Paris - Arriving & Getting Around

Arriving

Paris is served by 3 major airports: Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais. The Eurostar train from London arrives at the central Gare du Nord train station. What follows is information on the best way to get from each of them to the Étoile district.

• From Charles de Gaulle

Most transatlantic flights land at Charles de Gaulle, 23km north east of Paris. The airport has two terminals. Taking a shuttle bus the whole distance from the airport to the centre of Paris is the simplest method of getting to the Étoile district. There are two types of buses. The Roissybus leaves from both terminals and stops at 9 Rue Scribe, just opposite Gare St Lazarre train and metro station. Tickets can be bought on the bus and the journey takes about 45 minutes. At Gare St Lazarre take the dark green metro line 12 (Direction Mairie d’Issay) to Concorde then change to the yellow line 1 (Direction Grande Arche de la Defense) which will stop at stations along the Champs Élysees. Alternatively, the Air France Bus runs from both airport terminals to the Arc de Triomphe at 1 Ave Carnot. Again, tickets can be purchased on the bus itself. The journey takes about 35 minutes.

• From Orly

Orly, 18 kilometres south of the city, is used by charters and many continental flights. Air France Buses run between Orly and Gare Montparnasse. From here you can jump on the metro at Montparnasse-Bienvenüe, taking the dark green metro line 12 (Direction Port de La Chapelle) to Concorde then changing to the yellow line 1 (Direction Grande Arche de la Defense) which will stop at stations along the Champs Élysees. The journey takes about 30 minutes.

• From Beauvais

Beauvais lies 70km north of Paris and is mainly used by budget airlines. A shuttle bus leaves from the airport approximately 20 minutes after each flight arrival. In Paris it arrives and leaves from the bus park at Place de la Porte Maillot, which is on the Avenue de la Grande Armée, running westward from the Arc de Triomphe. From here you can jump on the metro at Port Maillot and take the yellow line 1 (Direction Chateau de Vincennes) eastward along the Champs Élysees.

The Métro

The métro is is the simplest way of moving around the centre of the city and also one of the cheapest – 1.30 Euros for a single journey anywhere in the city. Many of the métro lines follow the streets above: line 1 for example shadows the Champs-Élysées and rue de Rivoli. The métro runs from 05.00 to around 12.30. Stations are spaced evenly and you’ll rarely find yourself more than 500 metres from one in the centre of the city, though the interchanges can involve a lot of legwork, including many stairs. The lines are colour-coded and designated by numbers. You also need to know the direction of travel – sign-posted using the names of the terminus: for example, travelling from Montparnasse to Châtelet, you follow the sign “Direction Porte-de-Clignancourt”; from Gare d’Austerlitz to Grenelle on line 10 you follow “Direction Boulogne-Pont-de-St-Cloud”. The numerous interchanges (correspondances) make it possible to cover most of the city in a more or less straight line.

Text written by David Cunningham, author of CloudWorld and CloudWorld At War