Directions to our Paris Airports

How to go from Paris’ Airports
to the Hôtel Bellevue et du Chariot d’Or
39, rue de Turbigo
Telephone +33 (0)1 48 87 45 60

From Charles de Gaulle Airport
From Orly Airport
From Beauvais Airport
Ordering Airport Train Tickets, from Charles de Gaulle or Orly

Introduction
Welcome to Paris. You have just de-planed, and you are still cursing the Wright brothers. Now you have to make your way to the hotel.

But first, you must figure out at which airport you have landed.

If you have arrived on an intercontinental flight, you have landed at Roissy, the name the locals give to Charles de Gaulle Airport. You will probably be in Terminal 2, though USAir, United and Northwest are major trans-Atlantic carriers which land at terminal 1, instead. Budget and charter lines sometimes use Terminal 3.

If you came in via an intra-European flight, you could additionally be at Orly (Paris’ other airport).

If you were on a “low-cost” carrier, such as Ryanair, you may have landed at Beauvais.
Beauvais is not really a Paris airport at all: it is in the eponimous town, 90 minutes northwest of the city in normal traffic. You can go by train to some foreign countries faster than you can get to Beauvais.

No one at Blue Marble, nor any of our friends, has ever used Beauvais Airport, so we only know of it by reputation. (We tend to take trains within Europe, even when they cost more — we all have our luxuries). But we nonetheless tell you what we know about making this trip.

Buying Tickets for the Airport Train (Orly or Charles de Gaulle)
If you wish to buy a ticket for the appropriate airport train through us, to avoid dealing with the issue in your post-flight fog (or to avoid ticket lines which can stretch to an hour in summer), you may do so. The cost is approximately 1.5 euros more than you would pay locally. Here is how to order tickets for the airport train.

If you do not already have your airport train ticket, get some euros from an airport exchange place before you get to the ticket counter. Credit cards without French “chips” are not accepted at all windows (nor in ticket machines).

From Roissy / Charles de Gaulle Airport

These are both names for the same place. The French do this a lot.

Step 1.1, from CDG Terminal 1: Getting to the Paris Airport Train
From the baggage pick-up, carefully follow signs for Paris par Train (Paris by train). These will direct you to an elevator bank, hidden behind a wall between exit doors 34 and 36.

The elevators here have only two buttons: the one corresponding to where you are, and the other one. Push the other one. The elevator will take you down a few levels, and let you out by the opposite door.

In front of you and up a ramp is a little train station for something called the CDGVAL. Go there. Board the next departing train (really a people-mover: a rubber-tyred, 2 car shuttle with no driver), on either side of the platform. Ride 2 stops, to Roissypole, the name of the station for trains to Paris (the RER / métro trains). Two more stops would bring you to the “Gare TGV” (long-distance trains), and to terminal 2.

When you exit this first train, and go up a stair / escalator, you will find yourself in the hall of a much bigger train station. If you already have your ticket, turn left and then right to get to the platforms / trains. If not, turn right to get to the ticket office. Your train to Paris will leave from the far platform (any train on either side of the far platform will go to Paris). Now go on to Step 2.

Step 1.2, from CDG Terminal 2: Getting to the Paris Airport Train
Signs in your terminal will point you to RER / TGV or Gare RER / TGV. Don’t panic if the “RER “ and the “TGV” are inverted: they are still pointing to the same thing. This is the rail station. Paris par Train also works. As you face the street in front of your terminal, the station is to the right of terminals 2A, 2C, and 2F; to the left of 2B, 2D or 2E.

When you get to the trains, and are given a choice between RER and TGV, choose RER. This is the train into Paris. You will go down two levels to get to the main station hall, and another, third, level to get to the tracks. Be careful when you reach the platform: trains depart from both sides. Be sure to look at the departure board, which will give each train's departure time, to see which is leaving first. Also, be sure to look along the platform: short trains park at one end, and you may not even realize that the train is sitting in the station until it has pulled out! Now go on to Step 2.

Step 1.3, from CDG Terminal 3: Getting to the Paris Airport Train
Signs in your terminal will point you to any of RER / Roissypole / Paris par Train. These all mean the same thing: the rail station for the train into downtown Paris. A bit of a walk will bring you to the train station.

Step 2, CDG: Buying a Ticket, Riding the Train to Paris
All the trains from the airport stations go the same place. If you do not already have a ticket, buy one in the ticket office, a level up from the trains. Keep this ticket safe, since you will need it several times during the journey.

Take the first train - they run about every 10 minutes. Locals make about 10 stops on the way into town; expresses run non-stop. The first train to depart is the first to arrive, whether local or express, as the “expresses” just run slowly, following the locals on their same tracks. But the locals get crowded with suburban commuters, while the expresses provide a relatively empty environment until you get to town.

After a 30-minute ride, your train goes underground and stops at Gare du Nord, where it will idle for a minute or two. Start paying attention here. Stay on board, and ride one more stop, getting off at Châtelet - Les Halles.

Special case: if literally everybody gets off your train at the Gare du Nord, and an announcement is made, it means that there is a strike. These are different from Anglo-Saxon versions. They don’t stop trains from running, they just mix them up a bit. Their only practical effect is to make you change trains here at the Gare du Nord.

You can ask us about this entertaining cultural phenomenon when you hook up with us. In the mean time, get off, go upstairs one flight, and follow signs which read Direction Porte d'Orléans, or M 4 Porte d'Orléans. After some corridors, these will bring you to a métro platform. Take any train that comes, and ride it 4 stops to the Réaumur Sebastopol station. Exit the station at the front of the train, via the exit marked Sortie Rue Réaumur. You are now at Step 3 (b), below.

Step 3, CDG: Exiting the Airport Train, Waling to Destination
If you have come from Charles de Gaulle airport, and are not already at the back of your train, walk along the platform at Châtelet - Les Halles to the back, and then take the escalator or the stairs up (one flight). If coming from Orly, the instructions are the reverse: walk to the front (you have come from the other direction), and take the escalator up.

At the top of the stairs or the escalator you will see dark blue Sortie (exit / way out) signs, with different sorties indicated. The one you want is labeled Rue Rambuteau, Rue de Turbigo. If coming from Orly, you will be standing in front of this sortie. If from Charles de Gaulle, you will follow signs across the mezzanine concourse to reach it.

Go through the ticket barriers you find barring your way (using the little ticket on which you travelled in from the airport), and go up another flight of stairs/escalators. You now have a choice. If your bags are light, you may exit the underground world, and walk to the hotel in about 10 minutes (step 3 a, below). Otherwise, another métro will take you two stops, to within two short blocks of the hotel (step 3 b).

Step 3 (a), To Exit the Métro, and Reach the Hotel on Foot.
Keep following Rambuteau / Turbigo signs, which will lead you outside after another few escalators, stairs, and the like. You would now expect to be on the 7th floor of some building, but no, you are just at street level.

When you come outside you are on the pedestrian rue Rambuteau. Turn right. In front of you are a newsstand and a rather large church. We'll let you figure out which is which. Slink along the wall that is now to your right, rounding the corner, and leaving the church to your left.

Straight in front of you now, three streets lead away from you at different angles. Take the rightmost, the rue de Turbigo. Your hotel is in the 6th block (counting on the left), on the left-hand side, at number 39. Rue de Turbigo gradually expands during the course of your walk, until it is a wide street, with lots of traffic coming towards you. Don't be alarmed, it is still the rue de Turbigo.

Step 3 (b), To Take the Métro to the Hotel.
Follow signs to M 4 Porte de Clignancourt. They will take you up one more level, to a métro platform. Take any train that comes on this platform, riding at the rear of the train, two stops to the Réaumur-Sebastopol station.

Exit to the rear, following signs that say “Sortie Rue Réaumur.” At the top of the stairs you will pass through some electric doors. In front of you is another stair, going up to the “Sortie Boulevard de Sebastopol, Rue de Réaumur Côté N° impairs.” Take this up to the street.

At the top of the stairs, walk straight ahead. You are walking along the Boulevard de Sebastopol, against traffic. Continue for two short blocks, until you come to the busy Rue de Turbigo, cutting Sebastopol at an angle, with way too much traffic flowing to your right. Do not cross Turbigo. Instead, turn left and cross Sebastopol here, and walk up Turbigo against traffic. Your hotel is in this block, on the left-hand side, at number 39.

From Orly Airport

Orly airport is in a state of flux. While all international airlines are currently in the south terminal, there is discussion of moving some to the west one (those are Orly's only two terminals). The following information assumes that you arrive at the south terminal, or Aerogare Sud. If you arrive instead at the west terminal, follow signs to reach OrlyVal (“Paris by Métro”), take the automated people-mover to Antony (the first stop), and start reading these instructions in the 2nd paragraph of step 2, below.

Step 1, Orly: Finding the People Mover Which Takes you to the Train to Paris
When you exit the baggage pick-up area and pass through customs at Orly Sud, you will find yourself inside the terminal building, facing the street. Outside the terminal, above the roadway on a viaduct, is a little green-and-white train. This is what you want to ride. The little ticket hall is inside the terminal building, a bit to the left in the corridor that you are standing in once you clear customs.

If you do not already have a ticket, use one of the multi-lingual machines to buy one to Paris. You will need euros to do so.

Step 2, Orly: Riding the People Mover, Connecting to the Train to Paris
Go up the escalator which leads to the platform, and get on the first train. They all go to the same place in the end: the Antony railway station. This is where you want to go. It is the 2nd stop, after Orly-Ouest, and the total ride takes about 10 minutes. Do not be alarmed when the train reverses direction at Orly-Ouest - it is still doing what you want it to.

When you reach Antony, get off. Go through the turnstyles, along the short moving sidewalk, and up the escalator to your left. This brings you to the platform for Paris. Walk towards the left when you reach the platform if there is no train waiting, since you will need to be at the far front end of the approaching train when you get off.

Take the first train that comes. They all go where you need them to, and the first departing train will be the first to arrive, even if it is a local. Depending on whether or not you are on an express, this trip will take between 20 and 30 minutes.

When the train goes underground, which it does as it enters the Denfert-Rochereau station, start paying attention. You now have 4 more stops: Port-Royal, Luxembourg, St-Michel, and Châtelet-Les Halles.

Step 3, Orly: Detraining
When you reach the Châtelet / Les Halles station, walk along the platform to the front of the train (if that is not where you were riding). Take the stairs or escalator up. At the top of the stairs or escalator you will see dark blue Sortie (exit) signs, with different sorties indicated. The one you want is labeled Rue Rambuteau, Rue Turbigo. You will be standing in front of this exit as you reach the top of the stairs coming up from the platform.

You are now at the start of the 2nd paragraph of Step 3 of the Charles de Gaulle instructions, above. Follow the rest of those instructions to get to our office.

BEAUVAIS AIRPORT

Beauvais Airport is not really a Paris airport at all. As it's name implies, it is in the town of Beauvais, 90 minutes north of Paris. A shuttle bus operates from the Beauvais airport to the Porte Maillot, a large traffic circle on the eastern edge of the city, meeting most flights. From Porte Maillot, métro line 1 runs into the city. Connecting to line 4 at the Châtlet station, and taking this for one stop to the Les Halles station, would put you at the start of Step 3 of the Charles de Gaulle instructions, above.

Or, there is an hourly train from Beauvais to the Gare du Nord, taking 65 minutes to make the trip. The trip from Beauvais airport to Beauvais station is about 10 euros by taxi, and takes about 10 minutes; we do not know if there is a bus for this. From Gare du Nord to Les Halles is one stop on line B of the RER. Again, this would put you at the start of Step 3 of the Charles de Gaulle instructions, above.