Hi everyone!

I've been enjoying reading the posts here for a while now, you all have a wealth of information!!

Im travelling to CDG in a few weeks for the first time and am landing late at night. Could you please advise the easiest, cheapest and safest way to transfer to my hotel in the city near the Louvre. I prefer not to use cabs as I hear they are quite expensive and directions are a little hard. If anyone can recommend a door to door shuttle bus company they have recently used I would be most appreciative also.

Thanks so much
Larni

I suggest you go to the Les Cars Air France desk and tell them where you're going. They have 2-3 coach lines to the centre of Paris and will be able to tell you (in English!) exactly how to get to your hotel after deboarding. You can also get the Roissybus to Opera.
Even if your hotel is not very near these places, a taxi within the city centre won't cost you more than �10-12 (it'll be over �50 if you opt for one from Roissy at night).
The above solution isn't any good if you're arriving after 23:00.

There is a RER train station at the airport. You can take a train to the center, and get a cab from there.

Last RER train to Paris leaves T1 at 11:55 pm, T2 at 11:57. Your airline, or other online information sources, can tell you which terminal they use.

Welcome to Flyertalk,Larni. There is excellent information re: transfers in the FT France Forum. I am going to move this thread to France.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Searching would have revealed lots of info on this topic.

RER train would cost about €9 per pax and take about 40 minutes.

A taxi would cost about €50.

A private van/car from Shuttair would cost €60 for up to 4 pax.

Shuttair is the only Paris shuttle service that hasn't given me trouble like late pickups. See www.shuttair.com/Default.asp?PGFLngID=1 but note that it is prepay via website only. The driver WILL be waiting at CDG with a sign with your name on it. On transit from hotel to CDG, the van came 20 minutes early! Great service, unlike the other shared ride services that I've used in Paris.

For 2 pax, it seems like RER and taxi are the 2 most economical choices unless you want to share a ride in a van, stopping at various other hotels.

However, reading that the arrival is late at night, the RER may not be an appealing choice.

I suggest either Shuttair or printing a copy of the hotel info including name, address, and map to provide the driver. Do NOT use a taxi from a hawker. Use the taxi line if you don't want a ripoff. And agree on a price with the driver, with your printed info, before getting in.

Enjoy Paris! It's great there!!!!

In order to best advise you, it would be helpful to know a little more information:

1) Are you travelling alone or with other people? (because a taxi shared is more reasonable cost-wise than for one person)
2) Will you have a lot of luggage? (because it's not easy to take the RER/metro if you're hauling a lot of bags or even just a heavy bag or two)
3) When you say you're "landing late", how late is it? Can you be more specific? (some of the transportion options won't be available after certain hours)

Since it's your first time here and you're arriving late, I wouldn't recommend the RER and agree with the rest of Roberto99's post.

Have a great trip!

I think you mean T2/T3 - RER doesn't serve T1 (well, via a shuttle bus it does, but not directly).

For late night transfers, RER B can be a little sketchy - I used to live near the Luxembourg stop, and it was my perferred way to get back and forth, but there were definitely a few questionable characters late at night.

T1 is now served by the CDGVAL automated shuttle, which is a great improvement.

Hi Everyone

Thanks for your patience as Im new at this!

I will be with a another female friend, we arrive around 2200 and will have a bit of luggage.

We are going to try and change onto an earllier flight if possible. We are thinking that a cab or the shuttleair as suggested is the way to go.

Thanks for all your help, its great to get advice from people here that know this stuff!

Cheers
Larni

I had a good laugh at the comment about relying on the folks at the AF Bus desk at CDG late at night speaking English-That's really a good one!

Two women with luggage, unfamiliar with Paris, arriving at CDG at 10pm should take a cab. Have your hotel's name, street address and phone number on a piece of paper to hand the cab driver-a page from the hotel website would be even better. I agree that the fare estimate of 50 Euros is about right, though you might do a little better than that late at night.

The problem with the AF buses (and there are 4, not 3-see info here: http://www.airfrance.com/double6/pas...F?OpenDocument

is that they do not go near enough to your hotel to walk. You would have to take a cab or the Metro. The Metro wouldn't be very handy with luggage and the best routing (Bus 2 to the Arc, then the #1 Metro to the Louvre) is likely to result in a packed Metro car at that hour. Also the savings are small since the AF bus is around 12 E one way per person.

The Roissybus is cheaper than the AF buses, but has the same negatives, plus there's no separate luggage area so you have to lug your bags onto the bus with you.

Then there are those airport shuttles, and when I think of them, I think of motorcycles. Why? Because it seems all the motorcycle stories end with "The Crach", and all the airport shuttle stories end with "The time they didn't show up and I waited an hour and a half for them".

As for the RER, I don't take the RER after around 7pm even within Paris, and taking it from CDG through those scary, tough neighborhoods at night is just a needless risk. I know folks will say "I take it all the time and no problem" but I would not suggest it.

The 3 times I have used that desk, they did speak English. And in 2 of the occasions it was after 21:30...Agreed that they are a bit pricey, but I remember there is a bit of discount if you buy a round trip so it may make sense.
I've used a late Roissybus once, and it's not an experience I will actively try to repeat. It was packed and luggage was flying all over the place.
The best VFM way to get from CDG to the centre, though, is the local bus going through the Citroen factory and Pte de la Chapelle. It's slower than the Roissybus but not too slow (50 mins to Pte de la Chapelle, another maybe 25 to the centre), and costs a fraction of the price (no more than 3 euros each way)! No Australian backpackers with 3 months' worth of luggage, either. Wouldn't do it at night tho.

I totally endorse the late-at-night..take-a-cab scenario. I am assuming this is a vacation. Spend the money. Take the cab. Taking the metro anywhere will involve several flights of steps down and then up - not fun with anything more than a tote bag. Be nice to yourself. Also great advice to write down the name of the hotel for the driver.

Print a page with the hotel name, address, phone number and neighborhood map. Virtually all hotel websites have these available for printing. Review the sheet(s) with the taxi driver BEFORE putting your bags in the trunk. Get an approximate price from the driver BEFORE getting in....

We found travel on the RER between the airport and the city quite easy to negotiate. We also used cabs a few times while there, and found them to be quite honest-but the advice about having a printed map is great. It's not as much a trust factor, but a communication factor. Carrying the big suitcases for my wife and I, I found out the hard way that the metro in Paris is not the friendliest for those not travelling lightly-but I got a great shoulder workout! Direct cab is also not a bad idea-there are better ways and safer ways to save a few euro....