Schedules, Maps & Passes on Paris Trains, RER, & Metro
Living near Fontainbleau and a constant traveler on the trains of Paris.
I’ll be out of the office for a few days in Lyon on some consulting work. I won’t be able to respond to questions on the ParisByTrain.com forums with the timeliness that I’d prefer, but rest assured, I’ll get back to you by Friday or shortly thereafter.
Have a great week everyone.
France TGV Map showing high speed train lines in deep purple and light purple (click to enlarge).
This TGV Map shows the main TGV destinations in France:
The principal France TGV routes shown on the TGV map include:
Téoz train lines, in yellow, are regular speed (110 km/h) intercity trains. TGV train lines in purple (both light and dark), are high speed train lines, known as LGV (lignes à grandes vitesses) on which TGV trains operate at 300-320km/h depending on style of train. New double decker (duplex) TGV trains travel at 320km/h (199mph) at full speed while the older single level TGV trains operate at 300km/h (186mph).
Many edge destinations such as Nice, Toulon, Montpellier have a portion of the TGV route run at regular speed on non-TGV specific train lines (which are less straight). These parts of the TGV route are run at non-high speed which is about 110km/h.
The Paris RER is 5 express train lines connecting Paris city centre to surrounding suburbs. Within Paris the RER acts as an express underground or subway train. Beyond the centre, the Paris RER is a ground level commuter train connecting outlying suburbs and popular destinations such as CDG Airport and Euro Disney to the heart of Paris.
The Paris RER is 5 train lines:
The public transit authority of Paris (RATP) offers multiple RER maps that can be downloaded here:
Paris RER trains operate as a scheduled service, unlike the Paris Metro.
Here are some examples of first and last RER trains to popular destinations:
CDG Airport Terminal 2 to Paris, Gare du Nord station
Paris, Gare du Nord to CDG Airport Terminal 2
Paris, Chatelet les Halles station to Euro Disneyland (Marne La Vallée station)
Euro Disneyland to Paris, Chatelet Les Halles
Full RER Timetables for download and print can be found here:
Paris RER schedules can be confusing to read. Here are some instructions on reading RER timetables.
Paris RER trains use two different types of tickets depending on which part of the RER network you will be traveling. When taking an RER train strictly within central Paris Zone 1 (visible in the first RER Map), you can use a basic Paris Metro ticket for travel on the RER. Travel beyond Paris Zone 1 on the RER requires a special ticket: a Billet Ile-de-France.
Billet Ile-de-France Paris RER tickets are similar to the one shown here:
Paris RER ticket prices are determined station to station for travel beyond Zone 1 and range from 1.70€ to upwards of 11€. Some example trip RER fares (prices valid as of June 2011):
Tickets for the Paris RER can be purchased at any RER or Metro station ticket window or ticket vending machine. Metro station ticket machines will appear like the following:
(photo courtesy of squarejer)
(Metro ticket vending machines may also be white or purple in colour).
RER and large train station (gare, like Gare du Nord) ticket vending machines may appear like the following:
These machines are known as Billetterie Ile-de-France and can also be blue in colour.
Do not attempt to purchase Paris RER tickets from yellow ticket machines which only sell/exchange TGV train tickets:
Paris RER passes include the following:
Paris RER travel passes are subject to fare zones, 1 through 5, which determine the price of the multi-use pass or ticket. The above transit fares are valid for travel not only on the RER, but also on the Metro and Buses within the fare zone you have purchased.
The Ticket Mobilis day ticket looks like this:
This particular day ticket is valid for zones 1 & 2 (the minimum possible), which as of July 2011 costs 6,30€. Note the writing on the top left hand corner? To be valid for travel those fields should be filled in with: date of use in format dd/mm/yy (Valable le), lastname (NOM), and firstname (Prénom).
The Carte Paris Visite consists of a black folding card and a coupon like ticket which looks like this:
The Carte Paris Visite card is available in only two zone choices: 1-3 or 1-5. (If you want coverage for either CDG or Orly Airports, you’ll need the 1-5 zone card). Carte Paris Visite can be purchased with either 1, 2, 3 or 5 day validity. Prices are as follows:
Remember to fill in the requested information on both the ticket coupon and the black paper card before using the Carte Paris Visite. These two pieces must be kept together to be valid for travel.
Paris RER week passes are known as Passe Navigo Découverte (a physical card) that must be purchased along with a week long “subscription”, known as Carte Orange Navigo Semaine, which provides unlimited travel within certain zones (1-2 up to 1-5 zones of validity). The physical Passe Navigo card itself costs 5€. Navigo Semaine subscriptions are priced as follows:
For example, a Passe Navigo Découverte loaded with 1-5 zones of travel would cost 38.40€ in total: 5€ for the plastic Navigo Découverte card and 33.40€ for the 1-5 zone subscription, which covers popular destinations like CDG Airport and Paris Disneyland, both in Zone 5.
This week pass system works strictly from Monday start of service, till Sunday end of service, not an arbitrary seven day period. If you arrive in Paris on Thursday, you will not even be able to purchase a Carte Orange week subscription. Starting on Friday, passes for the following week (valid starting Monday morning) will be on sale.
The Passe Navigo Découverte radio frequency (RF) card is roughly the size of a credit card and has no identifying information on it:
Each plastic RF card also comes with a paper identification card which is meant to hold your hand written name and a face photo of the traveler (measuring 3cm tall by 2.5cm wide). (Do use your full first and last name for this card. The example below has the last name edited to protect the privacy of the traveler).
The paper identification card has a sticky plastic fold-over sheet which holds your photo in place. You must already have a photo with you when purchasing the Passe Navigo Découverte at Metro or RER ticket windows. The photo can be black & white or colour, professionally done or home printed or even photo copied and reduced from a driver’s license and trimmed to the required 3cm x 2.5cm size. Automated, coin operated photo booths can often be found in larger Metro, RER and train stations within Paris, charging roughly 5€ for 4 photos. Paris transit authority workers often have scissors handy for trimming your photo for use on the Passe Navigo.
Some restrictions apply to the use of the above passes:
Paris RER stations are marked with signs like the following:
(Photo courtesy of Gregory Deryckère).
Here’s an example of an RER station entrance at Auber station on the RER A line near Galeries Lafayette in Paris’ 8th district:
(Photo courtesy of Google Maps which is a great way to visualize your route. Google Maps with Street View, allows you to virtually tour the streets of Paris).
Paris RER stations are often shared with Metro lines such as at Paris’ largest underground station, Chatelet Les Halles. In the following photo at the top left corner is a sign showing RER A and RER D joining five Paris Metro lines within one Paris station - Chatelet Les Halles:
RER stations in Paris can also be found within large train stations (gare) such as Gare du Nord. Here is an example of a combined RER & Metro station sign at Gare du Nord:
Inside of an RER station, access to the train platforms is restricted by the use of turnstiles and double door gates such as this entrance into the fare paid zone within Chatelet Les Halles:
Things to note in the above RER station turnstile/barrier photo:
(photo courtesy of RATP).Once past the turnstiles you need to make your way to the correct Paris RER platform where you’ll be able to board the train. Within RER stations, signs will note lines along with direction of travel, which is denoted by the final or terminus station for the line. Here is an example Paris RER A sign:
Things to note in the above photo:
On the train platform you will find overhead station panels such as this:
Things to note about the above RER station panel:
Paris RER train doors do not open automatically. Whether you’re getting on or getting off, you’ll need to activate the train car doors through a button located on the handle near the middle of the double doors (unless someone pushes the button first).
On board the RER train itself, there will often be folding seats near the doors themselves, which should be used only when there is room to do so. Obviously at rush hour, these seats should remain up to allow as many passengers board the train as possible.
Above the doors of each RER train car are RER line maps showing all stops along the current RER line. At times these maps can be active, showing a flashing light beside a station name designating it as the next stop, with lit station names showing the path of travel, dark station names showing stations already passed. At other times, the maps will be simple stickers showing all stations and connecting Metro lines and large train stations along the route.
Upon arriving at your desired RER station, you need to alight the train car (remembering to open the door using the button) and make your way past the turnstiles and barriers. RER stations often require the use of tickets and passes while exiting RER stations, using the same turnstile barriers as when entering, but in reverse. This is a measure against travelers paying less than the appropriate fare for their travel. There is little preventing passengers from buying a lower cost fare, boarding a RER train and riding it beyond the fare’s validity. Forcing riders to use their tickets or passes to exit RER stations and random checks by ticket controllers, doling out penalty fares of around 35€ per infraction, are the few measures against improper use of the RER.
Many Paris RER stations have multiple exits (sorties) which can be up to ten minutes walk apart (such as at Chatelet Les Halles). Exit maps can be found near station exits which help you get your bearings before leaving the station. Exits will be marked in blue and often have a number and exit number associated with them:
If you have questions about the Paris RER informaton presented here, don’t hesitate to ask for help on the Paris By Train forums where I or some other knowledgeable traveler will get back to you with an answer.
If there is a subject which I haven’t discussed in this article that you think is appropriate, please let me know via the forums.
Grand Palais in Paris along avenue Champs-Elysées on New Year’s Eve 2008. Paris city events planners know how to light their buildings.
Avenue Champs-Elysées on New Year’s Eve looking with trees lit from Concorde all the way to the Arc de Triomphe.
Glass bottles of any type are now banned (”interdit“). There’ll be packs of heavily armored police folks at all major Paris Metro stations along the Champs-Elysées searching bags. People still manage to bring bottles on the avenue by simply walking from farther out stations. This measure is to avoid mountains of broken glass along the street which presents a hazard to people who’ve been well “champagned”.
This photo was taken near station Champs-Elysées Clemenceau.
Eiffel Tower on New Year’s Eve. Photo was taken from Pont Alexandre III between the Grand Palais and Les Invalides / Napoleon’s Tomb.
RER A maps, schedules and ticket/pass information can be found below.
The RER A train connects Disneyland Paris to Paris city centre to La Défense business district at the western edge of the city.
The RER A line shown on this RER map is the red line, which travels east to west through metro Paris, from Marne La Vallée (Eurodisney) to St Germain-en-Laye out west.
RER A Schedules/Timetables & Line Map (showing stations & connections)
Fares for the RER A includes single use tickets known as Billet Ile-de-France, multi-use tickets and passes Paris Visite, Ticket Mobilis and Pass Navigo Decouverte. Be careful with tickets & passes used on RER trains which are subject to fare zone limits and restrictions. Traveling with a ticket beyond its zone limit will prevent you from passing through exit turnstiles at your destination and worse, may earn you a 35€ fine from controllers that randomly check tickets.
Paris Disneyland is not actually in Paris city centre itself, but out in the commune of Marne La Vallée. In 40 minutes the RER A train travels from city centre Paris to Eurodisney at Marne La Vallée station. RER A trains leaving Chatelet Les Halles for Disney start at 5:19 in the morning and run every 10 to 30 minutes until the last train departs at 00:36 in the evening, every day of the week. One way ticket price is 7,00€ (full fare) and 3,50€ for children. Other methods of travel: TGV train from CDG Airport to Paris Disneyland and Eurostar London to Paris Disneyland.
Gare de Lyon is a major TGV (high speed) train station in south east city centre of Paris. Most trains leaving from Gare de Lyon serve the surrounding Ile-de-France area and other far away cities within France such as Dijon, Lyon, Avignon, Marseille, Montpellier and many others. Chateau Fontainebleau and INSEAD business school are accessible from this station via Transilien brand trains departing from Gare de Lyon.
The RER A connects with the RER B Airport train at this staton. Other connections at Chatelet Les Halles include Metro lines 1, 4, 7 and 14. The RER D also joins Chatelet Les Halles to Gare du Nord, home of the Eurostar London Paris trains.
If Paris fashion and shopping are on your schedule, Auber is a stop for you. Located above this station are two of the largest department stores in Paris: Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, known for its outrageous advertisements and window displays.
The Arc de Triomphe at the end of the Avenue de Champs-Elysées is accessible via Charles de Gaulle–Etoile station on the RER A. This station is another fair size interchange hub connection Metro lines 1, 2, 6 to the RER A train.
Home to Paris’ business and banking district, La Défense is a little slice of Manhattan or Chicago with its numerous skyscrapers (but without the traffic: it’s mostly a pedestrian area). A second “Arc de Triomphe” exists here as the high-tech Grande Arche, many times larger than the Arc de Triomphe, housing office space and a museum dedicated to computers at its top floor. Views over Paris from this arch are impressive.
RER B maps, schedules and ticket/pass information can be found below. 
The RER B Paris train connects Paris city centre to CDG Airport, Orly Airport, Gare du Nord (Eurostar station) and other important destinations in the metro Paris area.
The RER B map shown here is a simplified version, showing only major destinations and connections along the blue colored line.
RER B Schedules/Timetables & Line Map (showing stations & connections)
RER B uses tickets known as Billet Ile-de-France. Multi-use tickets and passes for the RER B include Paris Visite, Ticket Mobilis and Pass Navigo Decouverte. Caution: tickets & passes are subject to fare zone limits and restrictions, notably with regards to airports CDG & ORY.
The above instructions provide information on taking the RER B from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris centre and vice versa. If you know which CDG Terminal you’re landing at see the detailed photo instructions for CDG Terminal 2 to Paris or CDG Terminal 1 to Paris. If you’re landing at Terminal 3, use the CDG Terminal 1 to Paris instructions.
The RER B remains the fastest way to get from central Paris to Orly Airport (ORY) at a total single ticket cost of 9,60€. Keep in mind that the RER B does not directly connect to Orly Airport, but requires a connection onto Orlyval, a dedicated airport train leaving from Antony station, south of Paris, along the RER B train line.
The RER B train makes its first stop in central Paris at Gare du Nord, famous for being the station for the Eurostar high speed Paris to London train.
See the photo tour of Gare du Nord to get a better idea of its layout.
The largest underground station in the world, Chatelet Les Halles, connects to a multitude of Metro and RER train lines including: Metro 1, 4, 7, 14 and RER A, RER B & RER D.
If you’re going to Gare de Lyon and are changing trains from RER B to the RER A at Chatelet Les Halles, note that the two trains are on the same platform, just at opposite sides. Simple alight the RER B, walk to the other side of the platform and board the next train. The next stop will be Gare de Lyon.
Conveniently, the RER B makes a stop just next to the famous cathedral of Notre Dame, immediately beside the river Seine in Paris’ 6th district. This station also serves as a connection to the RER C line traveling to Versailles.
This station is located immediately east of the Jardin du Luxembourg or Luxembourg Gardens.
Second to last station within central Paris for the RER B, Denfert-Rochereau connects to Metro Line 6 which connects to Gare Montparnasse, another of Paris’ popular main large train stations serving TGV trains out to Bordeaux and other southern cities in France.
This article explains how to take a RER A train from Paris to Disneyland Paris. If you’re going from Charles de Gaulle airport to Parc Disneyland, you can take either a TGV train direct from CDG to Disney (Marne la Vallée) or first take the RER B train to Paris then at station Chatelet Les Halles, switch to the RER A train line towards Marne La Vallée.
Note: You can save 15% on DisneyLand Paris tickets by buying before you arrive.
Line => RER A (Red) 
Direction => Marne-la-Vallée (RER line A4)
Departure Stations => Charles de Gaulle Etoile, Auber, Chatelet Les Halles, Gare de Lyon, Nation
Arrival Station => Marne-la-Vallée — Chessy
Map => Full RER train network map (PDF)
Price => 7,00€ (Zone 1 -> Zone 5)
Passes Accepted => Paris Visite Card (5 Zone), Pass Navigo Decouverte 5 Zone, Ticket Mobilis 5 Zone
Travel Time => 39-45 minutes
First Train / Last Train (Gare de Lyon - Disney) => 05:22 / 00:39
Frequency of trains => approx. every 15 min. (9 minutes to 30 minutes between trains)
Full Schedule => RER Train Schedule/Timetable
RER A city trains travel from central Paris to Disneyland throughout the day at roughly 15 minute intervals from five large central Paris RER A Stations: Charles de Gaulle Etoile (at Arc de Triomphe), Auber (at Galeries Lafayette shopping center), Chatelet Les Halles (massive underground shopping centre and largest underground/subway station in the world), Gare de Lyon (largest Paris train station), and Nation.
A single one way ticket, a billet Ile-de-France, from central Paris to Disney costs 7,00€ (as of July, 2011). You can buy these tickets from any metro or RER station ticket window or from the automated ticket vending machines (using coins or smart-chip enabled credit cards) within stations. You can start your journey from any Metro / RER station within central Paris (Zone 1) using this one ticket and simply transfer to the RER A train line if you’re not already on it. You don’t need to buy a separate ticket just for the metro portion of your trip. The normal metro ticket t+ will not work for this trip since Marne la Vallée / Parc Disney is in Zone 5.
The following passes are accepted for traveling from Paris to DisneyLand:
From inside any of the above mentioned Paris RER stations, you’ll want to take RER A train in direction Marne-la-Vallée, but keep in mind that the direction may also read Boissy-St-Léger such as in the photo below.
You’ll find station panels and signs similar to the one above at any of the above RER A stations. Follow these signs to the correct RER A train platforms. At certain stations, Chatelet Les Halles and Gare de Lyon for example, these RER train signs & panels will lead you to a single central platform with RER trains running along either side in opposite directions. To avoid confusion as to which side is the correct direction look up at the RER station stop panels hanging above each side of the train platform such as the one shown here:
Each station along the line will be shown on these panels, but the next train to arrive will only stop at stations names lit with a yellow square (the left half in the previous photo). Thus, these panels serve two purposes:
Once on board a RER A train to DisneyLand Paris, remember to keep your ticket handy throughout your trip as you may be asked to show it to ticket checkers, known as controllers in France. If you fail to produce a valid ticket the controller will charge you a fine somewhere in the range of €40 payable on the spot through credit or debit card. And even though ticket vending machines don’t take non-smart chip credit cards, the mobile credit card swipe machines these controllers carry, definitely do. At the end of your trip you’ll also need your ticket or pass to exit through the turnstiles when you arrive at Marne La Vallée / Disney.
This is the Marne La Vallée train platform at DisneyLand Paris when you arrive:
Once you exit the RER A train make your way up the escalator or stairs in the direction of the Sortie signs. This leads you to the exit (and entry) turnstiles for the RER trains as show in the following photo:
Using your billet Ile-de-France in the turnstiles allows you to pass through into the main section of the station which has an information booth, ticket window, and various shops selling newspapers/magazines and snacks.
After exiting Marne La Vallée–Chessy station, you’ll notice the motif of the station itself is Disney-like with its castle like spires.
Here’s a panoramic photo of Marne La Vallée–Chessy RER/TGV station amongst some attractions at DisneyLand Paris.
When it’s time to return to Paris, you’ll be making this trip in reverse. Within Marne La Vallée–Chessy train station, you’ll need to again purchase a Billet Ile-de-France to Paris (7,00€) either from a ticket vending machine or from the ticket window, pass through the turnstiles, and descend down onto the RER A train platform. The platform will be well marked with a sign indicating which train will depart next for Paris:
Have a great Disneyland visit.
The Eurostar to DisneyLand Paris train offers high speed train connection service between London and DisneyLand Paris in East Paris, seven days a week, with ticket prices as low as 69£ return.
This article discusses how to find Eurostar DisneyLand Paris train tickets, how to catch this train, and how to save 15% on DisneyLand Paris Park tickets.
The Eurostar Paris Disneyland train schedule has the first departure leaving London at 07:00 and last at 14:34. The return schedule from DisneyLand Paris to London has the earliest train leaving at 08:10 and the last train leaving at 19:37, arriving in London at 21:12.
Trains on the London side leave from the new St Pancras International station accessible via King’s Cross tube station (click here for a London Tube map).
Paris Disneyland also known as Disneyland Paris, is located at Marne La Vallée–Chessy station.
Everyday there is one direct Eurostar train from London to DisneyLand Paris departing at 08:53 and arriving at 12:27. Total travel time is 2 hours 34 minutes, but there is a one hour time difference between France and England, thus the 11:27 arrival time becomes 12:27 in France.
For the return timetable (DisneyLand Paris to London), there is one direct train (the last of the evening) leaving DisneyLand Paris at 19:37, arriving in London at 21:12.
Most trains serving this route are not direct, with a connection made in Lille on the French side of the Channel. Eurostar trains make the London to Lille leg of the journey in 1 hour 27 minutes, then a change is required to a French TGV (Trains à Grande Vitesse) train which completes the journey to Marne La Vallée–Chessy in just over an hour. Total travel time on connecting train voyages is between 3 to 4 hours depending on the length of the layover in Lille.
Tickets can be purchased online at Eurostar.com. Be sure to search for a return trip, rather than two one way journeys, as the prices for one way tickets are much more expensive.
When using Eurostar.com to find tickets and schedules, enter “London” as the “From” location and “Disneyland Resort” as the arrival location.
The most rapid itinerary would be a departure from London at 08:53 and a return train from Disneyland at 19:37, both of which are direct trains.
After selecting your itinerary on Eurostar.com you’ll be asked to choose a method to receive your tickets: either by mail or through automated ticket collection machines at St Pancras station. In general I’d recommend you choose mail delivery to avoid any lineup or ticket collection machine headaches at the station. There is no charge for having your tickets sent by post.
For ticket collection via the automated machines, you must use the credit card used to make the purchase, and the booking reference number will be requested (sent to you via a confirmation email after completing your online ticket purchase).
Upon arriving at Marne La Vallée–Chessy TGV station near Paris, you’ll be only a few minutes walk from the Parc Disneyland gates. Below is the scene surrounding the train station (visible on the left).
Not visible in the photo, further off to the left, is the entrace gate to Parc Disneyland.
A TGV train from CDG to DisneyLand Paris offers a direct, high-speed train (200mph) connection between CDG Airport Terminal 2 and the Disneyland Paris park gates in less than 12 minutes with ticket prices as little as 15€.
Already in Paris and need to get to DisneyLand Paris? See the Paris Disney train (RER) article.
This article explains how to:
The TGV train schedule from Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to DisneyLand Paris has the first train departing at 06:54 in the morning with the last train in the evening departing CDG at 21:55. The frequency of trains varies from 30 minutes to 1h20 between each departure from CDG.
Charles de Gaulle Airport has two separate train stations, one located near Terminal 3 and another located within Terminal 2. The Terminal 2 train station, known as “Aeroport Charles de Gaulle 2 - TGV“, is split into two distinct sides, one for RER suburban trains (going to Paris city center), the other TGV high speed intercity trains, one of which travels to DisneyLand Paris.
If you’re arriving at CDG Terminal 1 or Terminal 3, you’ll need to first catch a CDGVAL shuttle train over to Terminal 2. The photo tour of Terminal 1 to Paris contains instructions on finding and taking the CDGVAL shuttle, but don’t get off the shuttle at Terminal 3/Roissypole, stay on the shuttle until it arrives at Terminal 2. This may seem odd, but Terminal 2 is located after Terminal 3 on the CDGVAL shuttle line.
At Terminal 2 the train station is located in between sub-terminals 2D and 2F. If you’ve taken the CDGVAL shuttle, you’ll arrive very close to the train station. See the Terminal 2 to Paris photo tour for instructions on getting to the Aeroport CDG 2 - TGV train station.
Within the photo guide for the Terminal 2 train station is a photo of the TGV (Grandes Lignes) ticket purchase office on the bottom floor (shown below). This office is split into two sides, one side sells tickets for Paris city trains (RER B) and the other side sells intercity Grandes Lignes trains tickets, which includes TGV trains to DisneyLand Paris. If you’re facing the ticket office, the entrance on the right half is the one you’ll want to use to purchase or pickup your Internet bought tickets, as seen in the photo below:
TGV tickets for the CDG to DisneyLand Paris train can be purchased in advance online at RailEurope.co.uk for residents of the UK, from RailEurope.com for residents of USA (beware of delivery fees) and from TGV-Europe.com from elsewhere. See the article on how to purchase TGV tickets without fees from TGV-Europe.
When buying tickets from RailEurope.co.uk, use “Paris CDG Airport” as your departure and “Marne La Vallee Ches” as your arrival location.
When using TGV-Europe.com to find tickets, be sure to use “AIRPORT CDG 2 TGV” as your departure location and “Marne La Vallee” as your arrival station.
If you’re coming from Europe and have a smart chip enabled credit card, you’ll be able to use the automated ticket machines to pick-up your TGV tickets purchased over the Internet. Only the credit card used to make the online ticket purchase can be used to collect the tickets from these machines, so keep this in mind when using these machines. The machines will appear like these below:
When you have tickets in hand, you’ll need to descend onto the TGV train platforms which are one level below the train station ticket office. Take care not to descend onto the RER B train platforms, which serve only trains going into Paris city center. The TGV trains are Grandes Lignes or Main Line trains which have their own platforms on a separate side of station visible here:
After your TGV train departs, the first stop will be Marne La Vallée–Chessy station which is the train station serving DisneyLand Paris. The travel time should be roughly 10 minutes from CDG to DisneyLand Paris.
Below is a photo of the Marne La Vallée–Chessy train station (on the left) within the Disney grounds.
Save 15% by booking online - Disneyland Paris- Simply buy your tickets for DisneyLand Paris online, before you arrive, from the official Disneyland Paris website and save 15% on Disney tickets or up to 25% on package deals.
You can now take a virtual walking tour of Paris with Google’s Street View service on Google Maps.
As you can see, the Google car has been making the rounds in Paris.
It’s even managed to capture yours truly showing some friends around Paris.
(Google car photo courtesy of dH FlickR)
The RER Disney train is the RER A from central Paris to Disneyland Paris at Marne La Vallée station 40km east of the city centre.
This RER Disney city train (RER A) can be taken from popular central Paris stations:
This Paris Metro-RER map shows only central Paris and the five popular RER A stations along the RER Disney line, shown as a thick red line traveling west to east across Paris city centre:
The complete Paris RER Map shows the full RER Disney line from Paris out to Marne La Vallée station, the location of Paris Disneyland:
Tickets for the RER Disney train cost 7,00€ one way. Tickets for the RER A train can be purchased from any of the above RER stations, from any Metro station within Paris, from both ticket windows and from Metro ticket vending machines and RER/Transilien train ticket vending machines (accepting euro coins or smart-chip credit cards).
For a schedule or timetable for the RER Disney train, refer the RER A timetables in direction Marne La Vallée–Chessy. Travel time along the RER Disney line from Chatelet Les Halles station to Euro Disney is about 40 minutes.
For more information on taking the RER Disney train to Paris Disneyland, see the Paris RER to Euro Disney article.
This is a photo guide & map of Gare de l’Est (a.k.a. Paris Est) train station in Paris.
Gare de l’Est is located in Paris’ 10th Arrondissement, a bare 10 minute walk south east of Gare du Nord, visible in the Google Map below:
Gare de l’Est serves high speed trains such as Thalys, TGV, and ICE to eastern cities such as Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Luxembourg, and Cologne and also regular speed trains to cities around the Ile-de-France region.
Here is a picture of the front entrance of Gare de l’Est, also known as Paris East station, found on street 8 Mai 1945. (See Gare de l’Est in relation to Gare du Nord on Google Maps). This photo was taken looking north. The street running up the left side of the station is rue d’Alsace. To walk from Gare de l’Est to Gare du Nord, simply head north up rue d’Alsace, turn left onto Rue de Dunkerque and you’ll arrive at the front entrance of Gare du Nord in about 10 minutes.
Here is a photo of arriving at Gare de l’Est by way of Metro Line 4, one of three Metro lines with stops at this major train station. Metro Line 5 and 7 also stop at Gare de l’Est.
Immediately after entering the station from the Metro Line 4 we are underneath Hall Central. Overhead we see two video screens showing departures information. The left video screen, labeled “Départs Grandes Lignes” shows trains leaving Paris for far eastern France and German cities via highspeed trains such as TGV and conventional trains such as Corail. The display on the right shows trains departing for the region surrounding Paris (the Ile-de-France) normally served by Ter and Transilien trains. These trains will leave via the center train lanes (”voie” 13 to 22) reserved for Ile-de-France travel. More on this further down.
Another photo of the main Metro entrance/exit underneath Hall Central. Visible are entrance/exits for Metro Line 7 and 4. On the right hand side, partially hidden by some pillars, we can see a ticket window (guichet pronounced [gee-shay]) for purchasing Metro tickets. In the immediate foreground of this photo is a is a wheelchair lift down onto the Metro level. Gare de l’Est is one of the more wheelchair friendly train stations in Paris.
Here’s another photo of the Metro entrance under Gare de l’Est. A sign off to the right shows Metro Lines 4, 5 and 7.
On the Metro level is a baggage locker/left luggage room tucked into a corner behind some escalators. Baggage storage at Paris train stations ranges from 5€ for small lockers to 9,50€ for large ones fitting about 2 large roller suitcases. Maximum duration of storage is 48 hours. You’ll need to pass through a quick security checkpoint in order to store your bags, not unlike the security done for boarding a plane.
Moving up one level from the Metro lines we arrive at Hall Central of Gare de l’Est. This space is mostly occupied by shops and could be mistaken for a commercial shopping centre.
Here’s a wide-angle photo of Hall Central at Gare de l’Est which gives you a good idea of the layout. The information pillar on the left gives you some orientation hints. This photo was taken facing west. Off to the right are the main train lines. The hall beyond the far end of this area is known as Hall d’Alsace. Behind us is Hall St. Martin.
This sign within Hall Central shows how the main train lines are split onto two platforms, yellow and blue, with train lanes numbered from 2 to 30. You’ll notice there’s a big gap in lane numbers, 13 to 22. That’s because the central train lanes are reserved for Ile-de-France trains serving the area immediately surrounding Paris. Ticket purchases for trains heading to other cities and far off destinations can be found in Hall St. Martin.
Looking just slight down from the previous photo we can see the central train lines off in the next hall. Just before that are a set of four display screens providing information on trains departing within the next hour and from which lanes/platforms.
Moving west from Hall Central puts us at Hall Alsace, easy to recognize with its massive overhead painting. Hall Alsace gives access to the yellow train platforms, lanes numbered 2 to 12.
This is an overhead shot of the yellow train platform area just north of Hall Alsace. The trains are a bit hidden off to the right hand side of the photo behind the “happy” flower shop. The exit straight ahead leads out to Rue d’Alsace, which as mentioned above connects to Rue de Dunkerque and Gare du Nord train station. Center foreground in the photo is an information booth with an ACCUEIL sign on top, helping passengers out with directions and train information.
Turning to our right we now face the central train platforms serving Paris and the immediate surrounding area (Ile-de-France). Trains here are sectioned off from the rest of the platform via gate barriers (visible on the left with green lights and swinging glass doors. The green building in the centre of the photo sells tickets for Ter and Transilien trains servicing the Ile-de-France region. This tickets are known as Billet Ile-de-France and are the same size and shape as small Metro tickets, but are priced specifically for travel between two stations. Two green ticket vending machines are visible in front of the ticket office, which accepts either Euro coins or smart-chip credit cards for payment. Above the ticket office is an Ile-de-France train network map.
Turning again to our right we now face east towards the blue train platform, lanes numbered 23 to 30, with the central platform visible to the left.
Here’s an overhead map view of the station showing the yellow platform on the western end, Ile-de-France train lanes in center, and blue platform trains on the eastern end. You can also see the layout of Hall Alsace, Central & St. Martin.
And finally a closer picture of the two levels of Gare de l’Est showing the place of the Metro lines in relation to the train lines and streets surrounding the station.
I hope this gives you an idea of the layout of Gare de l’Est! Happy travels.
The Paris Metro vs. the Paris RER… what’s the difference?
The RER isMore information on the Paris Metro (Google Knol)
RER Tickets (Billet Ile-de-France)
(RER sign photo by Gregory Deryckère)
Pour juste 77€ vous pouvez prendre un train Eurostar à grand vitesse entre centre ville de Paris (Gare du Nord) et centre ville de Londres (St. Pancras / King’s Cross). Temps de parcour est entre 2 heures 25 minutes et 2 heures 51 minutes pour les trains sans correspondances. (Rappelez qu’il y a un décalage d’une heure entre l’Angleterre et la France, Londres est une heure en retard que Paris).
Les trains Eurostar départ de la station Gare du Nord situé dans le 10eme arrondissement accessible par le RER B, RER D, RER E et aussi par les lignes du Métro 4 et 5.
A Londres l’Eurostar arrive à la station St. Pancras International au coin nord-est de la centre ville accessible par cinq lines du Tube (Métro) compris Piccadilly et Victoria.
Tous les horaires et les tickets sont disponible sur Eurostar.com, le site officiel.
Les horaires des trains Eurostar quittant Paris commencent à partir de 06:43 (du lundi au vendredi) et 07:01 (samedi et dimanche) et ils arrivent à 08:12 et 08:32 à Londres. Les derniers trains quittent Paris à 20:50 tous les jours et ils arrivent à 22:25. Cliquez ici pour télécharger une fiche horaire pour tous les trains Eurostar (voyez la deuxième page qui sont les horaires entre Paris et Londres).
Pour trouver les billets moins chers, utilise le calendrier de disponibilité comme expliquer ici. Evidement les tickets pour les jours au moins un mois en avance, pendant la semaine, sont plus nombreux et donc moins chers. Vous pouvez aussi chercher les billets moins chers autour vos dates choisi par utiliser l’option “Vous cherchez les meilleurs tarifs?”.
Je vous conseille de chercher les billets aller-retour contre les billets aller-simple qui sont nettement plus chers quand ils sont acheté séparément.
Pour le moyen de livraison choisissez “Je veux recevoir les billets par la Poste - Gratuite“. Vous pouvez éviter les queues à la gare le jour du voyage avec les billets livré à domicile.
Le jour du voyage vous devriez s’enregistrer avec Eurostar à Gare du Nord au moins 45 minutes avant l’heure de départ. Pour un itineraire de comment aller à Gare du Nord par Métro ou RER, utilisez l’outil Itinéraires sur RATP.fr pour afficher le trajet le plus vite par transport en commun. Quand vous êtes arrivé à la gare, monter jusqu’à le premier étage où vous touverez le niveau d’Eurostar. Voir le tour virtuel de Gare du Nord pour vous orienter.
D’abord les employees Eurostar vous accueilleront devant l’entrée où ils verifieront que vous apportez les billets Eurostar. 
En suite passer les tourniquets par introduiser vos billets (coté imprimé vers le haut) dans le face de la tourniquet et les recuperer d’en haut. Les barriers descendront pour vous laisser passer au poste de contrôle par la Police Nationale. Vous devez montrer un piece d’identité à ce point là, soit un passeport ou une carte d’identité si vous habitez dans un pays de l’Union Européene. Après le poste de contrôle Français vous ferez la même chose pour le poste de contrôle Brittanique. (Angleterre n’est pas inclus dans le Zone Schengen). Etape finale: contrôle de sûreté comme à l’aéroport.
La salle d’attente Eurostar sont separé en deux avec deux portes d’embarquements. La salle devant est pour les voyageurs assis dans voitures 1 à 6. La salle derrière est pour voitures 7 à 18. Il y a des toilettes disponible entre les deux salles.
Pour les voyageurs en première classe il y a une salle d’attente reservé pour eux à peine devant la salle d’attente pour voitures 1 à 6.
Environs 20 à 25 minutes avant l’heure de partir vous seriez inviter de monter dans le train. Vous descendrez jusqu’à la voie qui sera séparé que le reste de la gare. Pour trouver votre voiture et siege regarder votre billet. Dans l’exemple en bas le voiture et siege est marque: “Voit 17 23″ (Voiture 17, Siege 23).
Sur chaque voiture il y aura un ecran à coté de la porte qui affiche le nombre de la voiture. Aussi, il y aura un employee Eurostar devant chaque voiture prêt de vous aidez touver votre voiture et siege.
Il faut au moins 2h25m pour le voyage. Presque tout les trains s’arreteront à Ashford ou à Ebbsfleet en Angleterre environ 15 ou 20 minutes avant qu’ils arrivent à gare de St. Pancras International. Ne trompez pas ces petites stations pour la gare de St. Pancras, qui est énorme et est sous un toit.
Après vous êtes descendu du train marchez jusqu’au bord de la quai (vers la grande horloge) où vous descendrez par un troittoir roulant. Après vous avez passé les agents douanes Anglais (qui ne sont pas toujours là) vous êtes libres de faire les correspondances par Tube par la station King’s Cross. L’équivalent du Passe Navigo / Carte Orange est le Carte Oyster, disponsible pour 3£ pour la carte soi-même (remboursable) et après vous creditez le passe pour 10-50£. Pour plus d’information sur transport en commun à Londres, voir le site-web transport for london (site officiel).
Amusez-vous bien!
77€ est le prix d’un billet aller-retour par Eurostar TGV train entre Paris et Londres (Gare du Nord à St. Pancras International/King’s Cross).
Comment trouver le moins cher prix pour un billet Eurostar (77€/59£)?
pour avoir acces au calendrier de disponibilité:
Les horaires du RER A entre Paris et Marne La Vallée (DisneyLand Paris) sont téléchargable là.
En générale, les trains RER A quittent Paris pour Marne La Vallée–Chessy chaque 10 minutes pendant la journée et chaque 30 minutes à partir de 21:18 au soir jusqu’à la fin de service (le dernier train arrive à Marne La Vallée à 00:44).
Le premier train de Paris arrive à Marne La Vallée à 06:01 dans le matin.
Pour plus des infos sur un trajet entre les grandes stations de Paris (Gare de Lyon, Gare du Nord, Châtelet, etc.) et Marne La Vallée - DisneyLand Paris, voir cet article sur RER de Paris à DisneyLand.
3,20€ est le prix d’un billet RER (Billet Ile-de-France) pour un trajet entre n’importe quel station à Paris dans Zone 1 (Chatelet, Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon, etc.) jusqu’à Marne La Vallée–Chessy - DisneyLand Paris (qui est à Zone 5) sur Ligne RER A4. (Prix applicable depuis 1er juillet 2008).
N’achetez pas un ticket de Metro en plus si vous commencez votre trajet hors de la ligne RER A. Vous pouvez utiliser le même billet Ile-de-France pour tout le trajet, dans les deux, Metro et RER, jusqu’à Marne La Vallée.
Voir un guide détaillé entre Paris et DisneyLand par RER.
Official Paris Metro (subway) maps for download below. (Click on the map to download the PDF).
Shows all 14 main Metro lines and 2 secondary “bis” lines, RER lines A through E and Trams lines 1, 2 and 3.
Same as the Basic Metro Map but in a smaller format, good for printing on a 4×6 sheet of photo paper.
Same as above Metro maps but shown in relation to Paris city streets.
All maps are provided by Paris’ regional public transit authority: RATP.
A Paris city train, the RER B, travels from CDG Airport (Paris–Charles de Gaulle) to the Eurostar train station in Paris, Gare du Nord, in 30-35 minutes. Please note that there is no Eurostar train station at Charles de Gaulle Airport. All Eurostar Paris to London trains depart from Paris–Gare du Nord station, also known as simply “Paris Nord“.
There are two RER train stations at CDG Airport, one serving Terminal 1 and 3 (see the Terminal 1 to Paris photo guide for detailed instructions), another for Terminal 2 (see the Terminal 2 to Paris photo guide). Both stations will have RER trains going to the Eurostar station in Paris: Gare du Nord.
Tickets for the RER train from CDG to the Eurostar station are 9,40€, purchasable at both CDG train stations, either from ticket vending machines or ticket windows. These tickets are simply “To Paris”; there is no special ticket nor price for CDG to Eurostar station at Gare du Nord, which is within central Paris in the 10th arrondissement.
The first train leaves CDG at 6:25, arriving at Gare du Nord/Eurostar station at 6:56. Frequency of trains varies from 7 to 15 minutes between trains for the better part of the day.
The last train leaves CDG at 23:56 arriving at the Eurostar station at 00:26.
See the RER B schedule article for a full timetable of trains from CDG to Paris, paying particular attention to the stop “Gare du Nord”, which is the station for Eurostar Paris to London trains.
Information on buying cheap Eurostar tickets.
Information on taking the Paris-London Eurostar at Gare du Nord.
The first Eurostar train departing London from St Pancras International Station leaves at 05:25, arriving at Paris Gare du Nord at 08:50. Note that there is a one hour time difference between London and Paris.
Last train from London to Paris leaves St Pancras at 20:05, arriving at 23:26.
On weekends, Saturday and Sunday, the last train leaves London at 20:35 (8:35pm).
Tips on finding discount Eurostar tickets.
See the full schedule of Eurostar London to Paris trains:
Upon arriving in Paris at Gare du Nord, the Eurostar arrival station, you can take Metro (Tube/Subway) trains direct from there to elsewhere in the city.
Information on the Metro in Paris.
Information on Metro ticket, the Ticket t+.
Information on using Metro ticket vending machines.
If you’re traveling to another city outside of Paris, but within the Ile-de-France region, you can buy train tickets, known as Billet Ile-de-France, from a different style ticket vending machine, a Billetterie Ile-de-France.
The arrival and departures timetable for Eurostar Paris to London train has the earliest departure/first train leaving Paris at 6:43 arriving at 07:58. The journey time is 2 hours 15 minutes with a 1 hour time zone difference between Paris and London, London being earlier at Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and Paris at GMT+1. Trains leave from Gare du Nord in Paris. More information on taking Eurostar from Paris to London.
On Saturdays and Sundays the first Paris to London Eurostar train departs at 07:13 arriving in London at 08:28.
Last train train leaving Paris departs at 21:13 (9:13pm) arriving at London St Pancras at 22:34 with a stop at Ebbsfleet 20 minutes before that (don’t get off the train too early).
Tips on finding discount Eurostar tickets.
Here is a full timetable of train trains departing Paris Nord station arriving at London St Pancras:
Here is an accessibility map of Paris Metro, RER, Bus, Tram lines, stops and stations for those with reduced mobility, specifically for those in a wheelchair.
There are roughly 50 Metro/RER stations within central Paris that have elevators and accessibility for wheelchairs. The stations listed on this map are the reduced mobility accessible stations. Although the stations themselves will be accessible, very few Metro / RER lines have roll-on accessibility for the train itself. Metro Line 14 and RER E have complete roll-on / roll-off access for wheelchairs right onto the trains and all station stops are accessible by elevator. The other Metro lines that have accessibility up until the train itself include Metro Lines 1, 2, and 13. The RER B train, popular for its CDG Airport to Paris route, has complete accessibility only at Gare du Nord.
On the left hand side of the map, half-way down, is an index of Metro, RER and Train stations (”Index des gares et stations accessibles”). Listed here are station names (ex. Auber), the type of train served: Metro (subway), RER (suburban train / express subway), or Train (intercity train), which lines are served (RER A, Metro Line 14, etc.) and whether wheelchairs can roll-on/roll-off unassisted onto the train cars. A red asterisk beside the train type and line means wheelchairs cannot roll onto trains and will need assistance at that point. Only Metro Line 14 and RER E are fully accessible by wheelchairs at all stations and onto the trains themselves. All other trains will require help from staff or other passengers to lift chairs onto train cars. In general Parisien travelers are very willing to help those with reduced mobility ascend and descend trains so don’t hesitate to ask or make gestures to such effect.
The map also shows wheelchair accessible Paris Bus lines along with bus stops that have specifically designed ramps for ease of access. Buses along these lines will have the ability to kneel and deploy a ramp for wheelchair roll-on/roll-off access. Bus stops that specifically do not have accessible ramps will be marked with a caution sign (yellow triangle with exclamation point).
The trams within Paris, Tram 2 skirting the western edge of Paris and Tram 3 running east-west along the southern edge, are fully wheelchair accessible with ramps on all stops and very small gaps in between train and ramp at stops.
Intercity trains such as TGV, Ter, and Transilien at the major Paris train stations (”gares” such as Gare de Lyon, Gare du Nord) most often have a step or two at car doors in order to board the trains, thus wheelchair travelers will require assistance for boarding.
For travelers with reduced mobility, but not confined to a wheelchair, certain stations feature long connections requiring a good deal of walking or stair climbing which may be best to avoid. Unfortunately it’s not possible to simply classify stations as mobility friendly or not since different connections to different lines within the same station will require different amounts of walking and stairs. Some connections may require only seconds of walking while others will require ten or more minutes.
Nearly all stations feature escalators, but there are often small sets of stairs which are present throughout the Metro for traversing over or under connecting lines.
One way to get an idea of walking distance when making connections is by using the a Metro Route Planner and observing the walking time provided in the results (when transferring from one line to another within a station). From the time required to walk from one train platform to a connecting one you can estimate the distance and the level of mobility require to make the connection.
This is an overview of how to travel from CDG Airport to Central Paris by city train (RER B). For instructions in the opposite direction see Paris to Airport CDG by Train.
For step-by-step photo instructions see Terminal 2 to Paris by train or Terminal 1 to Paris by train.
Line => RER B (Blue) 
Direction => Paris (Robinson, Antony, St-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse)
Arrival Stations => Gare du Nord, Châtelet les Halles, St Michel/Nôtre Dame, Luxembourg, Port Royal, Denfert-Rochereau, Cité Universitaire
Ticket => “Billet Ile-de-France” Aéroport CDG - Paris (Zone 5 -> Zone 1)
Cost => 9,25€ (full fare, as of April 2012) / 6,40€ (children 4 - 9) / free (children under 4)
Passes Accepted => Paris Visite, Passe Navigo (Découverte)
First Train / Last Train CDG to Paris => 04:56 / 23:56 (22:58 M-F until mid-2012)
Photo Guides: Terminal 1 to Paris, Terminal 2 to Paris
The quickest & least expensive way to get to Paris from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport is by taking the RER B suburban city train leaving from either CDG Terminal 2 or Terminal 3/Roissypole.
The RER B train line runs north-south through the centre of Paris, stopping at Gare du Nord, the London to Paris Eurostar station, then at Châtelet Les Halles the “super” exchange station with 4 metro lines and 3 RER lines available, then Saint Michel/Nôtre Dame, Luxembourg, Port Royal, Denfert-Rochereau, Cité Universitaire, and continues south towards Orly Airport (requiring a transfer onto the OrlyVal metro at station Antony).
The two train stations at Charles de Gaulle Airport are named “Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1” and “Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 - TGV“, the first being located near Terminal 3 in the Roissypole building and the second located between Terminal 2E and 2C. (A map of CDG airport is provided below).
The first train leaving Charles de Gaulle Airport towards Paris departs at 4:56am from Terminal 2, stops at “Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1” station two minutes later, and then reaches Gare du Nord in Paris at 5:26am.
The last RER B train leaving airport CDG for Paris departs at 11:56pm just before midnight (update: see warning below), arriving at Paris Gare du Nord at 12:26am. This train schedule from CDG to Paris is the same every day of the week, including holidays. (For a complete timetable, see the schedule of RER B trains).
*** Warning! Construction along the RER B train line through 2010 to mid-2012 is affecting late evening trains leaving CDG Airport to Paris. 10:58pm is the latest direct train leaving CDG Airport for Paris, Monday to Friday (Saturday, Sunday trains are unaffected). Travelers attempting to take the RER B train after this time will be directed to take a shuttle bus at Aéroport CDG 1 station to Aulnay-sous-Bois station where the RER B train is operating as usual to Paris.
For step-by-step photo based instructions see either CDG Terminal 1 to Paris Photo Guide or CDG Terminal 2 to Paris Photo Guide.
If you’re landing at Terminal 1 you’ll have to take a shuttle train called CDGVAL to Terminal 3/Roissypole in order to catch the RER train. The name of this station is “Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1“. Don’t mistake the “1″ in the name as meaning “Terminal 1″, it doesn’t, it’s simply the first of the two train stations at CDG Airport. Just follow the signs for the CDGVAL tram within Terminal 1.
To make things more confusing, Terminal 3 is located between Terminals 1 and 2, so traveling from west to east across terminals you’ll hit Terminal 1, then 3, then 2. Keep in mind that the CDGVAL tram stops at parking stations in between Terminals 1 and 3 (Parc P-r), and Terminals 3 and 2 (Park P-x), so don’t get off CDGVAL too early. There will be voice announcements at each stop in French and English to help guide you.
Map of (CDG) Charles de Gaulle Airport (PDF - Courtesy of ADP)
If you’re landing at Terminal 2, keep in mind that there are 7 sub-terminals and you must make your way to the train station which is located between sub-terminals 2E and 2F. There will be numerous signs through the terminals pointing towards the Paris RER train.
At either the Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1 train station, a large open concrete atrium, or Terminal 2 train station, a white, triple level, escalator extravaganza, you’ll find plenty of ticket vending machines. Be sure to use the Billetterie Ile-de-France blue box machines and not the yellow SNCF TGV vending machines, as only the blue box machines sell tickets for the RER B line that you’re after.
Even more important to note is that American and most other non-European credit cards (without smart chips and without 4 digit pin numbers) will not work with these machines. At the CDG 1 station there is a large ticket window with 3 SNCF employees that will be selling individual tickets for the RER. At Terminal 2 there is a dark glass paned room on the bottom floor, off to one side that will be selling RER tickets and SNCF/TGV tickets. If you’re facing this glass room, the entry on the left will be for RER tickets to Paris. The entry on the right is only for tickets to other cities. Almost always there will be at least one ticket seller that speaks English and it will be noted by a little British flag on the corner of his or her window. Either way, you’re looking to buy a ticket for “Paris Aller-Simple” [Pear-Ee Alleh-Som-pleh] which is a one way ticket. The price should be roughly €9,10 for adult tickets and €6,40 for children (9 and under) RER B train tickets to Paris.
For Aéroport CDG 1 station it should be pretty obvious where the platform is as you can see it from the ticket machine areas and you’ll see turnstiles with green lights on them. Terminal 2 is not much worse: simply follow the signs that say “Trains to Paris”. It’ll be quite difficult to miss and all trains from these platforms travel to Paris. You can view the television screens while on the platform to see all the stops the train will make. The stops should include Gare du Nord, Châtelet les Halles, St. Michel-Nôtre Dame, Luxembourg, and others. The four mentioned here are the ones that the majority of travelers will be looking for as they’re all in central Paris. Gare du Nord is best for those going to a hotel near Sacré Coeur/Montmarte, Châtelet les Halles for those staying near the Louvre, St. Michel-Nôtre Dame is across the Seine (the Left Bank), and Luxembourg being near the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens).
For those extra keen travelers, there are “express” RER B trains that leave from both train stations. Simply look at the television screens on the platform and note how many stops are between CDG train stations and the four central Paris stations mentioned above. The express RER B train will go directly from Aéroport CDG 1 to Gare du Nord, without stopping at any stations in between. The regular train will make about 9 stops in between CDG Airport and Gare du Nord. You’ll save roughly 12 minutes by taking one of the express trains, but even the non-express RER B will get you to Paris (Gare du Nord) in about 34 minutes.
Enjoy your stay!
RER B Train Schedule Airport Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to Paris Gare du Nord
Cet article explique comment aller de Paris à Disneyland Paris par train RER A. Si vous allez au Parc Disney en provenance de l’Aéroport Charles de Gaulle, vous pouvez prendre un TGV direct de CDG à Disney (Marne la Vallée) ou d’abord prendre le train RER B à Paris puis à la station Châtelet Les Halles effectuer une correspondance au RER A en direction de Marne La Vallée.
Fiche Horaire RER A direction Marne La Vallée
Ligne => RER A
Direction => Marne La Vallée (RER A4)
En provenance de => Charles de Gaulle - Etoile, Auber, Châtelet Les Halles, Gare de Lyon, Nation
Destination => Marne La Vallée–Chessy
Prix => 7,40€ (Zone 1 - Zone 5)
Titres de Transports Acceptés => Carte Paris Visite (5 Zone), Pass Navigo ou Pass Navigo Découverte (5 Zone), Ticket Mobilis (5 Zone)
Durée du trajet => 39-45 minutes
Premier et Dernier Départ => 05:22 / 00:39
Fréquence de Passage => environ chaque 15 min. (entre 9 et 30 minutes entre les trains)
Les trains RER A en direction de DisneyLand Paris partent du centre de Paris toute la journée avec un fréquence de passage d’environ 15 minutes. Les trains partent des cinq grands stations RER: Charles de Gaulle - Etoile (à l’Arc de Triomphe), Auber (aux Galeries Lafayette), Châtelet Les Halles (le plus grand station souterrain du monde), Gare de Lyon (le plus grand station de train à Paris), et Nation. Pour commencer le voyage, trouver votre chemin à un des cinq stations.
Un billet Ile-de-France aller-simple du centre de Paris au Parc disney coûte 7,40€ (1 Juillet, 2011). Vous pouvez acheter ces tickets des guichets et billetteries dans n’importe quel station du Metro ou RER et l’utilise pour le voyage entier. C’est à dire que vous pouvez utiliser le même billet pour le deux Metro et RER.
Un ticket t+ pour le Metro est insuffisant pour faire ce voyage car Marne La Vallée-Chessy est localisé dans Zone 5.
Les titres de transports ci-dessous sont valable pour le voyage entre Paris et Disneyland:
Commence le voyage dans n’importe quel station de RER à Paris mentionné au-dessus. Nous voudrons prendre le RER A en direction Marne La Vallée. A l’interieur d’un station RER vous trouveriez les panneaux comme ci-dessous:
Remarquez qu’il y a deux terminus dans ce direction pour le RER A: Boissy-St-Léger et Marne-la-Vallée dont nous voulons prendre Marne-la-Vallée (souvent marqué avec un petit ticket “Parc Disneyland”).
Dans quelques stations du RER comme Châtelet Les Halles et Gare de Lyon, ces panneaux vont vous diriger à un quai avec deux voie sur chaque coté. Ce n’est pas toujours evident quel coté est le bon coté pour le train que nous voulons prendre donc c’est une bonne idée de regarder les panneaux qui notent quel stations sont desservis comme ci-dessous:
Chaque station desservi au long de la ligne sera marqué sur le panneau. Si vous ne trouvez pas le station “Marne La Vallée” marqué sur le panneau, vous êtes au mauvais coté (ou voie).
Les stations sur le panneau qui sont allumés avec un carré jaune seront desservis par le prochain train. Si Marne La Vallée n’est pas allumé, attendez pour le train en suite.
Après vous êtes monté sur le train à DisneyLand Paris, il faut que vous gardez votre titre de transport jusqu’à la sortie du gare à Marne La Vallée.
Quand vous êtes arrivée à Marne La Vallée vous verrez le quai ci-dessous:
Montez les escaliers ou les escalators vers la sortie pour le RER dans le gare. Utilisez votre billet dans les tourniquets pour sortir:
Après vous êtes sorti le gare vous pouvez remarquer le motif Disney du station:
Voici est une photo panoramique de Marne La Vallée avec une partie de Parc Disneyland:
Quant il est l’heure de repartir vous ferez le trajet en sens inverse. Vous pouvez acheter les billets Ile-de-France pour Paris du guichet à l’interieur de la gare. Descendez au même quai ou vous êtes arrivé. Il y aura un grand panneau qui note quel quai que vous devriez prendre pour le trajet rétour à Paris:
Liens Utiles
Profitez d’une réduction de 15% quand vous reservez en ligne - Disneyland Paris
These online Metro, RER, Trains, bus route & schedule tools will show you how to get from point A to point B. These route planners show required connections between train lines, travel times and ticket costs (some).
For TGV intercity train route planners & ticket sales, see below.
Below is a photo of the route planner tool at RATP.fr.
This article has been moved to TGV Train from CDG to DisneyLand Paris.
Here I’ll show you how to buy TGV tickets online, without fees, with tickets you can print from home, even from USA and Canada.
From the UK? RailEurope.co.uk offers TGV tickets without fees with free home delivery of tickets (and is actually easier to use than TGV-Europe.com).
For all others, TGV-Europe.com offers online TGV ticket buying without fees or delivery charges, but a few tips (below) are necessary.
Let’s start by visiting TGV-Europe.com and choosing Other Countries (bottom right hand corner) as your country of residence.
You’ll be greeted with their English home page with a magenta colored search box in the middle. Fill out the Search box as desired. In the example below I’m searching for TGV train tickets from Paris to Avignon, one way (”single”).
The next page will show your chosen departure and arrival points (”Leaving from”/”Going to”), ask for the number travelers and their ages, and most importantly the country for receiving or collecting the tickets.
If you’re a resident of the US, do not select USA here, as you’ll be redirected to RailEurope.com (and will pay a delivery fee of $18 for tickets). To avoid this and to continue using TGV-Europe, select Great Britain from the drop down list “country for receiving or collecting the tickets“.
If you’re a Canadian resident, Canada is not shown in the list and RailEurope.ca charges a delivery fee ($23) for tickets. Choose Great Britain as your country instead.
Avoid choosing France, as you’ll be redirected to a French only reseller site (Voyages-SNCF.com), serving residents of France.
If your country is not found on this list, choose Great Britain to continue in English. You won’t be able to receive your tickets in the mail, but you can still collect your tickets upon arrival in France, free of charge, regardless of where you actually live.
After clicking on the Search button, the next screen (shown below) will contain a large amount of information to digest. Here we select which train we want for the outbound leg of the journey.
At the top, just below “Select your outward” may be a warning: “Attention, you cannot make reservations for certain journeys in this list”. This only applies to itineraries that connect with another type of (non-TGV) train or bus to complete the journey. It simply means that one or more parts of the journey are made on trains or buses where the seats are first come first served. For example, some trains will be Ter commuter trains, where the seats are not numbered.
Below that is a table of departure times (in 24 hour clock) and prices for those departures. Prices in yellow are discounted.
The rest of the page contains details on several trains you can take, each with a different departure time. Here we’ll look at one train in particular, which has 3 different ticketing options. Starting at the top of the details for this train you’ll see departure time & station (15h13 Paris Gare de Lyon), arrival time & station (17h56 Avignon TGV), type of train and number (TGV 06117), 1st or 2nd class (we see only 2nd class tickets here since that was our search criteria), and journey time (02h43).
Below that are 3 different ticket choices for this train leaving Paris at 15h13 (3:13pm) and arriving in Avignon at 17h56 (5:56pm). The first and cheapest choice is a PREMs ticket at 50€ which are discounted early bird tickets. PREMs tickets are usually the least expensive, but do not allow changes nor cancellations.
Select a ticket type by clicking on the radio button circles left of the prices. Just after doing this, a new link will appear “Choose My Place“, which allows you to select a seat type: Window, Aisle, Upper deck, Lower deck (on double-decker trains), etc. When you’re happy with your choices click “choose this outward journey” to continue.
Skip forward to the delivery options or continue reading for detailed explanations on the other ticket options.
Second choice is a LOISIR (”Leisure”) ticket, which are changeable and refundable, without fees, up until the day of travel. Changes or cancellations made on day of travel will be subject to a 10€ fee for each traveler on the ticket (it’s possible to have multiple people on a single TGV/regular train ticket). You can make ticket changes and cancellations online through a web page specifically for your ticket. The web page address is sent to you with your email confirmation of your ticket purchase, so keep that email handy.
If you’ve received a paper ticket and wish to cancel it, you can do this online, but you will only be refunded after you’ve returned your ticket to a ticket office. In France you can do this at any SNCF ticket window, found at any of the major train stations within central Paris (Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon, etc.). Outside of France, you would return your ticket to the reseller from whom you purchased (for example: RailEurope.com). This is to prevent travelers from retaining the paper ticket and using it after receiving a refund for the purchase.
The last ticket option we see in the above image is a PRO 2NDE ticket which allows you to (without charges or fees):
If you decide to exchange or cancel your PRO 2NDE ticket more than an hour past the departure time of your reserved train, you’ll be charged 50% of the original ticket price for a change or cancellation.
From time to time there may be green colored second class seat tickets upgraded to first class train cars. These seat tickets that are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. These tickets can even be cheaper than the least expensive 2nd class tickets. 1st class seats are larger, have more legroom, and come with more seating configuration choices as shown in the photo below.
Note that some ticket choices have a leg of the journey completed on a bus (”coach”) as shown in the picture below. In this example we see that a TGV train from Paris Gare de Lyon makes the first leg to Avignon TGV station, which is then followed by a coach line bus between Avignon’s TGV train station and its central train station, Avignon Centre (Avignon has multiple large train stations, just like Paris). Since this itinerary choice uses two different types of transportation (train and bus), each ticket will have two different sets of restrictions. For example, the first choice has PREMS and REGULAR FARE. The PREMS restrictions refers to the TGV train on the first leg and the REGULAR FARE stipulations refer to the bus portion of the journey.
Some train routes are served by SNCF’s iDTGV brand of TGV high speed trains which usually offers the cheapest fares with tickets that you print yourself at home. iDTGV tickets can be purchased up to 6 months in advance, as opposed to the maximum of 60 days in advance for second class tickets and 90 days for first class tickets. Seat choices are either in the iDzen zone (quiet part of the train good for sleeping or reading) or the iDzap zone (dvd players/movies available for rent, nightclub like bar area, etc.).
After choosing a ticket type we’re presented with a confirmation page. You’ll see the train departure/arrival details along with your seat placement (Coach 7 - Seat 88, Upper deck - Window - Dual side by side).
If you wish to change your selection, click “Back” on your browser, select your desired ticket and you’ll be returned to this confirmation page, which will now show your new ticket choice and your previously chosen ticket. Remember to delete your previous ticket choice by clicking the “Delete” button (left hand side, just below Passenger information).
When you’re happy with your ticket choice, click “Confirm” to continue.
Next we decide how to receive our tickets. The choices depend on the type of ticket you’ve chosen and the country of residence you chose on the search page. PREMs and iDTGV tickets can be printed yourself, regardless of your country of residence.
If your country of residence was listed on the search page (and you chose it), you can choose “receive your tickets free by post“. If you chose a country other than your actual country of residence (due to it not being on the list, or you’re from the US or Canada, wish to avoid delivery fees and you chose Great Britain), you cannot choose to receive your tickets by post (mail), as the delivery country cannot be changed from what you chose on the search page. Instead, choose “Retrieve your ticket in a French station with the bank card that was used to pay for it” (the choice depicts a ticket window attendant). The reason for this: most North American credit cards do not work with the automated ticket retrieval machines.
If you choose Receive your ticket free by post, a new window will appear further down on the page, asking for your mailing address, with the country selected during search automatically specified (and unchangeable).
Next we specify the name and email address of the ticket purchaser. It’s important that you use a name that is shown on your travel documents such as your passport, since the tickets you’ll receive will have this name on them. From time to time you may be asked to show identification that matches the name on the ticket. The email address is also important, as a purchase confirmation will be sent to this address. This confirmation will allow you to make changes to the ticket, specify passengers names (for iDTGV tickets), and allow you to print the ticket itself (for PREMs tickets).
Remember to check the acceptance box for the General Conditions of Sale before clicking “Confirm“.
Finally you’ll come to the page where you can specify your payment option. Visa, Mastercard and American Express will be the most common choices. Note that if you use American Express, the automated ticket retrieval machines will not work for collecting your tickets. You’ll need to visit a ticket window with your confirmation and card.
You won’t be asked for billing address information here, simply the card number, expiry, and security code. Afterwards, your card will be billed and an email confirmation delivered to your email mailbox.
If you’ve purchased a PREMs or iDTGV ticket, you’ll be able to print your own ticket from the TGV-Europe.com website (see more information on printing your own PREMs ticket). The address of your ticket web page will be sent to you via email and is also presented to you at the end of the ticket purchase process. Remember that iDTGV tickets can be changed as long as you have not already printed the tickets, so keep the confirmation email for your tickets handy, but not actually print the tickets, if you’re unsure of your travel times. (See details on changing iDTGV tickets here).
If you’ve chosen to have your tickets sent by post, you’ll should receive your tickets within 10 working days from International locations outside of western Europe. Within France ticket delivery takes 2 or 3 days.
If you’ve chosen to Retrieve your tickets in a French station with the bank card that was used to pay for it, you can do this at any time while you’re in France, you do not have to wait till the day of travel. In fact, I recommend you do it as early as possible to avoid any lineup problems you may run into on the day of travel. Keep a print out of your email confirmation which contains the purchase reference code (usually 6 letters) handy when you visit a SNCF ticket window to pickup tickets. This will help the attendant understand what you’re after in case there is a language barrier.
If you’ve chosen to Collect your ticket from an automatic ticket machine with the bank card used for the payment, you’ll need to use yellow ticket machines at a train station in France such as those seen in the below photo:
If you have troubles using these machines with your bank card or credit card, simply visit a ticket window with a print out of your confirmation and your card and they should be able to print out your tickets for you.
By purchasing your TGV ticket through TGV-Europe.com, you should be able to avoid delivery fees charged by certain resellers, namely RailEurope.com, RailEurope.ca. The prices of tickets offered by TGV-Europe are no different than those available on RailEurope.co.uk or RailEurope.com.
This rail map from TGV-Europe.com shows high speed train lines in France & Western Europe along with:
Countries included are France, Spain, England, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Italy (the
Railteam partner countries).
The high speed rail networks for each country include:
Train tickets can be purchased from RailEurope.com (for US or Canadian, UK residents), from Voyages-SNCF.com (for France residents) or directly from TGV-Europe.com if you live elsewhere.
Clicking on city names (one for departure and another for arrival) on the map allows you to calculate ticket prices, travel times and frequency of trains per day for a particular journey. The calculated information will be shown in the right hand side of the page underneath “Your Ticket“. Click New Search at the bottom of this area to clear your city choices and start a new search.
This TGV Map shows high speed train lines in France. This includes the main TGV lines, Eurostar, Thalys, TGV East networks. (Click map to see full version).
Hover your mouse over the TGV line names on the bottom right hand legend to highlight a single train line on the TGV network map.
The main TGV line covers all major cities and many smaller cities in France.
TGV south: Bayonne, Toulouse, Perpignan, Nimes, Montpellier, Avignon, Aix, Marseille, Toulon, Nice.
TGV West: Brest, Rennes, Nantes, Tours, Bordeaux.
TGV Central: Paris, Lyon, Dijon, Lille.
Translation:
A train ticket for the snail.
The SNCF will reimburse the 5,10€ charged to a passenger transporting live snails, without tickets, on a TGV train. The ticket checker wanted the snails to pay their fare for the train.
(From 20 Minutes)
RER station panels show which stations are available on this RER line, in this direction. Station names lit with yellow squares indicate that the next train to arrive will stop at these stations.
This is a photo of an old style RER B stations served panel located at Luxembourg RER station.
At the bottom right hand corner is a square to specify whether the next train will be short or long. If the train is short, don’t wait for it at the extreme ends of the station platform, as the train will stop in the middle and you’ll have to rush back to the center of the platform to board the train.
Here’s a modern style RER B stations served panel at Antony station. This panel shows direction as “Aéroport Ch. de Gaulle 2 TGV” (which stops at Terminal 1 as well), wait time of 0 minutes, and the “mission” or itinerary name of the train: EFLA. Secret tip: any trains with mission names starting with the letter “E”, go to Airport Charles de Gaulle.
This is a visual guide to using ticket vending machines found in and around Paris for purchasing train tickets and carnets (books) of tickets for station to station travel (between cities) around the Ile-de-France region, serviced by Transilien, Ter, and RER train networks. For ticket machines selling tickets for the Paris Metro, Bus, Tram and RER, see the Paris Metro Ticket Machine guide.
This is a photo of a train ticket vending machine found throughout Paris and Ile-de-France train stations (Gare de Lyon, Gare du Nord, Gare Montparnasse, Gare St. Lazare, Gare de l’Est, Gare d’Austerlitz, Gare de Bercy, plus stations through Ile-de-France) and at some Paris Metro/RER stations. These ticket machines operate with a touch screen. They accept Euro coins and European or smart-chip enabled credit/debit cards.
Tickets sold from these machines are for station to station travel, inside and outside central Paris, within the Ile-de-France region. You may also purchase tickets for the Paris Metro, Tram and Bus (Ticket t+, carnets ["booklets"] of Ticket t+) from these machines.
Tickets and change (if necessary) are dispensed into the bottom tray. Ticket printing can be somewhat slow, so be patient when completing your transaction and wait till all of your tickets are dispensed.
Passes such as Pass Navigo Decouverte, and Paris Visite Card, are not sold from these machines. You’ll have to visit a ticket window/booth to purchase these, since they come with additional paper identification cards and/or contactless smart cards.
Above the screen is a large black bar containing a CB (Carte Bleu) debit card symbol and a “Rend La Monnaie” (”Makes Change”) note. When a ticket vending machine is not working, a red “Hors Service” (”Out of Service”) sign will be lit on this black bar. Check that this sign is not lit before attempting to use a given machine. Also, if the machine is low or out of coins and cannot make change, a red sign will be lit just below Rend La Monnaie to indicate this.
Looking closely at the payment panel we see that the ticket machine accepts Mastercard and Visa credit cards, Carte Bleu debit cards, Euro coins and Mondeo cash cards. North American and non-smart chip credit cards will most likely not work with any ticket machines nor at ticket purchase windows. Keep this in mind and have cash on hand before queuing to buy tickets at Paris train stations.
Visible in the above photo is the large purple Navigo card slot. This slot can be used to recharge a Pass Navigo or Pass Navigo Decouverte with Carte Orange week and month transit passes.
The starting screen of these ticket vending machines (”billetterie”) offer language choices at the top right hand corner. In this photo we see the choices are English and Spanish languages for this train ticket machine.
After switching to English we see that our options are either to recharge a Navigo Pass card or to buy individual tickets or carnets of tickets. To charge a Pass Navigo, start by inserting your card into the purple Navigo card reader (visible in the second photo above).
Touching the blue rectangle will start a ticket buying session. The “season tickets” mentioned on the second choice refers not to football tickets (unfortunately), but rather ticket based fares for station to station travel which work for a set period of time.
The other useful information we can see on this initial screen:
Before analyzing this screen, keep in mind that some of the choices shown here will differ depending on where the machine is located. Starting from the top left and moving clockwise:
On this screen we choose the number of individual tickets we wish to purchase. In this example I’m purchasing a single Ticket Mobilis 1-6 Zone day pass for a day trip into Paris from Fontainebleau. I chose a Ticket Mobilis because I knew I’d have to make a same day round trip to Paris, with several Metro/RER rides while in central Paris. Thus the Mobilis makes the most economic sense and is also convenient, being a single ticket I use over and over, rather than multiple separate tickets I must keep track of. Keep in mind that Ticket Mobilis day passes are not valid for voyages to or from Airports CDG nor Paris-Orly. Pass Navigo Decouverte, if you have purchased one, is valid for CDG Airport, granted that you have purchased the zones necessary (5 zone for CDG).
This is the payment screen for the Billetterie Ile-de-France ticket machine. Here I must choose Cash or credit/debit card. Although the choice reads “Cash”, these ticket machines only accept Euro coins, not Euro bills. When paying by coins, selecting the Cash button will unlock the coin slot, otherwise, it will be blocked.
Here I’ve chosen to pay by Carte Bleu debit card. After inserting your European smart-chip credit/debit card, wait for the reader to (slowly) read the card. (North American credit cards are not accepted, except for smart-chip cards available from a few select banks).
PIN code security is required for all credit/debit card purchases. Three consecutive errors on entering your PIN code will block your card.
Complete the purchase by removing your card when you see the above screen and hear the chirping noise coming from the machine.
The final question is whether you’d like a receipt printed or not. The receipt will be printed on a blank ticket. After this, simply wait until the tickets you’ve purchased are (slowly) dispense at the bottom collection tray. If you’ve paid with coins, collect your change (if any) from the right hand side of the collection tray, separated from the tickets.
This is a step-by-step visual guide to ticket vending machines for the Paris Metro, Bus, Tram and RER.
In the above photo we see a Paris Transit Authority ticket vending machine. You’ll often find these machines just beside manned Metro ticket windows. At large Metro stations such as Chatelet Les Halles or Gare de Lyon you’ll find these machines placed throughout the station, usually embedded into walls.
Let’s analyze the layout of the machine clockwise from the red button.
The red button is the “No” or “Cancel” button. When you’ve taken a wrong step, made an erroneous choice, press this button to go “back” or to answer “No” to a question.
The large display screen is not a touch screen, unlike Billetterie Ile-de-France ticket machines. To make choices on the screen, we use the rollbar located directly beneath the screen.
On the right, (mostly cut-off from my poor picture taking,) is the debit card slot, with a pinpad just beneath it. These machines accept debit cards, but not credit cards, and also euro coins through a slot, not visible in the picture. Further right, again, not visible (sorry), is a purple Navigo pass card slot. Pass Navigo and Pass Navigo Decouverte cards can be loaded or charged at these machines. Remember to remove the plastic protective cover from your card (if your card has one) before trying to insert the card.
Below that we have the green “Yes” or “Accept” button used to make selections.
Below the green Validez button is a ticket delivery slot, where bought tickets and receipts will be delivered upon completion of a purchase.
To the left of the Yes button we have the infamous roll bar. Rolling this bar moves the selection “cursor” on the video screen. Rolling this bar up with your hand moves to the next item “up” from the current position. Rolling the bar down, scrolls the highlighted item to the next item down on the screen. To make a selection, press the green Validez (”Validate”) button.
Let’s analyze what we see on the start screen, what you’ll see when you first arrive at the machine.
At the top left corner we see the RATP logo and what station you’re currently at (Chatelet Les Halles) along with which fare zone you’re in (zone 1). At the top right we have the current date and time. You’ll notice that there is no language choice on this starting screen, but there will be one on the next page.
The Blue rectangle is the currently selected item or “cursor”. Upon start, the item selected is “Tournez le rouleau, puis appuyez sur valider” which in English is “Turn the rollbar, then push Validate”.
The starting screen has two selections:
Rolling the bar upwards will move the blue “highlight cursor” to “Acheter des tickets, coupons”. Pressing the Green “Validez” button will select that item and bring you to the next screen.
To buy a Paris Metro ticket, also good for the bus or tram, roll the bar upwards to highlight “Acheter des tickets, coupons” then press the green button.
On this next screen we have four selections, the bottommost being language choices for this machine (”English, Español, Deutsch, Italiano”). I did not make a language selection, so the rest of the screens are still in French.
First choice (already highlighted in blue) is Ticket t+ for the Metro, Bus and Tram in Paris, Second class (”2e classe”), Full Price (”Plein Tarif”). These tickets are always Second Class, since First Class Metro cars no longer exist. Full Price tickets means Adult Price, which is currently (July 2011) 1,70€ per ticket, bought singly. Children’s fares or half price tickets (”Demi Tarif or Tarif Réduit”) can be purchased through the Billets Ile-de-France, RATP, SNCF Autres coupons, Aeroports selection (3rd from the top).
Second choice is a booklet (”carnet”) of ten Tickets t, again for Metro, Bus or Tram. The total price for 10 tickets is 12,50€, making each ticket 1,25€, a discount of about 25% off the full price of 1,70€. I believe you can purchase a maximum of two booklets at once (twenty tickets total).
Third choice is for reduced price tickets (for children or other discount pass holders), Billets Ile-de-France (station to station tickets, destinations outside of central Paris) such as tickets to Airport Charles de Gaulle (8,40€ one way), and day passes such as Ticket Mobilis.
Fourth choice takes you to a languages selection page where you can change the language used by the ticket machine.
On the right side of the screen we see the current station (Chatelet Les Halles), the date, payment types accepted and min./max. values (debit card is accepted for purchases totaling 1€ or more, Euro coins up to 30€ maximum) and a note saying that this machine will make change.
On the next screen above we choose the quantity of individual tickets we’re wanting to buy. Nine individual tickets is the maximum since ten would make a carnet, which is 25% cheaper. Roll the selection bar to the desired value and press the green Validate button.
Following the quantity selection we’re asked if we would like a receipt for the purchase. Useful if your travel costs are reimbursed.
Finally we come to the payment screen which unlocks the coin slot and the card reader checks for debit cards. As far as I know, you cannot mix and match payment types, either all coins or all debit card. North American debit cards will most likely not work.
If paying by debit card, you’ll have to enter your PIN number via the keypad to the right of the display screen. These machines can be slow to read debit cards, so expect upwards of ten seconds for the machine to respond after inserting your card.
Once you’ve completed the payment of your purchase, your tickets and possibly a receipt will be dropped into the ticket collection slot below the green Validez button.
I’ll attempt to get some more screen shots of ticket vending machine usage in English and for purchasing Billets Ile-de-France for Aeroport Charles de Gaulle or Airport Paris-Orly.
Here is a photo of a directional sign within Gare du Nord station showing:
A Billet Ile-de-France is a small coupon like train ticket for Paris and surrounding Ile-de-France region priced for the length of the trip, calculated from departure station to arrival station. For example, if you were to buy a train ticket from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris, you’d buy a billet Ile-de-France, at a cost of 9,10€ (as of July 2011).
These tickets are purchased from SNCF/Transilien/RATP ticket windows and ticket vending machines (Billetterie Ile-de-France) at large train stations (gares such as Gare de Lyon, Gare du Nord), and at RER and Metro stations.
At train stations there may be several types of ticket windows, one selling Billets Ile-de-France, and others selling tickets for the Grandes Lignes, tickets for TGV and other types of intercity trains. Grandes Lignes ticket windows cannot sell you billets Ile-de-France, so keep this in mind before queuing up to buy train tickets.
This is a Billets Ile-de-France ticket office.
This is a Grandes Lignes (TGV, etc.) ticket office.
When buying a billet at a ticket window you can usually just say the word “billet” ["bee-yay"] and the destination such as Paris ["Par-ee"], Aeroport Charles de Gaulle ["Ere-oh-porh Sharl-duh-gall"], Versailles ["vere-sigh"]. Often ticket sellers speak English, at least enough to understand where you’re going.
A one way ticket is known as an Aller-Simple ["Al-Eh somplh"]. Round trip ticket, which are simply two one way tickets, is an Aller-Retour ["Al-Eh Ray-tour"].
A billet Ile-de-France allows connections or transfers to be made onto Metro or RER trains when arriving at Paris. Transfers onto buses or trams however, are not allowed. For those modes of transportation, you’ll need a new Paris Ticket T+.
A powerful new train schedule/itinerary search tool by SNCF is now available at Gares-en-mouvement.com (only in French, see below for instructions on using the site). This site makes it easy to plan a train trip in France. This site is much easier to use than ticket reseller sites when searching for train timetables. Keep in mind that this site only provides train schedules and itineraries; You cannot buy train tickets from this site. To buy train tickets, use the official ticket reseller for your country of residence:
The great thing about finding train schedules using Gares-en-Mouvement is that it covers all of France from big cities like Paris, Lyon, Marseille, to the small villages like Beaune, and Chartres all on one website. Furthermore, it covers all the different types of trains you can take in France. There’s no need to switch websites to find schedules for each different train subsidiary of SNCF: Transilien, Ter, TGV, idTGV, Corail Téoz, Corail Lunéa, etc.
However, I would not recommend using Gares-en-Mouvement for train itineraries within a single city such as on the Paris Metro & RER, as the results can be incredibly wrong with itineraries taking days. For train timetable searches within a city, use that city’s public transportation website instead, for example: RATP.fr for Paris, www.tcl.fr for Lyon, www.rtm.fr for Marseille, etc.
Start by choosing a station or Gare as your departure city or point.
Then click on the link “Recherche d’horaires” (”Search Schedules”) on the left column of links.
You’ll be presented with a search page with departure point pre-filled and the date of travel set to today.
Enter a city after the “à“. You should see a list of stations appear below the text box after typing in the city name. Select your destination station from this list. Then set your travel date and time of departure. Finally, click Recherche (”Search”). (If you’re unsure of which destination station you should choose, enter just the city destination and the search tool will automatically select the largest station for the city).
A maximum of 3 train itineraries will be returned with the option of seeing details about each itinerary.
The results are ordered chronologically with the number of connections required (”changements”), and total travel time (”durée”).
Clicking the blue magnifying glass button beside an itinerary will show details of that trip basically each train or connection required.
Each connection will be shown with the type of train or other form of transport (as not all connections are by train, some are by foot or bus):
You can search different starting stations by simply changing the text within the text box beside “Voyage de” (”Trip from”). As you type the name of a city, the site will offer you suggestions of stations which show up automatically below the text box. This helps prevent spelling mistakes and gives you choices of which stations you can select. For example, typing in “Paris” in the first text box will return a multitude of results whereupon you can use your keyboard’s down arrow to move down the list and press Enter to select the station you wish to depart from.
Remember that Gares-en-Mouvement is for finding train schedules, not buying train tickets. For buying train tickets in France, here are the official resellers for your country:
When purchasing tickets, these sites will ask you where you want your tickets delivered. If your country is different than the region the website is covering, you’ll be redirected to the official reseller for your country of residence and you’ll have to start the ticket search process again.
Photo of the front of Gare Montparnasse in the 6th Arrondissement of Paris, opposite Montparnasse Tower (Tour Montparnasse).
The following section will explain how to get to the Metro station at Gare Montparnasse if you’ve recently arrived via bus or on foot.
Upon entering Gare Montparnasse from street level (Niveau 0), you’ll have stairs and escalators leading up to the main train lines (TGV, Ter, Transilien, two floors up on Niveau 2) on Level 2 or you can continue forward towards to the Metro area.
From the entrance of Gare Montparnasse, walking straight ahead and down, you’ll enter Sublevel 1 (Niveau -1) where you’ll find the entrance for Metro lines 4, 6, 12 and 13.
Here we see the entrance for Montparnasse’s Metro station just after the arrival of a Grandes Lignes train from the upper levels, hence the crowd. As you can see from the overhead signs in the photo above, Montparnasse’s Metro station connects to Paris Metro lines 4, 6, 12 and 13 (see Metro map). Just past the overhead signs are two ticket windows on either side of the hall and several blue Billetterie Ile-de-France ticket vending machines scattered throughout.
After purchasing your tickets or passes and passing through the turnstiles you’ll need to traverse a long tunnel to where the Metro lines are actually located, which is quite far north Gare Montparnasse (the train station). Due to the length of this walkway, the transit authority is experimenting with a high speed moving sidewalk, shuttling pedestians along at 9km/h rather than the normal 3km/h.
After the tunnel you’ll be at Montparnasse’s Metro station called Montparnasse Bienvenue. Here you’ll have access to lines 4, 6, 12 and 13. For more information on taking the Metro, see the Paris Metro photo tour.
If you’re arriving at Gare Montparnasse from the Montparnasse Bienvenue Metro station, the photo below is the view you would have of the entrance of Gare Montparnasse (and the exit of the Metro area). At the top left of the photo is an overhead sign (in white) for Trains Grandes Lignes and Trains Ile-de-France. If you’re making a connection to a TGV, Transilien, Ter or Corail train departing from Gare Montparnasse, these are the signs and directions you’ll want to follow.
(Link to this photo: Metro turnstiles with luggage).
Just past the exit barriers from the Montparnasse Metro (red doors on the left), past the Metro ticket sales hall and ticket vending machines, up the few short steps, you’ll enter an area with shops, escalators and four sets of stairs leading up, two in front, two to either side (see below photo). Near the center of the photo is a small blue sign reading Grandes Lignes with an arrow pointing up. Take those stairs (or the escalators) and climb up 3 levels to Niveau 2 to get to the TGV, Ter and other intecity trains. After this point you may only see signs that read: “Access Aux Trains”. That refers to the Grandes Lignes Trains at Hall Maine so you may follow these signs as well.
If you’re traveling to Paris suburbs rather than far away cities in France, you’ll want to climb only one level to the Transilien Ile-de-France train level (street level, also known as Niveau 0 or Rez-de-Chaussée). The photo below shows the Transilien train ticket purchase area and entrance:
Tickets for Transilien trains can be purchased from Billetterie Ile-de-France train ticket vending machines and from the ticket window just off to the right in the above photo.
Back to Gare Montparnasse’s main train station section. Above is a photo of multiple levels of Gare Montparnasse, taken from Level 2 (”Niveau 2″), two floors up from ground level. Looking down at Level 1 we see the Mezzanine, which has baggage storage (”Consignes”), Lost and Found (”Objets trouvés”) and some food services. Further down, near the middle of the photo, we see the subterranean access to the lanes (”voie”) for Transilien/Ter commuter trains which are parked up on Level 2 between lanes 18 to 28. This below ground level entrance allows you to pop up onto the train lanes halfway down the platform, useful for long trains, giving travelers on the latter half of the parked train quicker access to the Metro.
At the center upper part of the above picture is a black departures board, showing trains that are schedule to depart soon from Gare Montparnasse. The yellow boxes scattered through the middle of the photo are Grandes Lignes train ticket (TGV, Corail, etc.) change, collection and vending machines which take credit/debit cards.
Above is another photo of the departures board from head-on. Just below the board is a sign reading Access to Trains (”Access aux Trains”). The short hall past the ticket machines leads into Hall Maine, where all the TGV, Ter and Transilien trains are parked at lanes (”voie”) 1 to 28, starting from the left (east).
Looking left from above position, still on Level 2, we see signs directing travelers to the TGV ticket office as seen in the photo below:
Moving closer to the ticket office we see that there are different types of ticket counters available to us (three in total). The first set of ticket counters to the extreme left sell TGV tickets and other non-high speed train tickets for immediate departures, i.e. train tickets for travel leaving in the next hour. Here is a photo of that area:
Further to the right are ticket counters for Grandes Lignes train tickets which includes TGV, Ter, Téoz, Corail, Lunéa brand French trains which travel to other cities across France. If you’re not in a rush to buy a ticket and hop on the next train, this is where you should buying your train tickets.
The final ticket office area is enclosed in glass and is marked Espace de Vente. This ticket office sells train tickets for international destinations such as Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Below is a photo of the International train ticketing office at Montparnasse:
Below is a map of Montparnasse Level 2 showing the layout of the train ticket office on the bottom left and its three counter areas: Réservations Internationales (International Train Reservations), Réservations Grandes Lignes (TGV, TER & other intercity trains within France), and Billets Départs Immédiats (Tickets for Immediate Depatures).
This Montparnasse map is courtesy of Gares en Mouvement. Visit their site for a full version.
Let’s look at the train platforms (arrivals & departures) for TGV, Ter and other trains. Here is an overhead map of the train lanes at Hall Maine which are can be seen in the pictures further below:
The picture below taken from the left end of Hall Maine, Level 2, where the lane numbers are low and climb as one moves further down the hall. At the top center of the photo below is a large black departures board showing when trains are departing, their destinations and from which lanes. The trains are parked on the left, starting with Lane 1 (Voie 1) and climb as you move further down the hall. The ticket counters described in the previous section are off to the right of this position (not visible in the photo).
Each of the lanes terminates with a column showing a lane number on the side. TGV lanes 1 - 9 are marked with a TGV insignia near the tops of the columns.
Ter, Transilien commuter trains and finally more TGV trains are parked between lanes 18 to 28. On the front of each column marking the lane you’ll find the lane number (”Voie”) and train information including direction and stops along the way.
In the photo below, at the far end of Hall Maine you’ll notice that the train lanes stop at 24, yet there are 28 lanes in total at Gare Montparnasse. On the far wall is a sign pointing to lanes 25 to 28, located diagonally to the left past lane 24. This area is also referred to as Montparnasse 3 or Gare Vaugirard.
If you’re arriving at, rather than departing, Gare Montparnasse by TGV, Ter, or Transilien train and are looking to make a connection to the local transit options, follow the large blue overhead signs pointing towards buses and Metro lines located ahead and below at Street Level (Niveau 0) and Sublevel 1 (Niveau -1) (overhead signs in blue can be seen at center left of the above photo).
To help get your bearings after you’ve arrived and are still on Level 2, walking straight out from the main train lines will give you a view of Tower Montparnasse (Tour Montparnasse), which is very visible out the front window of Gare Montparnasse. You are facing north east from this position.
**The Carte Orange is now known as Passe Navigo
(Metro/Bus card reader photos courtesy of RATP)
Here is a panoramic photo of Marne La Vallée station and DisneyLand Paris, accessible by RER A train from central Paris stations Gare de Lyon and Chatelet Les Halles. (Click photo for larger version). Paris Disneyland is also accessible by TGV train from CDG to Disney, taking only 10 minutes to make the voyage.
Voici un photo panoramique de Gare de Marne La Valléé - Chessy et Parc Disneyland accessible par RER A de plusiers stations à Paris: Gare de Lyon, Châtelet Les Halles. (Cliquez la photo pour l’agrandir). Parc Disneyland est aussi accessible par TGV de l’Aéroport Charles de Gaulle à Disney qui prend juste 10 minutes pour le voyage.
Here are photo instructions on taking a train from Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal 1 to central Paris. Click on photos to see larger versions.
If you’re arriving at CDG Terminal 1, you’ll first need to take the CDGVAL shuttle train to Terminal 3/Roissypole (center of map) to catch the RER B train to Paris.
Follow CDGVAL signs posted throughout Terminal 1 that will look like the following:
The CDGVAL shuttle train travels from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3/Roissypole then to Terminal 2 as shown on this line map:
While on the CDGVAL shuttle, keep in mind that:
Upon arrival at Terminal 3/Roissypole, you will enter a large concrete atrium show here:
When exiting the CDGVAL stop at Terminal 3/Roissypole, turn to your right and walk towards a series of blue ticket vending machines and several ticket windows behind an overhead sign for RER B “Paris par train / Paris by train”:
From here you can purchase single train tickets for Paris from the blue vending machines (Billetterie Ile-de-France) for €8,40 one way. These tickets are known as “Billets Ile-de-France“.
Keep in mind that these vending machines do not sell pass cards Pass Navigo Decouverte / Paris Visite and only take coins or smart-chip enabled credit cards. If your credit card is from North America, most likely it will not have a smart-chip and will not work with these machines.
To purchase a Pass Navigo Decouverte or Paris Visit Card (public transportation passes) you must visit the ticket window immediately in front of these machines (off to the right side of the photo, not visible). If you already have a Pass Navigo / Pass Navigo Decouverte, you can recharge your card with Navigo Semaine from the blue Billetterie machines by inserting your pass into the purple Navigo slot and following the prompts. Beware of the purchase restriction schedule on the Pass Navigo.
After purchasing your tickets or passes, you can verify when the next RER B train is scheduled to depart CDG by checking the overhead display screens. The display screen on the right shows RER B trains “To Paris” (”Vers Paris”).
RER B trains on this screen stop at all the Paris stations regardless of the name under the Destination column. The Destination names are the terminus stations for the several RER B train line branches and are used to specify the direction each train is traveling. A complete list of departure times from Terminal 1 RER B station towards Paris is available at the bottom of this article.
Insert (and then retrieve) your ticket or scan your pass at the turnstiles and descend onto the RER B train platform. Signs will note that “Tous les trains vont à Paris” (”All trains go to Paris”).
Once the train arrives, the train doors may not open automatically. Press the small metallic or rubberized button on the door to open the train doors.
Remember to keep your ticket or passes handy as “controllers” (”ticket checkers”) frequent these trains.
Travel time to the first major Paris station: Gare du Nord, is roughly 25 minutes. Stations served after that will be Chatelet Les Halles, St. Michel-Notre Dame, Luxembourg, Port Royal, Denfert Rochereau and Cité Universitaire.
If you need to transfer to a Paris Metro train or a different RER train to arrive at your final destination, you may use your ticket for making the transfer; You do not have to purchase another ticket for the Paris Metro or RER within Paris Zone 1. If you need to transfer to a bus or tram, you will need to purchase a new Ticket t+ as transfers from Metro/RER to buses/trams are not allowed.
The following train timetables show depature times of RER B trains leaving CDG Terminal 1 towards Paris. (Ignore the second pages, which show Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 departure times).
RER B Train Schedule (departure times) CDG Terminal 1 to Paris Monday to Friday (except holidays)
RER B Train Schedule (departure times) CDG Terminal 1 to Paris Saturday, Sunday and holidays
To purchase £69 round trip Eurostar train tickets from Paris to London (or London to Paris):
1. Go to Eurostar.com and click on the Eurostar Tickets from £69 return image:
2. Select departure/return dates with High Availability (bright yellow colour) which are usually 30 or more days from today (click on the Next link, top right corner of calendar to move to the next month):
Then click on “Search“.
If you get a red error message like the following:
Simply press the Back button on your browser and search a day before or after your preferred travel date. Remember that High Availability days are nearly guaranteed to be available for the £69 return ticket price. Medium and Low availability days will be more expensive.
In general the first High Availability day will be at least 30 days from now. Thus, if you can book your Eurostar at least 30 days in advance and you’ll get the cheapest Eurostar fare available.
This is a detailed guide of how to buy Eurostar tickets and how to take the Eurostar high speed train from Paris to London. Tickets for the Eurostar start at £69 return and travel time between central Paris (Gare du Nord) to central London (St Pancras/King’s Cross) is 2 hours 15 minutes.
Line => Eurostar
Direction => London - St. Pancras
Departure Station => Paris - Gare du Nord
Arrival Station => London - King’s Cross / St. Pancras International
Timetable/Schedule => First Train: 05:25 / Last Train: 20:05
Click to download full Eurostar Timetables Schedules (PDF)
Ticket Prices => From £69 return from Eurostar.com / RailEurope.com
The best way to search and buy Eurostar tickets is directly from www.eurostar.com. The advantage of buying tickets directly from Eurostar.com is that they offer free home delivery of tickets, whereas resellers such as Rail Europe may charge a fee depending on your whereabouts. For example, Rail Europe charges $18usd for ticket delivery to a US based address.
You can choose to pick-up or collect your tickets from automated ticket vending machines at your departure train station, but you must use a smart-chip credit card to do so (most European credit/debit cards are enabled with smart chips and pin code protection).
If you’re coming from North America, most likely your credit card will not have a smart chip and will not work with these machines. In this case, your best bet is to select Home Delivery.
The Eurostar train leaves Paris from Gare du Nord, one of the six major train stations in central Paris (see the Gare du Nord photo tour for more information). Check-in for the Eurostar train to London is done through a special upper level at Gare du Nord (Level 1 or Niveau 1 in French), separated from the rest of the station, where all Eurostar travelers must pass through both French and British passport control before boarding the train. (This is due to England’s partial implementation of the Schengen Agreement amongst European Union member countries).
Check-in procedures from the Eurostar starts with scanning your ticket through a turnstile machine. Keep the ticket printed side up (magnetic stripe facing down) when inserting your ticket. The ticket can be inserted at either end. The machine will eject your ticket out the top, whereupon you should take your ticket back and keep it for the rest of your journey. The turnstile gates will slowly open and you can then pass through onto passport control.
For passengers not holding a European Union passport, you’ll have to complete a declaration card for British Immigration control. This is just like landing cards you would fill out for overseas flights, asking the normal questions: name, date of birth, country of birth, where you’re staying in England.
After passing through French and British immigration control you’ll need to pass a security screening where your bags are scanned and you walk through a metal detector.
Finally you’ll arrive in the Eurostar waiting lounge. The first waiting lounge is for regular Eurostar ticket holders, with tickets for train cars (”voiture”) 6 to 18. A second smaller waiting lounge can be found further down the hall and is reserved for Eurostar Business and Premier clients, usually seated in train cars 1 to 5.
Boarding for the Eurostar train starts 20 minutes before departure. An employee will check your Eurostar ticket once more before allowing you to descend onto the dedicated Eurostar platforms at the western end of Gare du Nord. Immediately after this last ticket check, you can descend onto the train platform using either the moving sidewalk to your left, or via the stairs to your right. Often the stairs will be completely empty while the slow moving sidewalk will be full with a group of people waiting to descend. You might want to simply take the stairs if you’re not carrying much luggage.
To find where you’re seated on the train look at the center of your Eurostar ticket where there will be a car number (”Voit”, short for “Voiture” in French, meaning “Car”) and seat number printed, such as in in the following photo (showing Voit 17 seat 23).
To find your designated car along the train, look at the digital display screens located at the end of each train car, next to its entrance door. This screen will show a large car number from 1 to 18 along with the destination of the train. In the photo below we see train car number 17 and the destination of the Eurostar (this photo was taken for a trip going to Paris rather than going to London, stopping at Ashford International on its way).
When taking a Eurostar train from Paris to London, it’s common for the Eurostar to stop at Ebbsfleet (and sometimes Ashford) station 15 minutes before arrival at London St. Pancras / King’s Cross. Don’t mistakenly get off the train too early at these dark, uncovered stations outside of London. St. Pancras International train station on the other hand is well lit, enormous, with plenty of signage and the Eurostar will park itself underneath the covered area.
After arrival, you’ll make your way towards the atrium area with its gigantic clock on the center of the wall. You’ll descend down a moving walkway towards the customs area where you will pass British customs officers randomly screening passengers. After that, your options for ground transportation include London Underground Tube (subway) via King’s Cross station, connected underneath St. Pancras, or light rail via St. Pancras station. See the London public transportation site, tfl.gov.uk, for more information on subways, buses and trains within London.
This is a guide on how to read Paris RER train schedules, which can appear complex at first glance.
We’ll learn how to read an RER timetable through an example trip: Paris to Euro Disney by RER A Train.
Things you’ll need to know before you start:
To see all RER train lines use an RER train map. To get detailed information on a single RER line, view its corresponding RER line map, which can help you find a departure station in Paris (Zone 1), the destination station, and the line branch/direction you need. RER Schedules can be found on the RER Schedules category page.
Step 1 - Find Destination Station: On the left hand side of schedule / timetable will be stations along the RER train line. Start by finding the station that you wish to arrive at, your destination station. In this example, we want to go to Marne la Vallee, the station for Euro Disney along the RER A train line.
Step 2 - Find Desired Time of Arrival: On the row for your destination station, trace your finger along the row until you find the time you want to arrive at. Subsequent pages will have later times, so flip through the schedule book to find later arrival times. If the time you’re looking for isn’t shown on the current page, view subsequent pages, keeping your focus on the row of your destination station, in this example, it’s Marne la Vallee, which is easy since it’s the last row/station along the RER A line. Once you’ve found the time you wish to arrive at we can now find when the train leaves and from which stations. Note that all times are listed in 24 hour clock. Thus 1731 would be 5:31pm in the afternoon. Morning times are shown without a leading zero, so 6:55am would be shown as 655.
Step 3 - Find Departure Station & Time: Having found your desired arrival time, we can now check when the train departs and from which Paris stations. Each column on a RER timetable represents a train running along the line, albeit at different times. Moving to the right across columns shows trains that depart later in the day. Not all trains stop at all stations along the line, thus you’ll see large gaps in the schedule, which indicates a branch or stations of the RER line that is skipped by the train.
From your chosen arrival time, trace your finger up the column till it crosses the station row that you want to depart from. Paris stations are near the middle of the sheet. The major RER A stations in central Paris are: Charles de Gaulle-Etoile, Auber, Chatelet Les Halles, Gare de Lyon, and Nation. Here we move up the column till we reach a 6:54am departure which coincides with station Gare de Lyon. Thus we can take an RER A train, in direction Marne La Vallée, leaving from Gare de Lyon at 6:54am, arriving at 7:30am at station Marne La Vallée-Chessy, the closest station to Euro Disney.
The following PDF file, How to Read Paris RER Train Schedules, is the same guide on how to read RER train schedules, with Paris to Euro Disney as the example trip along the RER A line.
Above is a photo of the entrance to the Eurostar platform within Gare du Nord station in Paris, located up the stairs/escalators on Level 1 (Niveau 1). The Eurostar platform and trains are separated from other trains due to the need to screen passenger passports for the voyage to London. (The UK is not a Schengen zone country).
Climbing the stairs in the last photo we arrive at the Eurostar check-in level. Visible on the left are e-ticket machines where one can collect Eurostar tickets purchased online at Eurostar.com. The Eurostar ticket office (not visible) is located just left of the ticket machines. If you don’t have a smart-chip pin protected credit card, these machines which will most likely not work for you. Instead, enter the ticket office and collect the tickets in-person. Have a print-out of your ticket confirmation email (with the ticket reference number) plus a passport to retrieve your tickets in-person. At the end of this walkway is the Eurostar entrance. Non-EU citizens will need to fill out a declaration card for UK Immigration before you enter. Cards are available near the blue information kiosk visible in the centre of this photo.
The above photo is the scene at Gare du Nord upon arrival from the London to Paris Eurostar train. This is facing south east towards the front entrance of Gare du Nord on rue de Dunkerque. Centre middle is an overhead blue sign pointing left towards the Metro and RER trains located two levels down from street level (picture here). There will be two sets of stairs leading one level down just left of this scene. At the bottom of the first set of stairs will be two green Billetterie Ile-de-France ticket vending machines where you can buy Metro, RER and Transilien commuter train tickets.
Continuing further down the hall you’ll see plenty of yellow TGV ticket machines where one can collect, change, cancel their Grandes Lignes tickets (TGV, Ter, etc.). Visible is another overhead sign pointing towards Metro and RER trains with an airport symbol signifying the RER B train service from Paris to CDG Airport as well as Orly Airport to the south.
Here’s another photo of the same hall, opposite side. In the distance you can see several green Billetterie Ile-de-France green ticket vending machines. These sell both RER and Metro tickets trains (Billet Ile-de-France, Ticket t+) including carnets and can recharge Pass Navigo / Découverte with Carte Orange (although they do not sell new cards). Continuing down this hall leads towards Metro lines 4 & 5 and RER B, D, and E.
The above is a photo of the western half of Gare du Nord station from the Eurostar level overlooking train lanes/platforms 1-13 (voie in French) for Eurostar and Thalys trains arriving from London (Londres), Brussels (Bruxelles) and German cities. Near the center of the photo is a sign reading Reseau Ile-de-France RER with an arrow pointing to the east side of Gare du Nord station. This is the direction of the RER B, RER D, RER E platforms underneath Gare du Nord, at sublevel 2.
Photo of the eastern half of the Gare du Nord station facing north, showing the departures board on the left, train lanes (voies) 14 and up, used for TGV trains and Ter (Ile-de-France) trains. At bottom right is an information booth with an ACCUEIL (Welcome) sign along the top. Beyond the Departures Board, on the other side, are more train lanes for Thalys (high speed trains from Paris to Brussels, Belgium, to the Netherlands and Germany) and Eurostar (high speed trains from Paris to London). East (looking right) of this position is the large open atrium leading to the RER B, D, E lines and Metro line 4 and 5 on sublevels 2 and 1.
This is a photo of the eastern atrium at Gare du Nord with a Transilien (Ile-de-France) ticket window selling tickets for Ter and Transilien trains traveling outside of Paris, but within the Ile-de-France. Further east (looking right) is the RER/Metro portion of Gare du Nord.
Photo from just above and west of the RER/Metro lines at Gare du Nord along the Eastern edge of the station. Here you can see a sign for RER lines B, D, and E plus Metro lines 4 and 5.
Photo of Gare du Nord’s RER/Metro station entrance section, full of turnstiles, leading to train platforms serving RER B, RER D and RER E and Metro Line 4 and Metro Line 5. RER B trains connect Paris to Aeroport Charles de Gaulle (CDG), taking roughly 25 minutes from Gare du Nord. RER B also connects central Paris/Gare du Nord to Paris-Orly Airport to the south requiring a train change at Antony Station with the final connecting train being Orlyval which stops at both Orly West (Ouest) and Orly South (Sud) terminals. RER D runs north-south, connecting Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon station in direction of Melun or Malesherbes. RER E runs east-west connecting Gare du Nord to Gare St-Lazare on the western side of central Paris.
A photo of ticket vending machines at Gare du Nord within the RER/Metro section of the station. These machines are used for buying individual Metro/RER/Bus/tramway tickets (Ticket t+), carnets (books of ten or twenty Ticket t), and also tickets for train destinations within Ile-de-France on Transilien or Ter trains. Remember that most non-smart-chip credit cards will not work with these machines, so use Euro coins if you have them. These machines can also charge up Pass Navigo / Navigo Découverte cards with Carte Orange week or month “subscriptions” (abonnements) using the Navigo slot.
Simple Gare du Nord map showing the main train platforms (”Grandes Lignes”).
(Map courtesy of Railteam.eu)
Here is photo tour of Gare de Lyon train station in Paris along with explanations to help you understand how to find your train and your way around Gare de Lyon. You may wish to refer to a map of Gare de Lyon station while following the pictures in this article to help familiarize yourself with the layout.
If you’re arriving at Gare de Lyon from a Paris Metro or RER train and are making a connection to a TGV or other type of surface train, you’ll need to make your way from Niveau (Level) -2 to up to the train platforms at street level (Niveau/ Level 0). From the Metro or RER trains, take stairs or escalators up one level and follow the overhead signs pointing to the Grandes Lignes.
Along the way you may see overhead screens listing surface train departures. These screens show the type of train, train number, departure time, final destination or terminus station, which zone of Gare de Lyon the train will be parked at (either Blue or Yellow) and finally which platform (”Voie”), designated by letters A through N for the Blue Zone and numbers 5 through 23. For an example, look at the first train departure on the left screen which shows a TGV train, number 7665, departing at 14h28 (2:28pm), final destination Dijon Ville station, leaving from the Blue Zone at platform D. Further down you’ll notice blue and yellow squares beside destination names, but no number or letter. This means that the station hasn’t decided which platform the train will leave from, only that it will leave from the designated zone: Yellow or Blue. These zones will be explained later in this article.
If you’re arriving by car, tax, bus, or on foot, below is the exterior of Gare de Lyon with its distinctive clock tower.
The above photo of Gare de Lyon was taken from boulevard Diderot, just north of the station, looking south.
If you’re arriving at Gare de Lyon by TGV or other type of surface level train, you’ll end up parked at either one of two platform zones: Yellow or Blue.
Here is a panoramic photo of Gare de Lyon’s Blue zone train platforms and its Grandes Lignes trains. To help get your bearings, the large clock tower you saw from the exterior photo, not visible here, is at the extreme far right hand side of this position behind us. The Yellow Zone platforms are diagonally left at the far end of the Blue platforms, accessible by a walkway traversing the left wall of the Blue zone.
Gare de Lyon “Blue” Platform/Zone, looking in direction west north west, facing the restaurant l’Express Bleu, just above a set of stairs/escalators leading down to level -1 (Galerie Diderot). Healthy amount of Apple ipod billboards on display the day this photo was taken (June 21, 2008).
Another photo of Gare de Lyon Blue Platform from the opposite angle/side. From here you can see the restaurant Le Train Blue, with neon sign, up at the top left, accessible by stairs on either side. It’s take away and quick meals restaurant L’Express Bleu, is located directly underneath. The escalators you see here lead down to Galerie Diderot’s western end, with access to buses, car rentals, taxis and Rue de Bercy.
Gare de Lyon Blue platform again, facing west south west. In this photo, from left to right, we see escalators heading down one level to Galerie Diderot giving access to Metro lines 1 and 14, RER A and RER D, buses, taxis on rue de Bercy (for quick travel to Gare d’Austerlitz on the other side of the Seine) and car rentals (”location de voitures”). All of this is printed on the blue sign posted immediately west of the escalators.
In this photo there are several TGV trains parked on the blue platform. At the head of each train you can see a blue sign with a white letter, signifying the lane or “voie”. Beside the signs are television screens showing detailed information about the train: the train number, its destination, the station stops the train will be making along its route.
On the right hand side of the photo you can see the large departure board. Every train leaving Gare de Lyon will be listed on this board, regardless of whether the train is leaving from the blue platform or yellow platform. The trains are ordered in time till departure. The next train to leave Gare de Lyon will be listed at the top.
Each train listed on the departures board has the following information:
This is Galerie Diderot, one level down for the Blue platform (niveau -1), facing east. Here you can find various clothing, personal care shops and toilets (located at the far eastern end). Note that the washrooms are pay-for-entry within Gare de Lyon. The fee is 0.50€ (fifty centimes), which you give to the madame working the gate and she provides you with a token to use in the turnstile giving you access to the washroom. The washroom is separated into men’s and women’s sides, but is in the same overall “room”.
Turning around we see Galerie Diderot at its western end, at street level, facing west towards Rue de Bercy and Gare d’Austerlitz. Just above us is the Blue Platform. Just outside the doors ahead in the distance are the buses 20, 24, 57, 63, 65, 87 which connect Gare de Lyon to Gare d’Austerlitz and various other places around Paris (and Paris central which is west of this location, accessible by Bus 24 among others). This is also the location of the car rental offices (Location de voitures). One more level down from this location are RER A, RER D, Metro line 14, all accessible just ahead and left, down the stairs.
In this photo we see Gare de Lyon’s Yellow Platform/Zone facing East towards Rue Chalon and Place Henri Frenay. In the foreground are escalators and stairs leading down to the Salle Mediterranée, giving access to Metro line 14 and RER A, RER D trains another level below (niveau -2). At the far end, left hand side are another set of stairs leading again to the Salle Mediterrannée giving access to the baggage lockers/luggage storage (Consignes). At the far end you can see the Departures Board listing trains leaving from both Blue and Yellow Zones. On the right are the Grandes Lignes train platforms (voies) marked by yellow signs with numbers instead of letters, since this is the Yellow Platform. In the center right of the photo is a glass box with “Accueil” marked overhead. This is the information bureau manned by several employees to answer questions about your train or Gare de Lyon.
Above we see the Yellow Zone platforms in detail. You can clearly see the platform numbers on their yellow background at the head of each lane. Near the centre of the photo is a set of four ticket machines.
Looking more closely, the three machines on the left are for purchasing, pickup or exchange of TGV train tickets. The last boxy blue machine on the right is a Billetterie Ile-de-France selling Billets Ile-de-France, which are tickets for station to station travel in the Ile-de-France region that contains Paris and its suburbs. For example, you’d use a Billet Ile-de-France for traveling from Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau. This machine also sells Metro/RER Ticket t+ and carnets of tickets (books of 10 or 20 at a discount). The Ticket t+ is used for the Paris Metro and RER within zone 1.
Also to note in the above photo are the three types of validation machines visible, one for Carte Orange/Pass Navigo, one for Billets Ile-de-France and one for TGV Tickets. Immediately beside the boxy blue Billetterie Ile-de-France is the Pass Navigo validation card reader. Those using Carte Orange on either a Pass Navigo or Pass Navigo Découverte are asked to validate their card using this machine before boarding an Ile-de-France train (Transilien, Ter or RER). The yellow box attached to the metal pillar is a TGV ticket validation machine (composter). Finally, on the opposite side of the pillar, mostly hidden, is a Billet Ile-de-France ticket validation machine. Use of this machine for Billets Ile-de-France is required before boarding.
Turning around in the opposite direction of the Yellow Zone train platforms is a long hallway known as the Galerie des Fresques, where the main ticket sale windows for Gare de Lyon are located.
Turning left from the Yellow Zone picture above we see the long hall known as the Galerie des Fresques. On both the left and right hand sides of the hall are ticket windows and sellers. Lining the hall are yellow ticket vending machines that can also make ticket changes and handle ticket collection, provided that you’re using a smart-chip enabled credit card (normally European only cards, few if any North American credit cards work with these machines).
Above is another photo of the Galerie des Fresques from the opposite end, looking towards the Yellow Zone. Clearly visible here are the manned ticket windows where one can buy or pickup pre-bought tickets for TGV, and other types of Grandes Lignes trains.
In this close-up photo of a ticket window you can see a video display screen noting which languages the employee speaks. At the top of the screen are multiple of flags denoting spoken languages. This gentlemen in particular speaks English, German and Italian in addition to French. This ticket window is also equiped with a device to aid those with hearing impairment. Keep in mind that you can’t actually queue for a particular ticket window as the lineups serve multiple windows. You could simply note which seller speaks a language you’re comfortable using and let others pass in front of you till that employee in particular is free.
Immediately to the right of the previous Galerie des Fresques photo is the ticket window for Billets Ile-de-France and Carte Orange. If you don’t have a smart-chip/European credit card (or lots of Euro coins) you’ll have to use this ticket window to purchase your billet Ile-de-France with cash. Beyond this area is the Blue Zone platform.
A head-on photo of the Billets Ile-de-France / Transilien ticket window.
Just left of the Billets Ile-de-France / Transilien ticket window are two more ticket vending machines. Although one machine is green, the other blue, they are otherwise identical in their tickets and carnets sold. They can be found against the back wall at the end of Galerie des Fresques near the blue zone, just beside the exit door to the right, taking Euro coins, Carte Blue French debit cards and smart-chip credit cards.
Connecting the Yellow zone to the Blue zone is the walkway show above on the east side of the Blue train platforms. This photo was taken from the Yellow Zone looking towards the Blue Zone. Take note of the stairs leading underground on the train platform to the left. These stairs give immediate access to Level -1 the Salle Méditerranée, which another level down gives access to the Metro and RER trains.
One level down from Gare de Lyon Yellow Zone is the Salle Mediterrannée giving access to Place Henri Frenay (to the right of this photo). Here you see the baggage storage room (Consignes). Upon entrance to the luggage locker area you’ll have to pass through a metal detector and have your luggage x-rayed before finding a locker. There will be change machines inside that take Euro bills and change them into 2€ and 1€ coins. The prices of the lockers vary depending on size, from 5€ to 9,50€. The large lockers will fit up to 4 medium sized wheeled suitcases. The maximum length of a storage period is 48 hours. I have no idea what happens after the 48 hour period is up. The baggage storage room is open from 6:15am till 10pm at night everyday.
Here is a Adobe Acrobat format Map of Gare de Lyon station (PDF) and its three levels: Level 0 - Grandes Lignes Blue and Yellow Zones, Level -1 Galerie Diderot and Salle Méditerranée, and Level -2 Metro and RER trains.
Tips on buying tickets for TGV trains for Paris, London, France and Europe.
Start by finding a TGV ticket online:
When searching for tickets, be sure to try departure times earlier and later than your ideal departure time. You may see large differences in prices of tickets that are merely an hour apart due to popularity of certain train times or schedules.
Most TGV tickets are available up to 60 days before day of travel. 1st class tickets are purchaseable up to 90 days ahead of time. And finally, iDTGV self printable tickets, are on sale up to 6 months from date of travel, although with extremely limited routes and schedules.
Buy as early as possible as the prices of TGV tickets increase as the number of remaining seats drops. Purchasing same day tickets for a TGV train at the station will likely cost double that of a ticket purchased a month ahead. For example a one way Eurostar ticket from London to Paris purchased at last minute on a Wednesday: €231.75. A Eurostar ticket for a Wednesday one month in advance: 97€.
If you’re given the ability to choose where you sit and you have difficulties with mobility or would like easy access to the toilets, choose seats that are near the ends of a given train car (if possible), i.e. low seat numbers (less than 20) or high seat numbers (above 70).
If you can choose your seating arrangement, I recommend avoiding the four-square seating position (unless you’re a family of 3 or 4). This is where four seats face each other with a folding table in the middle. Basically, you’ll have even less legroom than normal as you’re jockeying with the passenger directly in front of you for leg space. Side-by-side seating is similar to what you find on airplanes, facing forward, with fold a down tray from the seatback in front of you.
If you are traveling with backpacks or small luggage that you’d like to keep an eye on, aim for seats between 40 and 60, which are situated mid-car and gives access to luggage racks located near the center of the train car. Keep in mind that not all train cars have these middle carriage luggage racks.
Travelers with large suitcases should avoid these middle-car luggage racks as they are not easy to access due to the narrow aisles within TGV train cars. The luggage racks are marked with small white suitcase signs placed underneath the first row of overhead storage shelfs. The seats directly in front of or behind these luggage racks are unaffected in ability to recline, since the seats recline by shifting forward the seat bottom rather than reclining the seat-back.
Choose home delivery of your TGV train tickets as obtaining the tickets from machines at the station can be difficult (or impossible) for those without smart-chip enabled credit cards (i.e. most North American credit cards).
If you do have a smart-chip credit card and wish to pick up your TGV tickets at automated machines at a train station you’ll need:
If you’re not able to use the automated machines to collect your tickets you’ll have to speak with an employee at a SNCF ticket window.
There are often long lineups at the manned SNCF ticket windows so go early to pick up your tickets.
Better yet, do not wait till the last minute to pick up your tickets. You can collect your TGV tickets at any time after your ticket purchase. Thus, pick up your tickets early, from either the automated ticket machines, or from SNCF ticket windows, upon your arrival in France if possible, even if your train travel is not scheduled till days or weeks later.
The ticket t (mauve color) or ticket t+ (white color) is the current single ticket for use on Paris regional transport methods including:
Ticket t is currently priced at 1,70€ for a single ticket (as of July 2011). A package of 10 tickets, a carnet ["car-nay"] costs 12,50€.
The ticket t can be used for transfers, made within 1 hour 30 minutes of first use, only between certain methods of transport and depending on the type of transport used. You cannot mix and match the transfers listed below, each bullet point should be regarded as separate transfer type. For example, you cannot transfer from Metro to Bus. Ticket t transfers are allowed between:
Notice that there are no “and”s in the above list. That’s on purpose. You can’t mix any of the above transfer situations.
Special note: single tickets purchased on buses, directly from drivers are often not valid for transfers and appear like this:
With these tickets you will not be able to transfer to another bus nor tramway.
References: RATP
This is a photo of an RER A (red line) stations panel.
These panels can be found along each RER train platform for each direction of travel. This panel in particular is in the direction Cergy-Le Haut (A3), Poissy (A5), Saint Germain-en-Laye (A1).
Each name listed on the panel represents a station stop. The next train that arrives will stop at all station names that are lit with a yellow square.
This train in particular will be traveling along the A1 branch of RER A, ending at Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
This is a photo of a RER A Line Map within Gare de Lyon showing its five branches:
To know which direction you should be taking on a RER A train, first find the station you want to arrive at on a line map or panel like the one shown above. Once you’ve found your station, follow the line on the map until its end: the terminus station. The name of the terminus station will be the direction you’re after, either “Boissy, St-Légere, Marne-la-Vallée” (off to the east of Paris for locations like Euro Disney) or “St-Germain-en-Laye, Poissy, Cergy” (off the west of Paris, for locations such as La Défense).
Once you’ve located the right platform for your direction, you need to take an RER A train that will stop at your station, since not all RER trains will stop at all stations along the line. You must refer to the RER station stop panels located above the train platforms to see where the next train will stop.
Train ticket validation for TGV/Grande Ligne trains is required before boarding and can be done with machines that look like this:
The grey mouth-like slot near the bottom allows you to insert one end of the ticket (length wise). Use the left end of the ticket, where there is usually a bar code and an SNCF logo. Also, insert the ticket face up (magnetic stripe down). After you hear a printing noise similar to an old dot-matrix printer remove the ticket.
Here is a photo of a validated/composted TGV ticket.
Just left of the barcode is a line reading “P Lyon 2106080926″. That is the compostage or validation stamp created by the yellow machine above. After this is done, the ticket is valid for travel.
TGV tickets are similar to airplane/flight boarding cards in size and shape. These tickets or “billets” shouldn’t be confused with the smaller regional Billet Ile-de-France tickets used for Transilien trains which use different validation/composting machines.
Validating or punching your train ticket or “billet” [bee-yay] is required when traveling on the Transilien, Ter, and various other Paris regional trains (not Metro) going to other cities in the Ile-de-France region that contains Paris.
The machines to validate or “composter” [com-post-ay] the little purple or white Billet Ile-de-France tickets look like this:
(Photo by Ben Lam)
To use the machine, lay your ticket with the front side face down, magnetic stripe facing up, on the black plastic area and slide the ticket to the left. Wait for the machine to make a loud stamping noise after which your ticket should be punched and validated. Orientation of the ticket, besides magnetic strip facing up, doesn’t matter.
Don’t confuse these machines with the TGV Ticket Validation Machines, which are yellow and take the larger format tickets.
If you’ve used your Ile-de-France Ticket/Billet for travel on a Metro line before boarding a Transilien/Ter train, you don’t have to validate the ticket as it’s done automatically by the Metro/RER turnstiles.
Ticket validation or composting is required to prevent riders from using a single ticket multiple times.
Line => OrlyVal + RER B (blue)
Direction => Mitry - Claye, Aéroport Charles de Gaulle
Change Trains at => Antony
First Train / Last Train to Paris => 06:00 / 23:00 (from Orly South Terminal)
Frequency => 4 to 7 minutes
Average Travel Time => 38 minutes
Cost => 10,75€ ; child 5,35€ (Orlyval train + Zone 4 => Zone 1)
Passes Accepted => Paris Visite 5 Zone (51,20€ /5 days)
(Prices up to date as of July 2011)
The fastest transportation from Orly International Airport to central Paris is by train. After arriving at ORY, take the OrlyVal train from either Orly South (Orly Sud) or Orly West (Orly Ouest) terminal towards Paris. A change of trains is required once you arrive at the OrlyVal terminus (last) station: Antony. From Antony, take the RER B train line in the direction of Mitry-Claye, Aéroport Charles de Gaulle, which passes through central Paris stations Luxembourg (Jardin du Luxembourg), Saint Michel Notre Dame, Chatelet Les Halles, and finally Gare du Nord before leaving central Paris and continuing onto Aéroport Charles de Gaulle in Roissy.
Travel time between Orly South and central Paris (station Chatelet Les Halles) is at longest 40 minutes, station to station, including changing trains at Antony. The travel time from Orly South to Antony is 8 minutes. If you’re leaving from Orly West, travel time to Antony is 6 minutes. From Antony to Chatelet Les Halles station in Paris along RER B train line travel time is 25 minutes.
Keep in mind that the Pass Navigo Découverte for Paris is not valid for the OrlyVal train, even if you have the required zones (4 zone) purchased. If you have a Pass Navigo / Carte Orange with at least 4 zones purchased, it would be best to purchase a single ticket for the OrlyVal train just to Antony at a cost of 7,90€ and from there use your Passe Navigo for the RER B line to Paris. A single ticket (a billet Ile-de-France) for the entire journey between Orly and central Paris will cost 10,75€ (adult) and 5,35€ (children).
The cheaper option, avoiding the OrlyVal train fee altogether, would be to take the RER C line from Gare d’Austerlitz towards Massy Palaiseau getting off at station Pont de Rungis - Aeroport d’Orly and then taking the Aeroport de Paris shuttles to the Orly terminals.
This is a list of common train schedules for Paris bound travelers.
RER C Schedule (for Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Gare d’Austerlitz, Orly Airport)
(Photo by *Solar Ikon*)
(Map courtesy of RATP)
The closest Paris Metro stations to the Notre Dame Cathedral are:
(Photo by Ginger Nut)
(Map courtesy of RATP)
The closest Paris Metro stations to the basilica Sacre Coeur include:
As Montmarte is quite a hilly area of Paris, a cable car (Funiculaire de Montmarte) is available to take you from the base of the church grounds to the entrance of the basilica. The cable car fee is included in regular Paris Metro tickets and passes. (Photo by Edwin.11)
(Map courtesy of RATP)
The Opera House in Paris (Opéra Garnier) has several nearby metro stations including:
(Map courtesy RATP)
The closest Paris Metro station to the Louvre Museum is Louvre Rivoli and Palais Royal Musée du Louvre, both on Line 1 (yellow) which travels underneath Rue de Rivoli.
The closest RER station is Chatelet Les Halles on line RER A.
(Photo by Al Lanni)
The closest Paris Metro station to the Eiffel Tower is Champ de Mars / Tour Eiffel on line RER C. Other Metro stations close to the Eiffel Tower include Ecole Militaire on Line 8, and Bir-Hakeim on Line 6.
The best view of the Eiffel Tower is actually from the opposite side of the river Seine at the Trocadéro, accessed by station Trocadéro on metro line 9 and line 6. The picture of the Eiffel Tower here is from the Trocadero.
(Photo by Edgley Cesar)
(Map courtesy of RATP)
Links
Transportation options between central Paris and Orly Airport (ORY) include:
Getting to Orly Airport (ORY) from Paris using the Orlyval train requires that you first get to Antony station along the RER B train line, then transferring to this dedicated rail line to Orly West (Ouest) and Orly South (Sud) terminals.
The RER B train line runs north south, bisecting Paris centrally, connecting both Paris airports Roissy-Charles de Gaulle to the north east and Paris-Orly directly south of the city.
Common starting stations for this trip would include Gare du Nord, Chatelet Les Halles, St-Michel Notre Dame, Luxembourg, and Denfert-Rochereau, all located in central Paris and all very accessible by multiple Metro, RER and bus lines. Note that the RER B line (blue line on maps) stops at all of these stations along its route southbound towards Antony.
The Orlyval train is ticketed specially requiring an additional fee on top of normal Metro/RER tickets and passes. Purchasing a single one way ticket to Orly airport from any central Paris station will be 10,75€. Travelers with a 5 zone Paris Visite card can use Orlyval without any additional charges. Passe Navigo users with at least 4 zones can use this pass just until Antony station on RER B, then purchase a special ticket for Orlyval at Antony for 8,30€. (Yes, this is expensive for an 8 minute ride between Antony and Orly Sud).
The first train to Orly from Paris via RER B in direction Antony, Robinson, St-Remy-les-Chevreuse (direction for Orly airport), leaves Gare du Nord at 05:20, Chatelet Les Halles at 05:23, Saint-Michel Notre Dame at 05:25, Luxembourg at 05:27, arriving at Antony at 5:48. Just enough time to purchase tickets for Orlyval at Antony station, unless you’re using the Paris Visite card.
The Orlyval train platform is located at the north end of the Antony station. Thus, when you arrive at Antony via the RER B, walk towards the rear of the train. The Orlyval platform will be on your right hand side near the end of the station. Inside there will be multiple ticket vending machines and a manned ticket kiosk. The first Orlyval train leaves Antony at 06:00, arriving at Orly West at 06:08 and Orly South 2 minutes after that at 06:08.
The last trains to Orly from Paris via RER B leave from Gare du Nord at 22:23, Chatelet-Les Halles at 22:26, Saint-Michel-Notre-Dame at 22:28, and Luxembourg at 22:30, arriving at Antony/Orlyval at 22:46. The last Orlyval train leaves Antony at 23:00.
Here is an official map of Orly Airport (ORY) to help guide your way upon arrival.
(Map courtesy of ADP)
(More information on bus options coming soon)
Here are RER C train schedules for common routes such as Paris to Chateau Versailles and Orly Airport.
The RER C train is complicated with its 8 different terminus stations (used to denote direction of travel).
RER C Schedule - Paris to Versailles (PDF) - If you’re going from central Paris to Chateau Versailles, this is your schedule. This RER C route travels past several central Paris stations (Gare d’Austerlitz, St Michel Notre Dame, Musée d’Orsay, Invalides, Pont de l’Alma, Champ de Mars/Tour Eiffel) on its way to Versailles Rive Gauche station in Versailles, the closest train station to Chateau Versailles. RER C trains making this route will be labeled with direction: “Versailles - Rive Gauche“. Be careful not to confuse this RER C train direction with “Versailles Chantiers - St Quentin en Yvelines”, which does not stop at Versailles - Rive Gauche station. The difference is that Versailles Chantiers station is about 15 minutes walk to the Chateau as opposed to 5 minutes for Versailles Rive Gauche.
RER C Schedule - Paris to Orly Airport (ORY) and Massy TGV Station (PDF) - This schedule stars from Eiffel Tower / Champs de Mars RER C station and travels clockwise through southern Paris, stopping at St Michel, Gare d’Austerlitz before making its way to Aeroport d’Orly shuttle bus station (Pont de Rungis) and ends at Massy TGV train station. Note that the RER C does not stop directly at Orly Airport but stops at Pont de Rungis where you must transfer to a RATP bus to complete the journey to Orly Airport terminals West and South. RER C trains making this route will be labeled with direction: “Pont de Rungis - Aeroport d’Orly” or “Massy Palaiseau“.
(Schedules courtesy of Transilien)
For travelers to and from Orly Airport, here are the first and last trains from Gare d’Austerlitz and Pont de Rungis station (where a bus completes the journey to the airport):
Popular Destinations along RER C train line in Paris
Below you will find downloadable / printable schedules for Paris RER B trains which travel between CDG Airport and central Paris stations.
From Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport to Paris
From Paris Gare du Nord station to CDG Airport
Popular destinations found along RER B train line from Aéroport Charles de Gaulle towards Paris:
RER B Train Schedule CDG to Paris to Orly (Direction Robinson, Antony, St-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse) (PDF)
If you’re arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport and wish to travel to central Paris by train, this is your schedule. See also the instructions on traveling from CDG Terminal 2 to Paris by train and CDG Terminal 1 to Paris.
RER B Train Schedule Paris to CDG (Direction Mitry-Claye, Aéroport Charles de Gaulle) (PDF) - Schedule for trains leaving central Paris going towards Charles de Gaulle Airport, Terminals 1 & 3 (stop: Aeroport Charles de Gaulle 1) and Terminal 2 (stop: Aeroport Charles de Gaulle 2 - TGV). See also the instructions on traveling from central Paris to CDG Airport by train.
RER B (Airport) Line Map with Stations, Zones, Interchanges to other RER and Metro Lines (PDF)
Going from Paris to Euro Disney? This is your schedule and Marne la Vallée is the Paris Disneyland station. See also help on reading RER schedules. It’s also possible to travel directly from CDG Airport to Disneyland by TGV highspeed train.
RER A Schedule direction Saint-Germain, Cergy, Poissy (PDF)
Going to La Défense business district or central Paris from Euro Disney? This is your schedule. See also help on reading RER schedules.
RER A Line Map with Stations, Zones, Interchanges to other RER and Metro Lines (PDF)
Popular destinations along Paris RER A line:
The Pass Navigo Découverte, open to purchase by everyone, is available at weekly and monthly prices from Zones 1-2 to Zones 1-5. (Zone Map in PDF format)
The prices below show weekly prices, based on zones of travel. Most people will want the one of the first four options, which allow travel from central Paris (Zone 1 & 2) to progressively further destinations (Zones 3, 4 and 5). A Navigo pass with Zone 1-5 coverage will include unlimited travel to Orly and CDG airports as well as Paris Disneyland.
(Prices current as of July 2011)
Find out more about the Pass Navigo
Below are the “horaires du train” or train schedule/times for Paris-Gare de Lyon to Fontainbleau-Avon on the Transilien Ile-de-France train network. If you’re looking to travel to INSEAD Business School, to Chateau Fontainebleau, or to do some bouldering in the Forest of Fontainebleau, this is the train you should be taking from Paris.
Available formats:
For detailed train travel instructions, see Paris to Fontainebleau-Avon by Train.
Here is a detailed map of RER A to RER E lines in and around Paris and its surrounding suburbs. Unlike the Paris metro system which covers only 2 Zones, the Paris RER trains cover 5 Zones all around Ile-de-France, the province which contains Paris.
The Paris Regional RER train system connects major tourist destinations and ports of entry to the heart of Paris, near St. Michel - Notre Dame.
Popular RER Routes
Download Paris RER Map (PDF) (courtesy of RATP)
Here you can find and download a detailed Paris Metro/RER Map perfect for printing on an inkjet printer. 4×6 photo paper works best, which allows extremely high resolution prints. As long as you don’t require reading glasses, this will be the most compact, detailed and useful Paris metro map. Try printing this without margins and expanding or zooming the map to the edges of the paper if your printing software allows it. This will maximize your 4×6 paper, making the metro lines map as readable as possible while remaining small and compact.
For those who prefer large print, print this PDF metro map using regular or high quality 8.5 x 11″ paper in landscape mode and then fold it like a letter or a brochure so that the middle of the sheet doesn’t become creased and illegible after folding and re-folding.
This RATP Paris Metro RER map covers all 14 metro lines (16 if you include the “bis” lines) and the 5 regional train lines RER A to E. The Metro RER Zones are not printed on this map but the darker shade is Zone 2, with the lighter tan/beige being Zone 1 or Central Paris. There are a lot of popular destinations outside of Paris that are noted near the edges of this map, but the stops aren’t actually shown, such as Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly (ORY) airports. For those destinations you’ll have to download the Paris RER Map.
Paris METRO RER MAP (PDF) (courtesy of RATP)
Pass valid for 1, 2, 3 or 5 days on Bus, Metro, RER, and Ile-de-France trains (not TGV).
Pass valid on OrlyVal train to Orly Airport (with 5 zone pass).
Price ranges from €9,30 to €51,20 depending on zone coverage and duration (1 to 5 days). Coverage of Central Paris (not incl. airports) for 5 days would be €29,90 adults, €14,95 for children under 11.
(Price schedule courtesy of RATP)
Carte Paris Visite counts days from day of first use, not 24 hour periods. If you arrive at night and use the pass, that will be counted as one day.
The Paris Visite Carte is a 1, 2, 3 or 5 day pass good for either Zones 1 to 3 or 1 to 5 around Paris. If you’re staying just within Paris itself and not venturing out to Chateau Versailles, Chateau Fontainebleau nor Euro Disney, stick with the Zone 1 to 3 card, which will cover all of “central” Paris. See the Paris Fare Zones Map for more information.
The key difference between the Paris Visite Carte and the Passe Navigo Découverte is the timing. Pass Navigo’s are valid strictly from Monday 00:00 to Sunday 23:59:59. If you land at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport on Wednesday and buy a week long Pass Navigo Découverte, it will work only up until Sunday midnight. Starting from Thursday, you will not even be able to purchase the card.
Paris Visite cards are good from the day of first use (not time of first use). This means that if you arrive on Thursday evening at 8pm, buy and use a 3 day Paris Visite card, by 1am that night, the card will have “used” an entire day. So to maximize the value of the Paris Visite Card, start using it during the morning. If you’ve arrived in the evening at one of the Paris airports, simply buy a single Ile-de-France ticket from a ticket window that will get you into Paris (€9,10 from CDG, vs. €19,60 for 1 day Paris Visite 5 Zone Card).
In summary, if you’re arriving in Paris on Thursday and want to have a unlimited Paris transit pass for 3 or 5 days, this is the least expensive pass (Mobilis pass may be cheaper for 1 or 2 days dependent on number of zone). In addition, there are discounts for various tourist attractions and services for Paris Visite pass holders, such as 25% off boat tours on the Seine, 20-40% off admission to the Arc de Triomphe, the Opera house, the Pantheon, and other sights and services.
As of June 2011
Smart card for week/month pass valid on bus, metro, RER, Ile-de-France (Transilien) trains (Not TGV)
5€ fee for card itself PLUS:
Navigo Week pass price, valid only from Monday at 00:00 to Sunday 23:59:59 (as of July, 2011)
On sale up until Wednesday, midnight. Next week’s pass, on sale from Friday onwards.
Navigo Month pass price, valid from the first day of the month through till last day of the month (as of July, 2011)
Monthly Navigo Passes are on sale from the 20th day of the preceding month. For example, if it’s January 20, you can purchase and apply February Navigo Monthly pass validity to your Navigo card and it will be good up through to February 28/29 (depending on leap year, oh why did I choose a month that has varying length for an example).
Zone Map (PDF)
Pass Navigo Découverte Prices in Detail
The Paris train, metro, RER, tram and bus system uses a smart card called Passe Navigo Découverte for week passes. These passes are open to visitors (see note) as opposed to normal Navigo passes which are for residents of Ile-de-France only.
The Navigo Découverte pass can be purchased for a 5€ fee on top of the regular week pass prices noted above, which varies from 33,40€ for all give zones to 18,85€ for only zones 1 & 2 which covers only Paris. Five zones includes Paris and surrounding suburbs, airports Roissy-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly (ORY), Chateau Versailles, Fontainebleau, Parc Disney. The services included are any metro, RER (suburban) train, buses (RATP/Noctilien/Optile), and trams up to the zone limits of your pass.
The Navigo Découverte is sold at nearly any ticket window that normally sells tickets and passes for the Metro, RER, Ile-de-France trains. You’ll need a smaller than passport size photo to be used on the pass (exact Navigo Decouverte photo size is 3cm tall by 2.5cm wide), plus a pen to write your name. There’s nearly always a photo booth nearby ticket windows at major stations, costing 5€ for a set of four pictures, so be sure to get your photo taken before going to the ticket window where they’ll likely have scissors handy for trimming your freshly minted photo on the pass.
The downside of the pass is its timing. The pass validity starts on Monday morning, first service (usually around 05:30) and ends the following Sunday at last service (metro trains usually arrive at their terminus station around 01:40). If you happen to be arriving mid-week, it may not make financial sense to purchase the pass. After Wednesday midnight, you cannot add zones to the pass for the current week. From Friday onwards you can only purchase zones for the following week.
If you plan on arriving Thursday - Sunday, consider buying a carnet of tickets (book of ten or twenty) that are good for Paris zones 1 & 2, or day passes called Ticket Mobilis. Another option is to buy a Paris Visite card, which is really just a more expensive Mobilis ticket that can be used for a set period of days, starting from whenever you first place the ticket into a turnstile machine. The Paris Visite cards are good for 1, 2, 3 or 5 days and for either zones 1 to 3 or all five zones.
Some travelers to Paris have been getting hassled by RATP staff into buying a Carte Paris Visite by refusing to sell them a Passe Navigo Découverte. Please don’t let this happen to you. You have the right to purchase a Passe Navigo Découverte as outlined in a publication entitled Guide Navigo, published by STIF in October 2008, the parent organization of RATP (Paris Transit Authority).
Page 9 of this document explains that the Passe Navigo Découverte is open to all travelers. Here is the excerpt:
The translation of the first two points is as follows:
If you are concerned about hassles with purchasing a Passe Navigo Découverte when in Paris and don’t wish to be forced into buying a more expensive Carte Paris Visite, print out Guide Navigo and bring it with you to Paris. If a ticket seller tells you the Passe Navigo is only for residents, show the guide to the ticket seller.
Departure station => Paris-Gare de Lyon
Train Line => Transilien or Ter
Direction => Laroche-Migennes / Montereau / Montargis / Sens
Arrival Station => Fontainebleau-Avon (Zone 5)
Ticket => Billet Ile-de-France - Fontainebleau–Avon
Price => 8,40€ one way
Passes Accepted => Carte Orange/Pass Navigo, Ticket Mobilis, Paris Visite Card
Attractions => INSEAD, Forest of Fontainebleau, Chateau Fontainebleau
First Train / Last Train => 06:05 / 23:35 (see notes)
Paris Fontainebleau-Avon Train Schedule
Paris to Fontainbleau Train Timetable
Fontainebleau to Paris Train Timetable
To get to Fontainebleau from Paris take a Transilien train from Paris-Gare de Lyon to station Fontainebleau-Avon, which takes about 40 minutes. (See the Gare de Lyon photo tour for information about this station).
Start by checking the train schedule for Paris-Fontainebleau or search for trains at Transilien.com. If you’re using Transilien.com, search for trains leaving from station “Gare de Lyon” in Paris, going to destination city Fontainebleau, without specifying the destination station. The frequency of trains from Paris to Fontainebleau can range from 20 minutes apart during rush hour to 1 hour 30 minutes apart during quiet periods of mid-morning, mid-afternoon and late at night.
Unless you have a ticket Mobilis (day pass) / Passe Navigo Découverte / Paris Visite card good for all 5 zones, you’ll have to buy a special billet Ile-de-France [bee-yah Eel-duh-franz] for this train. This can be done only at the SNCF/Transilien Ile-de-France ticket window just west of the Blue platform (see the photo of the Transilien ticket window at Gare de Lyon), or at the blue, boxy ticket vending machines (Billetterie Ile-de-France), at the end of the Galeries des Fresques just west of the ticket window or on the Yellow Zone platform just outside the building. Most of the ticket windows and vending machines in Gare de Lyon only sell tickets for the Grandes Lignes trains, which depart for cities outside of the main Parisian/Ile-de-France area, so don’t make the mistake of lining up in one of these queues as they won’t be able to sell you the ticket you need.
At the ticket window, simply ask for “Fontainebleau Aller-Rétour” [fawn-tan-blow alleh-ray-tour]. You’ll get two tickets, one for each direction, for about 16,80€. You’ll have to pay by cash unless you happen to have a smart-card / Euro credit card. North American credit cards will most likely not work at any SNCF ticket window nor ticket vending machine, so keep some cash handy.
With tickets in hand it’s time to find out which platform your train will depart from. At Gare de Lyon there are two platforms, Blue and Yellow. The Blue platform is marked with lanes or “voie” that are letters A to N, ascending from left to right, on signs with a blue background. The Yellow platform has lanes that are numbered from 5 to 23, in ascending order from right to left, with signs in yellow.
Trains leaving for Fontainebleau can be on either platform, on any lane so find the Gare de Lyon Departures board at either one of the platforms (taking care not to mistake it for the Arrivals board, also available at each platform). What you’re looking for on the board is the terminus station, i.e. the last station that the train will stop at, not Fontainebleau-Avon, which will never be marked on the board. Your train will be one of the following:
The board will note the train number (useless information), the terminus station (any one of the four noted above), time of departure, and which platform and lane. At the right hand side you’ll see a blue or yellow square. This corresponds to which platform your train will leave from, Blue or Yellow. The number or letter for the lane will often not be marked on the board until 15 minutes before the train leaves, but make your way to the correct platform before that. At the right platform you’ll notice a crowd of people staring at the big black Departures board. What they’re waiting for is the lane number or letter to appear on top of the yellow or blue square, denoting exactly which lane the train will depart from. During busy hours, once that lane letter or number is posted, there is a hurried rush towards the train parked in that lane. If you wish to have a seat for the 40 minute ride, be one of those people.
To double check that you’re on the right train, take note of the television or LCD displays at the beginning of the train “voie” (lane). The display will show each stop the train will make on its journey. One of them should be Fontainebleau-Avon. If that stop isn’t listed, check the Departures board and find the correct lane for your train.
The train, once underway will often make one or two stops (and possibly none) before arriving at Fontainebleau-Avon, so be sure to check which station you’re at before jumping off. The stops are generally Melun, after 25 minutes, and Bois-le-Roi about ten minutes after that and then finally Fontainebleau-Avon.
When arriving, if you happen to be the first at the door, look for the door button as the doors do not automatically open. Don’t be surprised if the doors are a bit sticky and require some encouragement (pushing) to get fully open.
[Update & new photos kindly provided by TomL]
At Fontainebleau-Avon station you’ll be descending at the back of the station where you’ll find buses 12 A / B / C that head off in various directions. Bus 12A heads towards Chateau Fontainebleau, if that happens to be your destination.
If you’re using a single ticket (billet Ile-de-France) for your trip, you’ll need to purchase a ticket from the bus driver. For Pass holders (Carte Paris Visite, Pass Navigo/Carte Orange, Ticket Mobilis 5 Zone), buses in Fontainebleau are included.
Enjoy your trip.
The schedule for trains traveling from Paris to Fontainebleau may change depending on day of the week, holidays, special periods of the year and special days of the year. In general the first train of the day is 6:05am, the last train is 11:35pm. As of December, 2008, the Paris to Fontainebleau train schedule is now the same across all days of the week and on holidays: two trains per hour, leaving Gare de Lyon at :05 and :35 after the hour, each hour. You can always verify train times at Transilien.com.
Line => RER C (yellow)
Direction => Versailles-Rive Gauche
Arrival Station => Versailles-Rive Gauche (Zone 4, 3,40€)
From Paris you can take a suburban “RER C” train to within 5 minutes walk of Chateau Versailles, ending at station Versailles-Rive Gauche.
Start your trip by going into any metro/RER station that you find around the city, which will be marked with a blue sign with an M or RER surrounded by a circle. From time to time you’ll see the metro marked only by the old style art deco Metropolitan signs. Take note of the station name when inside.
Your goal is to get to the RER C line, the yellow line that serves the western half of the Parisian suburbs. If you’ve got a day or week pass that’s good for at least Zone 4, skip this paragraph, else visit a ticket window in the station to purchase special ticket, since Versailles is in Zone 4, outside the coverage of normal Paris Metro/Bus/RER Ticket t that you would get for traveling within Paris. At the ticket window or guichet [Gee-Shay] don’t panic. There’s a 50/50 chance the worker will speak English quite well and if not, they’ll understand “Chateau Versailles” [Shah-Tow Vher-Sigh]. Normally the metro worker will ask you whether you want a return ticket, by asking “Aller Rétour?” [Alleh-Ray-Tour] (or by making hand signs), which is simply two of the single tickets. Each ticket is currently (July, 2011) 3,40€ so 6,80€ for a return trip. Tip: don’t expect that your credit card will work at the ticket window. Many North American credit cards will simply not work at RATP/SNCF credit card machines so have cash on hand and don’t expect to use that 50 euro note either. Small bills or coins are best. Go ahead and buy Aller-Rétour return tickets to save a bit of time (unless you plan on sneaking off the tour path at the chateau and spending the night there).
Once past the turnstiles find the Metro map or plan [plon] to see where you are in relation to the yellow RER C line. If you happen to be at St. Michel/Notre Dame, Tour Eiffel (plus a few others) you’re already on the RER C line, all you need to do is find the right train platform. Many stations throughout Paris serve several different metro lines and RER train lines all within the same station. This means a single station can have several vertical levels plus many different platforms going in opposite directions. This may sound confusing, but it follows a pattern that you’ll quickly master: All RER lines are letters, A to E, all Metro lines are numbers 1 to 14. All lines have a terminus station, i.e. the last station on the line. Every train and metro platform will mark which line you’re on and which direction the train is going, which is the terminus station. If you are not already at a station which serves the RER C line, play snakes and ladders with the metro/RER lines on the map to see how you can get to the closest RER C station.
Once you’re at an RER C station, follow the overhead signs and wall signs towards the RER C Versailles-Rive Gauche platform. What may be confusing is that there may be other names on the sign along with Versailles-Rive Gauche for other terminus stations along the same line. For example, you may see an RER C sign that shows the direction/terminus station as Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Versailles-Chantiers, Versailles-Rive Gauche, all on one sign. As long as the terminus station is not before the station you want (in this case Versailles-Rive Gauche), you can take the line since it’s going in the right direction.
Once you’ve arrived at the RER platform you’ll see overhead signs along side the rails which show a plethora of station names, each possibly lit with a yellow square before the name. If the name is marked with a yellow square, the next train that arrives will stop at that station. Look for the station that you want, Versailles-Rive Gauche. If the name is not on the board, check the other side of the platform, which is going in the opposite direction.
When the train arrives, the doors will not open automatically; Someone on the train, or you, must press the green or silver button on the door to open it.
Once on the train, if you’ve taken the right train, you won’t need to keep track of the stations since Versailles-Rive Gauche will be the last station on the line and everyone will be getting off.
After arriving at the terminus station, look for blue “Sortie” signs which mark exits for the station. Eventually each of them will have a name marking what street it gives access to. On occasion a landmark or sight such as Tour Eiffel or Chateau Versailles will be marked on the exit sign as well, highlighted in beige. Pick an exit and look out for brown street signs pointing in the direction of the Chateau. With any luck, you’ll find one for Chateau Versailles, which is just a five minute walk from this station. Enjoy your visit.
Train travel in Paris is the easiest and cheapest way to get around the city and the sights surrounding it.
This blog is the start of a Paris Train Travel book where I’ll show you how to navigate the complex and comprehensive network of trains throughout this beautiful busy city.
How to use Paris Train Guide
Each chapter or blog post will focus on a single subject or part of the vast network of trains that cover Paris’ inner districts (arrondissements), the surrounding suburbs and major cities across the country.
If you’re looking for information on a particular part of the train system, just go directly to that post by checking the tags on the left hand side of the blog or by searching on the name, for example: Gare de Lyon, day passes, etc.
This article explains how to travel from Central Paris to CDG Airport by city train (RER B). For instructions in the opposite direction see Airport CDG to Paris by Train. There are also picture guides of the Terminal 1 train station or Terminal 2 train station at Airport Charles de Gaulle.
Line => RER B (Blue)
Direction => Aéroport Charles de Gaulle / Mitry - Claye
Arrival Station => Aéroport CDG 1, Aéroport CDG 2 TGV
Cost => 9,10€ (as of July 2011, Zone 1 -> Zone 5)
Passes Accepted => Pass Navigo(5+ Zone), Paris Visite (5 Zone)
Schedule - First Train / Last Train from Paris => 04:56 / 00:15 (station Gare du Nord)
The cheapest and fastest transportation to Airport Roissy-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) from central Paris, is the suburban train line RER B (blue line on RER maps) at a cost of 9,10€, one way, requiring roughly 40 minutes.
Within Paris the RER B line travels from south to north, stopping at Denfert-Rocherau, up past the Luxembourg Gardens (station name: Luxembourg), St. Michel/Nôtre Dame, Châtelet Les Halles, Gare du Nord, then continues north east, making up to 9 more stops on its way to CDG Terminal 1 and 2.
The first train from Paris Gare du Nord to Airport Charles de Gaulle (CDG) leaves at 4:56am, arriving at Terminal 1 at 5:28am, Terminal 2 at 5:30am. The last train at night from Paris Gare du Nord to CDG leaves at 12:15am (past midnight) arriving at Terminal 1 at 12:47am, Terminal 2 at 12:50am. This train schedule is in effect Monday to Sunday, including holidays (every day).
Note that not all RER B line trains stop at Charles de Gaulle airport. The easiest way to determine whether the next RER B train arriving at a station goes to CDG is to look at the RER overhead station stop panels on the train platform.
If a light is lit next to “Aéroport Ch. de Gaulle 1″ or “Aeroport Ch. de Gaulle 2 - TGV”, the next train will stop at CDG airport. You’ll also be able to tell how many stops the next train will make between Paris and the Airport by counting the number of stations in between Gare du Nord (the last Parisian station) and the airport stations, Terminals 1 and 2. Obviously, the train making zero stops in between Gare du Nord and the airport will be a bit quicker, usually by about 12 minutes.
Another way to tell if the next train is going to the airport is to look at its four letter “name” and whether it starts with the letter “E”, which is marked on overhead television monitors, as well as on the front of the train. All trains with names that start with E will stop at Charles de Gaulle, for example: EKLI. If a bunch of other travelers are getting on with suitcases and look like the traveling type… more than likely you’re on the right train.
When arriving at CDG the train will make stops at both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. For those getting off the train at Terminal 1, you’re in fact arriving at Terminal 3 and you’ll have to take a shuttle tram called CDGVAL to Terminal 1. Remember to take note of which side of the CDGVAL tram line to get on, as Terminal 3 is actually in between Terminals 1 and 2, so you have to pick the correct direction to go. There should be floor standing signs on the overhead walkway above the tramline to help you make your choice.
If you’re looking for the departures level, you’ll need to head to the escalators or elevators and make your way up a floor.
Bon voyage.
Concerned about stairs and luggage in the Paris Metro & RER trains? There are several bus options between CDG Airport and Paris city center.
Roissybus, (Paris city bus) makes trips from CDG Airport Terminals 1, 2 or 3 to central Paris location of Opéra (corner of rue Scribe & rue Auber). Cost of Roissybus is 10,00€ and unfortunately, no reduced fare for children. (as of July 2011)
Les Cars Air France (Air France coach line) makes trips from CDG Airport Terminals 1, 2 or 3 to central Paris locations of Arc de Triomphe (Charles de Gaulle Etoile), Montparnasse and Gare de Lyon. Cost is upwards of 19€. See ParisByTrain Air France Shuttle article for more information.
Bus 351 (Paris city bus) stops to pick-up/drop off passengers at CDG Terminal 1, in between CDG Terminal 2A & Terminal 2C, in between Terminal 2B-2D, the Terminal 2 TGV train station, and Roissypole (RER B train station). Cost for Bus 351 from CDG to Paris is three “Ticket t+” Metro tickets at 1,70€/each or 5,10€ total. Bus 351 route map CDG to east Paris.
The Roissybus bus stops at CDG Terminal 1 Door 32 for passenger pick up. Tickets for the Roissybus can be purchased within the glass enclosed bus stop via the vending machine or from the ticket window (which may or may not be manned at the time of your arrival). Bus tickets can also be purchased from the driver onboard. Tickets are 10,00€ each. No child fares are available for this method of Airport to Paris transportation.
Here is a line map for the Roissybus at CDG. On the right you can see which doors (”porte”) this airport bus stops at to pickup passengers at Terminal 1 (Door 32), Terminal 2B & D2 at Door 11, Terminal 2A & 2C at Door 9 and Terminal 2E & 2F all along on the arrivals level road (flag the driver).
The Roissybus travels from CDG Airport directly to Paris Opéra in the 8th district (arrondissement) close to Galeries Lafayette and Boulevard Haussmann (see photo).
It makes no pickups nor dropoffs between CDG and Paris. First bus departs CDG at 6am. Last Roissy bus departs CDG at 11pm. First Roissybus depature from Opera in direction of Airport CDG leaves at 5:45am. Last bus from Opéra to CDG leaves at 11pm. Passes such as the Pass Navigo Découverte, Pass Navigo, and Paris Visite (5 or 6 zone) are accepted for the Roissybus. Ticket Mobilis day passes are not accepted.
Les Cars Air France is another bus system using coach type of buses (known as “autocar” in French, hence the name “Les Cars”). Luggage on these buses can be stowed underneath the passenger seating area, as per normal with coach line buses. Tickets are more expensive for Les Cars Air France of upwards of 19,00€ per person depending on which line you are taking from CDG, either Line 2 or Line 4. Child fares are half the adult price. Tickets should be purchased from the ticket offices out on the terminal roads at the terminal doors specified below. Groups of 4 or more can receive a 15% discount on their tickets.
Air France coach bus Line 2 stops at Porte Maillot at Paris’ North West corner and continues on to Arc de Triomphe/Charles de Gaulle Etoile. Les Car Air France Line 4 stops at Gare de Lyon and continues on to Gare Montparnasse. These coach buses stop for passenger pickup at Terminal 1 at Door 34 (Porte 34), at Terminal 2B Door 6, 2D Door 6, and 2E Door 3 and 2F Door 3.
Paris - Beauvais Airport (BVA) serving Ryanair, Wizz Air & Blue Air, is accessible by city train from Paris with either a shuttle bus or taxi completing the journey. Beauvais Airport is actually located in Tillé, 3.5km north east of Beauvais. There is no train station at the airport itself, unlike Aéroports Charles de Gaulle and Orly.
Train Line => Ter Line 19 - Paris / Persan-Beaumont / Beauvais
Departure/Terminus Stations => Gare du Nord (Paris) / Beauvais Gare SNCF (Beauvais)
Travel Time => Train 69 to 74 minutes + shuttle or taxi (30 min. or 10 min.)
Price => Train to Beauvais city center 12€ + 4€ (Shuttle) or 11€ (Taxi) to Airport.
First/Last Train Arrives at Beauvais at => 07:29 (09:08 sundays & holidays) / 22:01
Frequency of trains => Roughly every 40 minutes.
First/Last Train Departs Beauvais at => 05:08 (06:33 sundays/holidays) / 20:10
To get to Beauvais Airport from Paris, one can take a Ter train (Transport Express Régional) from Gare du Nord station in Paris to Beauvais city center for 12€, then complete the journey to Beauvais Airport by either shuttle bus (4€/person) or taxi. Taxis charge a flat rate between the train station and airport of 11€ between the hours of 7am and 7pm, 15€ otherwise, for up to 4 passengers, baggage handling included.
There is no city bus service between the two cities due to their small size.
Below is a Google map showing the car journey between Beauvais city centre and its airport in Tillé: (click on map to enlarge)
Here is a schedule of Ter trains departing Paris, Gare du Nord for Beauvais city centre:
Here are timetables/schedules for trains departing Beauvais for Paris (Gare du Nord station):
Click here to download the full Paris - Beauvais train schedule in PDF file format for more detail. For translations of schedule notes (which are in French), see the Beauvais - Paris train schedule article.
You may also check schedules online at the ticket purchase sites listed further below.
The Beauvais train station - Airport shuttle bus schedule is shown on the following shuttle route map:
(Click on map to enlarge shuttle bus route map and schedule). Travel time of the shuttle from Beauvais train station at city centre to Beauvais airport is about 30 minutes.
Train tickets for Paris to Beauvais are 12€ one way. Seating is non-reserved so it cannot sell out, thus reservations are not required. This means you’ll get the best price by purchasing tickets either at the Beauvais train station itself, either through a ticket window or at a automated ticket vending machine (shown on right) taking coins and smartchip credit cards. Vending machines like the one shown here is operated through a knob that is turned either clockwise or counter-clockwise to change on screen selections. Pressing the button in the center of the knob makes a selection.
If you’d like to purchase tickets ahead of time online, for either home delivery or pickup at the train station, you can use the following web sites, depending on your place of residence:
These are all official partner sites of SNCF, the France National Railway Company. Keep in mind that delivery fees may apply to your purchase, depending on where you live.
The train from Beauvais city centre to Paris - Gare du Nord station takes just over an hour. From Gare du Nord you’ll have access to Metro Lines 4 and 5 and RER lines B, D and E. RER B connects to both Aéroport Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. RER D quickly whisks you to Gare de Lyon and RER E to Gare St-Lazare. To get to Euro Disney from Paris after taking the Beauvais train, take the RER D to Gare de Lyon, then the RER A in direction Marne La Vallée Chessy, which is right at Parc Disneyland.
If you’re continuing your journey on the Paris Metro or the RER you’ll need to purchase a new ticket for the trip as this Ter journey is outside the fare zones within Ile-de-France (greater Paris Metropolitan area). This can be done at ticket windows and ticket vending machines within the RER/Metro end of Gare du Nord (eastern half of station). See the Gare du Nord photo tour for more information on this station. See the guide to billet Ile-de-France ticket vending machines or Metro ticket vending machines for more information.
Official Beauvais - Paris train schedule showing depature times of trains departing Beauvais city center (closest train station to BVA Airport) arriving in Paris at Gare du Nord station: (click to enlarge schedule)
For a schedule in the opposite direction, see the Paris Beauvais Train Schedule in the downloadable full PDF schedule below.
For complete step-by-step instructions on completing this journey, see Beauvais Airport Train article.
Some translations that are useful when regarding the notes to the schedule:
du lundi au samedi - from Monday to Saturday
vendredi - Friday
samedi - Saturday
ter is the brand name of the train
Circule jusqu’au - Operates until [some date]
Circule à partir - Operates from [some date]
Circule du lun au jeu et les sam. - Operates Mon-Thur and Sat
Circule uniquement les ven. - Operates only on Fridays
Circule du lun au jeu - Operates from Mon - Thur
All days are “inclusive”. Example: Mon - Thur means trains operate from start of service Monday till end of service Thursday
Download the Paris - Beauvais train schedule in PDF file format for more detail.
You may also check schedules online through sites mentioned in my train route planner article although I have noticed some errors with their suggested itineraries so beware.
If you’d like to purchase tickets ahead of time, for either home delivery or pickup at the train station, see the article on buying TGV tickets (works for non-TGV trains like the Ter train). Keep in mind that this type of train serving the Paris to Beauvais route (Ter or Transport Express Régional) is a non-reserved seating train, thus tickets do not have to be purchased ahead of time. Seats are on a first come first served basis.
Update March 20, 2010: CDG Luggage Storage services are still in operation. There have been rumours that luggage storage at CDG Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 have been closed due to security concerns, but this is patently false. I’ve spoken directly with Aeroports de Paris representatives who confirm that Bagages du Monde is operating normally. I’ve included their correspondence at the end of this article for your reference.
Luggage storage at CDG Terminal 1 is located at Gate 14, Depatures level
Luggage storage at CDG Terminal 2A - Gate 3 Departures level
Baggage storage at CDG Terminal 2F - Gate 4 Arrivals level (one level down from Departures, ground level).
There is no baggage storage at the CDG RER/TGV Train station itself.
Below is a photo of the luggage storage service counter at Paris Airport Charles de Gaulle (Terminal 2F Arrivals level, third kiosk on the right). The name of the baggage storage company is Bagages du Monde.
Please keep in mind that the baggage storage company at CDG is not open 24 hours a day. Be sure to check that it will be manned when you need to collect your luggage.
More questions about luggage storage in other stations? Click here for a new ParisByTrain article.
On December 31st (New Year’s Eve), certain Paris Metro & RER lines stay open and operational all night long.
Paris Metro lines operating all night: 1, 2, 4, 6, 9 et 14 the evening of New Year’s eve.
Paris RER lines operating all night: RER A and RER B the night of 31 December.
Paris Noctilien (night bus) will operate as per normal.
All Paris Metro, Buses, RER, Trams will operate free of charge from 17h (5pm) on Dec. 31 until 12:00 noon January 1.
Please keep in mind that not all Metro stations along the above noted lines will be served during the extended service hours, rather only the more popular stations and stations with connections to other lines.
Paris Metro & RER lines not mentioned above will operate as per normal with service ending at 01:40 for the Metro. For more information RER hours of operation see the Schedules page.
(Thanks to Didier Rouger of RATP for some of the above information).
The DisneyLand RER Paris train is better known in Paris as the RER A train (one of five RER trains, A through E).
This RER map shows the DisneyLand Paris RER line as the red line traveling from west to east across Paris:
It’s important to remember that the RER A line has several branching lines with different terminus stations. The terminus station for the DisneyLand RER Paris line is Marne La Vallée–Chessy station located about 40km east of Paris city centre along the A4 branch of the RER A train line.
For information on the DisneyLand RER Paris line tickets, timetables, maps and a guide on how to make the trip out to Paris Disneyland see the Paris RER to DisneyLand article.
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