CDG to Paris Metro Station Route Planner

February 12, 2009 in Metro by Ben | No comments

To find a route from CDG to a Metro station use the Paris Metro Journey Planner, operated by the Paris public transit authority - RATP.

Find a route from CDG to Paris Metro Station

Here is a step by step example of finding a route from CDG Airport Terminal 1 to St. Sulpice Metro station in Paris.

Step One - Route Planner

First, open up the Paris Metro Route Planner in a web browser. You’ll see a page similar to the one shown here.

Step Two - Departure Metro Station

First decision to make: Address or Station? If you know the name of the Metro station closest to your final destination, click on the radio button next to Station

In this example, we’re leaving from CDG Airport Terminal 1. To enter your departure station enter: Aeroport CDG 1

If you’re arriving at CDG Terminal 2 enter: Aeroport CDG 2. To find a route from CDG Terminal 3, use Aeroport CDG 1 as this is the closest station to Terminal 3.

Step Three - Destination Metro Station

Next, we’ll select a Destination station. In this example we’re going to St. Sulpice Metro station. Select the Station radio button and type St Sulpice in the text box below.

Step Four - Options

By default the route planner will search for the fastest route between the departure and destination stations. At times this can result in several connections between several Metro or RER train lines. If you’re traveling with heavy luggage or suffer from mobility issues, choosing fewest connections or shortest walking distance options may result in a better route.

Step Five - Departure Time & Date

There is an option near the bottom of the Route Planner that allows you to enter the Date and Time that you plan on making this journey.

It’s important to specify the same day of the week and approximate time of day (in 24 hour clock) that you will be making this trip to get accurate results. You do not have to specify the exact date & time of travel if this information is not available. If you’re not sure of when you’re traveling, simply choose a time and day that makes sense, i.e. don’t use a time in the middle of the night. Somewhere between 8am to 9pm (21 hours) will give you good results.

Step Six - Being Precise

Click the Search button (bottom right corner) to start the Route Planner.

99% of the time the Paris Metro Route Planner will not show you a route, but will instead ask you to specify more precisely the departure and destination stations

The Paris Metro Route Planner will ask you to select from station names that closely matched your search criteria (Aeroport CDG 1 and St Sulpice).

Most of the time the suggested stations are correct, but you can click on the selected items to see the other suggestions. Above are the exact station names that the Paris Metro Route Planner needs to use.

Finally, click again the Search button.

Important! The Paris Metro Route Planner will open a new browser window to show you the route results. This is considered a “Pop-Up Ad” by most browsers such as Firefox or Internet Explorer and their Pop-Up Blockers will not show the route planner results window. You need to allow your web browser to show this Pop-Up Window, either permanently or just for this session. To permanently allow the Route Planner to show Pop-Up Window route results, see the Purdue University page on allowing Pop-Ups from certain websites. For the “address of Web site to allow” use: ratp.info. The RATP uses several Web servers to provide the Route Planner results, so it is important to specify only “ratp.info” rather than www7.ratp.info or something similar since that number “7″ will change from time to time as the website spreads out the server traffic load to several different Web servers.

Step Seven - Review Route Planner Results

The Pop-Up Paris Metro Route Planner results page will show something similar to this:

Examining Route Planner Results

Looking closer at the results we see that the Paris Metro Route Planner gives total Travel Time for the journey (51 minutes).

Each part of the journey is broken down into steps specified along the left hand side column (1 & 2):

Each step shows details on which line you must take, in which direction, and which station you need to descend or stop at.

This first step specifies the type of train: RER, the line: B, the direction: Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse, from the departure station: Aeroport Charles de Gaulle 1, and the destination station which is either your final destination or the station where you’ll need to transfer to another line: Chatelet Les Halles. At the airport train stations, on the train platforms, you can verify the direction of the RER train by looking at the overhead television screens which show the direction and departure time of the train.

Note: the direction for trains leaving CDG is not important if you’re destination is within city centre Paris, since the RER B train stops at all RER B stations within Paris itself: Gare du Nord, Chatelet Les Halles, St Michel Notre Dame, Luxembourg, Port Royal, Denfert Rochereau, and Cité Universitaire. Thus, if you see a different direction name listed on the overhead television information screens than the one you received from the Route Planner, don’t panic, the train will stop at all the downtown Paris RER stations.

See the following photo guide articles for more information on catching the RER B train from Paris CDG Airport to Paris city center: CDG Airport Terminal 1 to Paris and CDG Airport Terminal 2 to Paris.

In this example, the second leg of the journey is completed on a different type of train: the Paris Metro, Line 4. In this step, direction is very important. Every Paris Metro line will have two (or more) directions which are specified by the name of the last station on the line (the terminus station) at that end of the line. In this case, the direction is Porte d’Orleans.

When you are transferring from the RER B train line to Metro Line 4 at station Chatelet Les Halles, you’ll have to follow signs within Chatelet Les Halles that show Metro Line 4 and the direction Porte d’Orleans, if the sign you’re reading denotes directions. Not all signs within Metro stations show line directions (to save space) and some signs show both directions, since you’re so far away from the actual Metro train plaforms that the path you’re on leads to both sides (and directions) of the Metro line. Only when you get close enough to the two train platforms, each heading in opposite directions, will the Metro signs start specifying a single direction/terminus station. For this particular trip, the opposite direction for Metro Line 4 is Porte de Clignacourt, but we’re after Porte d’Orleans.

On the right hand side of the Route Planner results is a column specifying the time each part of the journey will take, including walking time (in green) to the train platforms themselves.

The final piece of information on the Route Planner results is the Paris Fare Zones you’ll be crossing during your journey. This tells you the approximative cost of the trip and the type of ticket required for the journey.

In this case, CDG Airport to Paris (any Metro station) is a special fare and is priced as such: 8,40€. For journeys purely within the Paris Metro system, the Fare Zones are 1-2, and will require only a single Ticket t+ at a current cost of 1,60€ (as of Feb. 2009). Any journeys beyond zones 1-2 will require additional Ticket t+ tickets good for the Metro and Bus, or special station to station priced tickets called Billet Ile-de-France. Tip: Billet Ile-de-France tickets, when arriving or departing in central Paris, such as on this trip from CDG Airport to Paris, are good for both the Paris RER and the Paris Metro; you’ll use this single ticket on both types of trains to complete your journey.

Ready to try this for yourself? Here is a pre-saved version of the above journey: Aeroport CDG 1 to St. Sulpice Paris Metro Route Planner search.

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