After Berlin, I arrived at Charles de Gaulle late. It was around 10 pm, and I somehow convinced myself that my hotel reservation at Mama Shelter East would cancel my reservation for showing up past midnight. So I decided to take the RER to the Metro and then walk from the nearest Metro station to the hotel. And I wanted to try and do this as fast as possible.
It seemed like that was the best, fastest option. And Google Maps kept telling me to take buses.
So, if you’re like me and trying to figure out how to get from CDG to the center of Paris, then you’ll want to follow these steps.
It’s easy, though.
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Steps to Get from CDG Into Paris on the RER
1) After you land, you’ll need to walk to baggage claim, collect your luggage then follow the signs to the RER. You can get it from either terminal 1 or terminal 2.
2) Pay your 8 Euros (it’s actually 7 Euros and something cents, but I can’t remember the exact price) for a ticket before getting on the train. This is line B (or B3).
I should mention prices also depend on how far you want to go. So if you’re going further than the city center, your ticket price might differ.
You can take this train to some of the bigger train stations in the city center, like Gare du Nord. From here, you can transfer to a Metro train to your destination.
3) After you get off at your stop, don’t forget to purchase a Metro train ticket before entering the Metro. I walked from Gare du Nord to the nearest Metro and headed to my hotel. Train tickets for the Metro within the center are 1.90 Euros.
So getting to your destination will be around 10 Euros total from the airport into the city.
I should mention it takes about 45 minutes to get into the city.
And that’s it. Easy, right?
If you need a map of the Paris Metro, check out this blog post I did a while back.
My Journey
As I approached my destination around midnight, I walked in, hungry, checked into my hotel, and began to get excited about my new Paris adventure.
Let’s break it down:
Getting from CDG airport to Paris is easy.
From terminal 1 or 2, walk to the RER and pay the ticket at the ticket machine. It was around 8 Euros.
You can take this to the city center and other Metro train stations within the city. I got off at Gare du Nord.