My flight arrives in CDG at 930AM. My flight to Venice does not leave until 630PM. I have about 3 hours to spare (after customs and before shuttle to BVA leaves Porte Maillot). Any suggestion for best way to spend those 3 hours? Preferably near a train station that has lockers for my small luggage. I was told Gare du Norde has locker facility - any attractions near that station? How do I get to Porte Maillot from Gare du Norde station.
Appreciate any help as this is my 1st time in Paris...
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I%26#39;m afraid attractions are few and far between up near that train station. It%26#39;s not far from Montmartre and Sacre Coeur but after you account for time to stow your luggage and then return to GDN to retrieve it, you%26#39;ll probably only have a couple of hours to work with.
To get from Gare du Nord to Porte Maillot, take Metro line 4 (direction Porte d%26#39;Orleans) to Chatellet and change to Line 1 (direction La Defense).
Just dealing with your luggage will eat-up considerable time. You may want to just sit down in a brasserie in GDN, near Chatellet, or at Porte Maillot (with your luggage) and people-watch. The French coffee is always good and brasseries usually serve food all day. An early lunch perhaps?
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I wonder if this is do-able?? It%26#39;s what I would try to do if it were me!
Given your luggage is small, skip the stop at Gare du Nord to store luggage;
Go straight through on the RER from CDG to Saint Michel;
Get on the Open Tour bus when it comes past somewhere near here. See map on their web site:
http://www.paris-opentour.com/index_eng.htm
(You can email them from this site to ask about their policy re luggage perhaps? They do answer their emails.)
Here%26#39;s their competitor too :
http://www.carsrouges.com/uk/index.html
Sit and enjoy the sites of the main circuit for a couple of hours then have a coffee back near St Michel in one of the numerous places there with a Seine view. Then take the metro to Chatelet and change onto line 1 for your trip to Porte Maillot.
Back up plan if running late would be to get off the Open Tour bus at Concorde or Louvre and get directly onto Metro line 1.
Either way you%26#39;ll see some of the highlights of Paris instead of just a railway station, although you will be sitting down all day.
Some of the locals might know whether this plan is feasible.
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I think you might be able to pull it off if; 1) callangel is already familiar with Paris and especially Gare du Nord and the Metro/RER, and 2) everything goes as planned, down to the minute which it never does (for me anyway). If callangel already knows where these places are, knows how to get tickets and navigate the Metro, etc. It might work. If the flight he/she is arriving on is from California, this might be more than a body can stand.
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What is BVA ?
Roll your small luggage around Porte Maillot for a bit.
Hotel Concorde Lafayette has a great view of Paris from their 32nd floor or something (bar area) and also there is a good restaurant called LE SUD (Provence food) near by.
Then roll your luggage around that neighborhood a bit walking in the direction of place des Ternes, You will have a flair for Paris right there. There are some cafes where you can sit and some buildings that look like most buildings in Paris, with beautiful doors and geraniums on the balconies!
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thanks for all the advice...might carry a backpack to skip the gare du nord stop.....
and yes...i am considering also the long flight we just took so we might end up just going to a cafe near porte maillot and just relaaaaaax!!!
i have a flair for adventure (too much watching of %26quot;The Amazing Race%26quot;)...that%26#39;s why i want to see if I can make my own little adventure within those 3 hours....that is, if jetlag doesn%26#39;t get me....
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Yeah, I wasn%26#39;t really thinking about the jet-lag factor. I think I have personal difficulty knowing that someone will get %26#39;so close and yet so far!!%26#39; - being in Paris for the first time and not getting even a glimpse of its heart! Painful thought ;-)
But maybe you should research a few options, make a few notes to have on you, along with a map, and then play it by ear on arrival depending on how the flight went, how you feel and what the weather is like.
This site is good for details about airport transfer. It%26#39;s the Paris Toruist Bureau site:
parisinfo.com/paris_map/…6726
But should the adventurous option win on the day......... the Roissybus that goes from CDG to the Opera Garnier might be an easier way to go into the city. From there you could wander towards the Seine and at least see the view from there before getting onto metro line 1 to Porte Maillot. Just an idea.......!
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Personnally i would skip the Gare du Nord. I would take the RER down to St Michel, see Notre Dame and start walking (or take the Open bus but it is a pity to pay for two days and only use it an hour) towards the Louvre. From the Louvre walk to Tuileries and at Concorde take the métro line 1. Then i would change from line 1 to line 6 direction Nation to Trocadéro for a quick picture of the Eiffel tower. Then back to Arc de triomphe through line 6 direction Charles de Gaulle-Etoile. Then if you still have time you can rest at a café on the Champs Elysées. Or head onto line 1 direction La Défense and get off at Porte Maillot for your shuttle bus. Personnally i would skip the bus from CDG airport, it can get stuck in the traffic. Same for the Open Tour bus.
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However you decide to do it, dropping your bag off at the Left Luggage (les Consigns) facility at Gare du Nord probably isn%26#39;t a %26#39;starter%26#39; for so brief a visit. Most of what I suspect that you want to see and visit of PARIS will be well away from this station and require you to spend precious time %26#39;back-tracking%26#39; to collect you bag before making your way to Porte Maillot and the pick-up point for the Beauvais shuttle bus. Clumsy and cumbersome as it may be, toting your bag along behind you is probably the best way to go under the time restricted circumstances. The RER B-3 has a stop at SAINT MICHEL NOTRE DAME. To locate the exit for the RER stop on s streetmap of Paris, locate the intersection of rue Saint Jaques, quai de Montabello, quai Saint Michel and the Petit Pont across the Seine..and that%26#39;s where you%26#39;ll come up onto the street---with Notre Dame just across the Seine. From here, begin to plan your visit/route across Paris to Porte Maillot. If you keep the #1 Metro ligne within easy %26#39;..reach..%26#39; during your excursion, you can always hop the #1 Metro (heading in the direction of La Defense) and be at the pick-up point for the BVA Shuttle at Porte Maillot (located on Blvd. Pershing..on the west side of the Palais des Congres complex) in 30 minutes or less-- www.ratp.info/orienter/horaires_metro1.php --Before you leave, mark the excat locations of the #1 Metro ligne stops on your Paris street map (the STREETWISE PARIS compact, folding map is great for this sort if itinerary) so you can tell at a quick glance where the nearest stop is to you at any given point or time....then meander your way across Paris.
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Thank you! Thank you for everything! Anyway, I am coming back for 1 whole day in Paris after Italy...so I can do the Eiffel and the Louvre that time. I am so excited I dream about it!
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Good! You can do the reconnoitre on the first trip to whet your appetite and then visit inside things on the return.
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