDG. Is this enough time to get from the plane through customs and immigration and to Palais Royal and back? I want to go to Angelina on 226 Rue de Rivoli if they are open that early. As our layover is 820am to 1245pm on a Friday.

You will be arriving at rush hour which maybe tricky. Four hours is not a ton of time since at CDG you need to be at the airport 2hr early. Also where will you be coming from? Airline?

When I get in on AA, we have to take a bus. I allow 1 hr to get to the street. AA is ofter early.

4 hrs definitely is not enough...

Arriving on AA. Heading out on Malev.

Bags will be checked through so not a hassle. As for the have to be at the airport 2 hours early. How much of a rule is that? And what exactly is it for? I am not checking in in Paris. I'll already have done that in NY before going to ORD.

I admit I hadnt thought about rush hour but I am just wanting to run into town, grab something at a specific place if they're open, and head back out.

Its an hour on the bus into town? Or an hour at the airport?

I don't mind getting back to the airport 1 hour before the flight if all I have to do is clear security and get on a plane.

Mate, I'd not bet on being able to make it from the airport and to downtown Paris by bus in an hour. By train, maybe, but by bus.....I'd say no at that time of day, simply due to circulation. Or rather: you *might* make it, but there's a non-zero chance that you won't make it in one hour since traffic can be horrible in Paris and suburbs, especially at the time(s) you're talking about.

Train would be approximately 1-1/4 hours each way, if there are no delays (I have occasionally experienced delays on that line for one reason or another). Then there's the amount of time you need to clear immigration and get through the airport to the train, and the time you need to clear security (lines are sometimes long) when you get back to the airport...

Realistically speaking, IMHO not a great idea unless you don't care if you miss your next flight.

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I just reread the thread. I see you're arriving on AA. I interpret aprutherford's comments "When I get in on AA, we have to take a bus. I allow 1 hr to get to the street" to mean that AA doesn't land at a jetbridge and you have to take a bus from the plane to the terminal (that's often been my experience as well), then clear immigration/customs, and thus it can easily take an hour just to leave the terminal itself. THEN you start counting your transit time to get wherever you're going...

Technically, it can be done in 45min flat. Not that I've ever managed to do it in less than 1h, from the train platform in CDG to downtown Paris, and iff is right that this line (line B) is a frequent victim of delays for a variety of reasons.

Outch, yeah, I wouldn't do it. And I've been living in Paris for 10 years and know most of the in's and out's of the transportation system, the city and the airport.

Oh well. Its still the best mileage value for the ticket but seems I'm not going to get to do it.

How about this then? Anything near the airport for a decent/good breakfast? I assume there is some OW lounge I could go to but to get out would be better.

To my knowledge, there's nothing much exciting around the airport. Industrial area, airport hotels...that sort of stuff.

The northern end of Paris (zip-codes starting with 93) are generally not the most charming bits of the city, and has a rather bad reputation for being....how shall we say....more troubled.....so there're few really nice places around.

Yes, you're correct that technically it could be as little as 45 minutes IF the train is there and leaves immediately when you arrive and IF you can make the transfer from RER B to line 1 at Chatelet in only a few minutes; I estimated a bit large to allow for waiting for the trains to arrive as well as a more realistic transfer time at Chatelet. Realistically I would say 1 to 1-1/4 hours, depending on how your timing is with regard to the trains and barring any delays.

It's too bad it won't work for you this time, tenmoc... perhaps another time? Angelina's opens at 8 during the week, by the way--I called to verify, just in case.

Thanks so much. If we're EARLY I am sure we'll go for it. But I really would want to be an hour early based on what's been read and I'm not counting on that.

Thank you all for the help with this. I'd look for a later flight from CDG to BUD except the purpose of the trip is BUD. Paris will come again later I guess.

And as a follow up. If my bags are checked through from us to hungary i should not have to claim them in paris. so i can skip this step right?