Paris Travel Guide

Length of the stay

As in many bigger cities you can easily spend a few days here. What if you have 1, 2 or 3 days?

Airport

Charles de Gaulle (CDG) is the international airport, it’s located 35 km (22 miles) from the city center of Paris. There is also a smaller airport, Orly Airport (ORY), but that’s mainly used for European flights, domestic flights and charters.

Airlines

Air France is the national airline. Most of the American airlines fly into Paris. From New York it’s an 8 hours flight.Tickets are usually highest in spring and summer (Easter to September).

Ways to get to the city center

Train: the RER (Réseau Express Régional) line B takes you around 35 minutes to the center. Price: 8.20 euros/adult.

If you’re already in Europe, it’s easy to travel within Europe by train. Reach Paris by train : Thalys takes you right into the center. You arrive at Gare du Nord if you come from Belgium, the Netherlands or with the Eurostar from London.

After you arrive in Paris, it’s easy to take the subway to where you want to be. There are several other main train stations in the city, each serving different parts of France and Europe. (Gare de Lyon, Gare de l’Est, Gare St Lazare, Gare Montparnasse, Gare Austerlitz and Gare du Nord)

Bus: Roissybus runs to Opéra every 15 minutes from 6 AM to 7 PM and every 20 minutes from 7 PM to 11 PM. It takes about 45-60 minutes to the center. Price: 8.60 euros.
Air France coaches operates a bus service between the airport and Montparnasse, and the Arc the Triomphe (Etoile),every half-hour. This is available for ALL passengers, you needn’t have flown on Air France to use this service.It takes about 45 minutes (depending where you’re going).

Taxi: it takes you about 30 minutes to an hour (depending on traffic and where your hotel is located). The prices go from 45 euros to 75 euros.

Sightseeing

Because there is so much to see in in this city, I made a special page in the Paris Travel Guide on Paris sightseeing and my personal experience in Paris for more information on the highlights of the city.

Shopping

Next to the shopping on the Champs-Elysées, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré has a lot of famous fashion designer stores: Gucci, Hermès, Karl Lagerfeld, Louis Ferraud, Versace,... At Avenue Montaigne you will find jewellers as Bulgari and luggage designer Louis Vuitton. There are two big department stores: Galeries Lafayette and Au Printemps.

Learn some basic French phrases for your trip to Paris!

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