Beauvais Airport is sometimes called Paris’ third airport, even though it lies quite some distance away from the city itself. But because it’s the only Paris airport with service from European budget air giant Ryanair, it still deserves to be considered as a target airport for flying into Paris.

For one thing, there are a couple good transportation options to get you into Paris from Beauvais. For another, if you’re not headed for Paris but for someplace generally north of Paris anyway, then it could be an even better option than either of Paris’ larger airports.

For those of you who are flying into Beauvais and then making your way into the French capital, however, here’s what you need to know about getting from Beauvais Airport into Paris. It’s important to factor in the cost of ground transportation to your overall travel costs, however, in order to be sure that the savings on that “budget flight” you took aren’t wiped out by a hefty pricetag on a train or coach ticket.

But first things first, let’s look at a map of northern France so you can see just where Beauvais Airport is in relation to Paris:

Hopefully seeing that distance will help you understand why transport times are longer from the airport to Paris.

Taking the Train from Beauvais Airport to Paris

There are trains that connect Paris’ Gare du Nord station with the main train station in the town of Beauvais. It’s a regional train, called a “TER,” and it’s part of the “Picardy” region – you can look up schedules on the TER Picardie site, which is (as far as I can tell) entirely in French. Train tickets between Paris Gare du Nord and Beauvais train station are €13-15.

To get to the Beauvais train station from the airport, you’ll have to catch a separate shuttle or a taxi. The time you’ll spend in transit is typically at least 1 hour 15 minutes and up to 1.5 hours – and that’s not counting the time you’re waiting for a shuttle or a taxi. Taxis between the airport to the train station charge a fixed price of €11 from 7am-7pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and €15 from 7pm-7am and on Sundays and bank holidays. If you opt for the shuttle bus instead, tickets for that are under €5.

>> More about train travel in France

Taking the Bus from Beauvais Airport to Paris

The official coach service partner of the Beauvais Airport is the SuperShuttle, and it’ll take you all the way into Paris from the airport – or to Disneyland Paris if you prefer.

What’s particularly convenient about SuperShuttle is that instead of having one central drop-off/pick-up site in Paris, it’s a door-to-door service.

The Beauvais Airport location for the SuperShuttle is their desk in the Terminal 1 hall.

A SuperShuttle ticket from Beauvais Airport into Paris costs €32 for the first adult passenger, €22 for a second adult, and €16 for kids. A Beauvais-EuroDisney ticket is €50 for the first adult, €30 for a second adult, and €20 for children.

Paris Shuttle is a service that runs regular shuttles to each of Paris’ airports. The company runs private reserved shuttles between Beauvais Airport and central Paris, and there are set prices per vehicle for any Paris destination with a zip code that begins with 75. The cost is per vehicle, and depends on how many people are in your group. For just 1-2 people you’ll pay €130, for 3-4 people you’ll pay €140, for 5-6 people you’ll pay €150, and for 7-8 people you’ll pay €160.

For those headed to Paris Disney, Paris Shuttle also has direct service from Beauvais Airport to Disneyland Paris and back. Again, only private reserved shuttles are available, and the price is per vehicle. For 1-4 people you’ll pay €145 (unless it’s 2 adults and 2 kids in the same family, in which case it’s €135), for 5-6 people you’ll pay €165, and for 7-8 people you’ll pay €184.

>> Book Paris Shuttle to/from Beauvais Airport

There’s a regular scheduled coach service that runs from Porte Maillot in Paris to Beauvais Airport (and vice versa). Porte Maillot is near the Palais des Congres to the west of the Arc de Triomphe, but it’s close to a Metro/RER stop to get you anywhere else you need to go in Paris. Tickets are €15 one-way (cash only, and you buy your ticket at the same place you board the bus). The schedule of the buses is directly related to the schedule of departures and arrivals at the airport – buses leave Paris three hours before each departure, and they leave Beauvais Airport 20 minutes after each arrival.

If you’re going to Disneyland Paris resort, you can also choose to take a VEA bus (Val d’Europe Airports). There are three daily departures from Beauvais Airport, and the buses stop at all the Disney-area hotels. On the way back to Beauvais, there are two daily departures at each of a few points in the Disney area. VEA buses cost €30 per adult and €24 for kids ages 3-11.

Driving from Beeauvais Airport to Paris

There are six car rental companies at Beauvais Airport – which is double the number of airlines serving the airport, so you shouldn’t have any trouble renting a car if you do it in advance. If your sole destination is Paris, it’s advisable to skip the car entirely and stick with public transportation – but if you’re planning trips around the area outside Paris, having a car may be a good idea.

Beauvais Airport is on the A16 Autoroute, so it gives you easy access to France’s highway system. You can see a not-to-scale map of the airport in relation to other cities around it on the Beauvais website, but I think the Via Michelin site is one of the best for getting specific driving directions – just plug in your starting and ending points and it’ll give you all the information you need. In addition to turn-by-turn directions, the site also gives you an estimate of how long it’ll take to make the trip, how many KM it is, how much you’ll spend in tolls, and roughly what you’d spend on fuel.

Taking a Taxi from Beauvais Airport to Paris

Taxi drivers who hear you want them to ferry you all the way from Beauvais Airport to Paris – or vice versa – may turn into the nicest taxi drivers you’ve ever met. Because that trip is not a cheap one. There’s no fixed rate, either, so the figures on the Beauvais Airport website are only guesses as to what it’ll cost. Still, they estimate the trip will run at least €100-120 during the day, and €140-160 after hours because of the “night charge.”

photos, top to bottom, by: Adam UXB Smith, Hello Paris, foundphotoslj

What the French Hotel Star Rating System Means

Hotels in Paris – and elsewhere in France – are graded on a star-system, and that might make you think you know what to expect from each star level. But the French star ratings are based on different criteria than the hotel rating systems in other countries. As this article on choosing a Paris hotel points out, the French hotel rating system is based on quantity – not quality. Because quality is, at least on some level, a subjective measurement, the French system has a checklist of items that they look at when rating hotels. A property achieves a certain number of stars based on how many of the criteria on that checklist are present.

As an example, a Paris blogger I know once booked a room at a French chateau that was high on the star rating system. Upon arrival, she found the reception and service so cold and unfriendly that she quickly made other accommodation arrangements. The 1-star attic-level hotel room she ended up in – overlooking a town square – turned out to be infinitely more charming, warm, and hospitable.

The maximum number of stars a hotel can receive in France is four, so looking for 5-star hotels in Paris will be a fruitless search. For most American visitors who are accustomed to mid-range hotels in the United States, looking at hotels in Paris that have at least three stars is probably a good idea. But if you’re on more of a budget, you don’t mind a smaller room, and you don’t need “extras” like WiFi or breakfast, then a 1- or 2-star may be sufficient. Just be sure to read about what each property offers.

Things to Know About Hotels in Paris

• Do not assume you’ll get spaciousness in Paris hotel rooms unless you opt for a 4-star hotel. Hotels are often in older buildings where it’s not possible to gut them during a redesign, and in order to squeeze a small ensuite bathroom into each room the rooms themselves get even smaller. With 4-star hotels, however, the rooms are more likely to be large – and by “large,” I don’t mean palatial. I simply mean they’ll be more the size of a typical American hotel room.
• Noise can be an issue in Paris. If you are sensitive to noise, ask for a room not facing the street. Your room may or may not have double glazed windows.
• Air conditioning isn’t a standard hotel feature in Paris. Always ask if air conditioning is available.
• Do not expect to find a king-size bed unless you are staying in a four-star hotel. Beds are normally either twins, double, or queen size as the largest (i.e 150-160 cm in width by 90 cm in length).

photo by garybembridge

You may feel a sense of relief when you arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). You might think that you’ve arrived in Paris now, and you can start your vacation. But as soon as you realize what a huge airport CDG is, you’ll remember that your holiday doesn’t really begin until you get into the city – the airport doesn’t count.

Which means you need to figure out how to get from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris pronto.

Luckily you have a few options for making the trip from the airport into the city, each of which you’ll find outlined below. I happen to think that taking the RER train is the easiest transportation method connecting the two points, but you’ll definitely need to read through your options to make sure you’re picking the one that’s best suited to your trip.

Taking the RER from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris

Because the general consensus is that for most travelers the RER train is the most convenient, quick, and cheap option for getting into Paris from CDG airport, we’ve got an entirely separate article on WhyGo Paris detailing how to make that trip. You’ll find all the details you need in that article, which is linked below – and the rest of your transport options are listed further down this page.

>> Read more about getting to Paris on the RER B from Charles de Gaulle Airport

Taking the Train from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Other Cities in France

If your destination after you land at CDG Airport isn’t Paris, don’t worry – there’s a full train station right in the airport that’s connected to France’s intricate rail network and will take you anywhere in the country you want to go. Well, anywhere there’s a train station, that is.

The SNCF station is called Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV and it’s in Terminal 2 of the airport. From this station you can get a TGV to several cities in France, including Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Rennes, and Strasbourg. The ticket prices and schedules will vary, of course, depending on where you’re going, so it wouldn’t hurt to do a bit of research in advance. You can still wait until you get to the CDG train station to book your ticket if you like, but at least you’ll know ahead of time roughly how much it’ll cost and how long you’ll have to wait for a train.

>> Look up train schedules and ticket prices using the RailEurope site

Taking the Bus from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris

There are both coaches and buses that connect CDG Airport with the city of Paris, and as you might imagine the coaches are both more expensive and more comfortable.

Roissybus is a coach-like shuttle that runs between the Opera station in the Paris city center and the Charles de Gaulle Airport – it stops at seven different points at the airport, all at Terminal 2, so you’ll need to pay attention to which one is closest to where you want to go. The trip takes between 45 minutes to an hour and a ticket costs €9.10. Roissybus runs every 15-20 minutes between 06:00 and 23:00.

>> More information about the Roissybus schedule and stops can be found on the CDG website here.

Both the 350 and the 351 buses connect points in central Paris with CDG Airport as well. The 350 stops at Gare de l’Est, and the 351 at the Nation stop. At the airport, both buses stop at the same seven places – again, all at Terminal 2. The journey is about 45-60 minutes, and it will take three of the regular Paris Metro tickets to make the trip all the way from Paris to the airport (or vice versa).

>> More information about both bus schedules is on the CDG website – here’s the bus 350 information, and the bus 351 information; note that much of the information is in French only.

Air France has a shuttle service that runs from central Paris to Charles de Gaulle, too, and it’s not just for passengers on Air France flights. It’s called “Les Cars” and there are three lines that connect with CDG. Line 2 runs from the Etoile and Porte Maillot stops in central Paris, Line 4 runs from Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse, and Line 3 runs back and forth between CDG and Orly Airport. Travel times and ticket prices vary depending on which line and route you’re on, and you can find out more about each line on the sites linked below.

>> More information about Les Cars line 2 (Etoile and Porte Maillot), Les Cars line 3 (CDG and Orly), and Les Cars line 4 (Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse) is on this page of the CDG website.

Arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport after hours? Then another option is to take the Noctilien Night Bus from the airport. The night bus stops at Gare de l’Est in Paris, along with a couple of other places depending on which bus line you’re on. (It’s Noctilien line 140 that goes to Gare de l’Est.) This bus stops at a few different points at CDG, including a stop at each of the three terminals, and the trip takes roughly 50 minutes. Ticket prices vary depending on where you’re going, but if you’re going all the way into Paris you’re likely to pay €6-8.

>> More information on the Noctilien Night Bus is on the CDG website.

Let’s say you’re headed straight for EuroDisney Paris rather than Paris itself – what then? If that’s the case, you can get a VEA Shuttle (that stands for Val d’Europe Airports) which provides regular service between Charles de Gaulle Airport and the Disneyland Paris resort. There are CDG stops for the VEA Shuttle at each of the three terminals, and the route includes stops at each of the Disney-area hotels. Tickets are €13 for kids ages 3-11 and €17 for adults.

>> More information on the VEA Shuttles can be found on the CDG website.

Taking a Taxi from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris

Charles de Gaulle Airport is located far enough from the city center of Paris that you would expect taxi fares to be on the high side. And they’re not cheap. But thankfully the CDG website has a list of “guideline fares” for most trips so you’ll have an idea of what to expect your fare to be depending on where you’re going. These aren’t fixed fares, and the website also lists some instances when the fare will be higher – for a particular time of day, or a day of the week – so pay attention to that information as well so you don’t accuse a taxi driver of over-charging you when they’re not!

There are taxi ranks at CDG Airport outside Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 – and there are several in different places outside Terminal 2 – so you have lots of options. There’s information on the CDG website about where the taxi ranks are, roughly what you’ll pay depending on where you’re headed, and when the fares will be slightly higher. There’s also a list of the Paris taxi companies Charles de Gaulle Airport recognizes, which helps if you’re concerned about unofficial taxis.

>> More information about taking taxis from Charles de Gaulle into Paris is on the CDG website.

Driving from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris

If you’re arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport and the only stop on your holiday itinerary is Paris, then I highly recommend you skip the car entirely. If you’re flying into CDG and headed for points other than Paris, however, having a car may not be a bad idea. It really depends on where you’re going.

But if you are going to be driving your own wheels away from CDG, you’re in luck – the Charles de Gaulle Airport website has a page where you put in your destination address and it’ll tell you the best way to get there.

To drive into Paris (if you really must), you have a choice of which Autoroute to take – the A1 (Porte de la Chapelle) and the A3 (Porte de Bagnolet). Follow the signs directing you to Paris Centre. As you get closer to Paris, you’ll want to decide which direction to take on the circular ‘peripherique’ either to the east or west (the landmarks like the Champs Elysees or Arc de Triomphe will be most quickly reached by heading west and getting off at exit Port Maillot).

Porte de la Chapelle and Porte de Bagnolet bring you into the northern part of Paris which will bring you to the Montmartre neighborhood. If you’ve booked a hotel or hostel on the Left Bank, you’ll want to either cross through the center of Paris (if you’re feeling gutsy) or ask someone at your hotel or hostel for the closest exit off the ‘peripherique.’

Renting a Car at Charles de Gaulle Airport
There are loads of car rental companies at CDG, and one of the key things to note when you make a car rental reservation is where the rental desk is located in the airport. The Charles de Gaulle website has listings for all the companies and all of their locations, so you’ll be able to find the one that’s closest to where you come into the airport.

Note that some of the companies are set up so that you’ll take a shuttle to their lot which is quite a distance from the terminal. Also note that it’s not necessarily French rental car policy to leave the car with a full tank of gas for the next customer – so be sure to check before you drive off whether you’ve got a full or an empty tank. And if it’s on or near empty, ask about the closest gas stations before you leave the rental lot.

photos, top to bottom, by: optronic, hdaniel, MPD01605, abragad, Dolarz, tom.arthur

You probably know that there are several ways to get from England to France - and specifically to get from London to Paris (or vice versa). But there’s no getting around the novelty factor of taking the Channel Tunnel, affectionately known to many as the “Chunnel,” to make the trip. Why take a boring old hydrofoil or airplane when you can zip through a tunnel running underneath a massive body of water instead?

If taking the Chunnel from London to Paris seems like your kind of thing, then here are the various transportation methods that use the Channel Tunnel.

Taking the Eurostar Through the Chunnel

When it comes to speed and convenience, you can’t do much better to get from London to Paris than to take the Eurostar train. The Eurostar zips through the English and French countryside on either end of the Channel Tunnel at a whopping 300 kph (186 mph), although when it’s going through the tunnel itself the train is restricted to 160 kph (100 mph). Still, nothing to sneeze at. The Eurostar will have you from London’s St. Pancras station to Paris’ Gare du Nord in a blistering 2.5 hours.

Of course, this speed and convenience comes at a price. A round-trip ticket can cost as much as £160 (€180+) if you’re trying to book at the last minute. Booking in advance will save you a bundle, as there are usually specials running for round-trip tickets (otherwise known as “return tickets”) in the £45-60 range (€50-70). One-way tickets are often significantly more expensive than you’d think they would be for a train trip - but the Eurostar treats one-way trips the same way airlines do, and prices them accordingly. They are offering more one-way ticket specials these days (sometimes as low as £50/€60), most often for people who book well in advance, so it’s worth checking.

>> More information about taking the Eurostar from London to Paris (or vice versa), and a link to buy Eurostar tickets online

Taking the Bus Through the Chunnel

For some budget travelers, the Eurostar train fares are a little high - especially if you’re traveling without a set schedule and can’t plan far enough in advance to take advantage of cheap Eurostar specials. Among the cheaper alternatives to the Eurostar that still include a trip throug the Channel Tunnel, taking the bus is the most budget-friendly option. What you gain in savings by taking the bus, however, you lose in speed.

There is one option for a bus you can take through the Chunnel to get from London to Paris (or vice versa), and it’s a big coach company with a network of lines criss-crossing pretty much all of Europe - Eurolines. The trip will take roughly 9-10 hours one way, so it’s definitely a time investment that’s only going to be appealing if your finances are more limited than your schedule.

Eurolines operates seven coaches every single day from London to Paris, leaving London’s Victoria Coach Station and ending up at the Eurolines station in Paris near the Gallieni Metro stop. But only four of the departures from London travel to Paris via the Channel Tunnel - the rest load buses onto ferries and travel on top of the water. To go by Chunnel, you’ve got to leave London at either 08:00, 10:00, 14:00, or 22:30 (and this can change, so be sure to check which trips go through the Channel Tunnel before you book). One-way Eurolines fares generally range from £14-25 (€16-30) in the “Funfare” category (the cheapest tickets), and round-trip tickets are just two one-way purchases (so no discounts on a return trip).

>> Learn more and book your Eurolines tickets in advance

Driving Through the Chunnel

If your trip includes lots of off-beat destinations and back roads in both England and France, that probably means you’ve picked up a rental car somewhere along the way. Generally speaking, driving a car into Paris is best avoided if you can, but an itinerary that’s heavy on rural France and not so much on cities makes a car a good option. And you can take your car from one country to the other via the Channel Tunnel.

When I picture driving through a tunnel, I picture powering my own vehicle down a long stretch of paved road through a dark tunnel, always watching for that pinprick of light signalling the exit on the other end. That’s not what happens when you drive through the Channel Tunnel. Instead, you drive your car into what’s called the “Eurotunnel Shuttle” - which is a train. Cars take up about half the train, parked end to end, and you can choose to either stay in your car during the trip or get out and walk through the train. But don’t stray far - the trip only lasts 35 minutes.

There are 10 Eurotunnel Shuttles per day to get your car from one side of the Chunnel to the other - they run every two hours starting at 06:00 (there’s a break from the midnight train until the next 06:00 train). The cost of taking your car through the Channel Tunnel can be as low as £53 (€62) for a one-way trip, and there are often special discounts on short trips (round-trip tickets when you return 2-5 days later, for instance).

What’s it like traveling through the Chunnel?

As mentioned above, you can’t drive your car through the Channel Tunnel as if it were any other long tunnel, so you might be wondering what the experience of riding the Eurotunnel Shuttle or the Eurostar train through the Chunnel is like. If you’re dreaming of train cars with big windows that let you look out on water surrounding you on all sides, you’re going to be seriously disappointed.

The trains that speed through the Chunnel are well-lit inside, but you won’t see anything but blackness outside until you’ve come out from under the water. Of course, since the trip itself is only about a half-hour, it’s not like you’d have the time to really settle in and watch fish overhead or anything.

photos, top to bottom, by: jespahjoy, uitdragerij, Bitman, bram_souffreau, salimfadhley