Paris is served by
three international airports. Charles de Gaulle International
Airport (Roissy ICAO: LFPG, IATA: CDG) to the north-east of the city
is one of the major hub airports of Europe. It's notoriously
confusing, so allow plenty of time for transfers. There are three
terminals: Terminal 1, Terminal 2 (which is huge and subdivided into
2A through 2F), and Terminal 3 (formerly T9). The free CDGVAL
shuttle train connects the terminals together.
For getting to or from
Paris, RER-B has stations in T3 (from where you can take the airport
shuttle bus number 2 to T1) and T2; trains to Paris (Châtelet-Les
Halles) leave every 15 minutes, cost €8,50 each and take around 40
minutes, making this the fastest and cheapest way to connect.
Alternatively, the Roissybus service connects all terminals directly
to Opéra Garnier in central Paris, but it's subject to traffic jams
and takes 60-90 minutes even on a good day. There is also a TGV
station in T2 for high-speed connections, mostly towards Lille and
Brussels, but there are also some trains that head south to eg.
Rennes and Nantes, bypassing Paris.
Orly International Airport (ICAO: LFPO, IATA: ORY), to the
south-west of the city, and served by a southern branch of the RER-B
line. This older international airport is used mainly by Air France
for national lines, and other international carriers in Europe. Orly
is roughly forty minutes from Paris via the OrlyBus, which departs
from Métro Denfert-Rochereau; the price is €6. Another option is bus
285 that takes you to the Villejuif - Louis Aragon metro station (ligne
7) in 15 minutes. Bus 285 costs €1.5 and runs every 10 minutes,
stopping at airport level -1.
The Orlyval light rail connects both terminals to the RER B line at
Antony. It runs every 4-7 minutes and cost €9.30 for transfer to
Paris (nov 2007). The RER B from Antony runs through Paris to
Aéroport Charles de Gaulle.
Beauvais (Aéroport de Paris Beauvais Tillé ICAO: LFOB, IATA: BVA),
to the north of the city, is a smaller regional airport that is used
by some low-cost carriers. The airport operates a shuttle service
connecting with the Métro at Porte Maillot station. Buses leave 20
minutes after each flight arrives, and a few hours before each
flight departs. This is important: you should be there waiting for
the bus around three hours and fifteen minutes before your flight,
and the bus stop has no facilities, it's just a parking lot!
However, there are a number of fast food outlets, shops and toilets
at the Palais des Congres building situated across the road. Exact
times can be found on the Beauvais Airport website. The journey will
take about an hour in good traffic conditions, and costs €13 each
way.
Paris
Hotels
In addition to public transport, Air France operates shuttles
between Charles de Gaulle and Paris (€10 - €12), Orly and Paris
(€7.5) and between the two airports (€15). Note that if you have
connecting Air France flights that land and depart from different
airports, you would still generally need to fetch your luggage after
landing, catch either the Air France shuttle or a taxi to the other
airport and check-in again. This altogether could take up to 2 hours
particularly if traffic is at its worse. It is also common to lose
time during disembarking, as passengers often need to get off at the
tarmac and get on buses which will bring them to the terminal
building. Be sure to have sufficient time between flights to catch
your connection. Note that check-in counters usually close 30
minutes before the flight departs.
If you arrive to CDG Airport at night you'll need a Noctilien bus to
get to the city center. The bus stops in all three terminals (in
terminal 2 it will be the second level in departure section - it is
very difficult to find, but it really exists). The bus leaves every
30 minutes after 00:30 (see timetable). The buses you'll need are
N121 and N120; the price is 7 Euro.
Special thanks to Wikipedia
and its authors.
