I’ll be flying into CDG from Australia via Dubai in December for a conference in Dijon. There are direct TGV services to Dijon from CDG, but that would require a 6 hour wait. My other options appear to be via a rather eclectic mix of stations, including cross-Paris via the subway, via Lille, and via Lyon. Unfortunately I’m not likely to have lounge access.

What are my options? I don’t want to risk heading to Paris itself (will have large bags), but hanging around a airport for about 6 hours doesn’t fill me with much enthusiasm, especially after a long-haul flight. Is there anywhere nearby? Or anywhere in the airport of interest? Or, would I just be better served being sat on a train taking the ‘scenic’ route to Dijon via Lyon or Lille?

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OP I checked trains and of course you are quite right, direct trains but long wait. If your employer will pay (euro 50 ?) you can get a taxi into Paris to drop you at (say) Gare-du-Lyon where there will be many more trains without the long wait.

Hire a car. You’ll be in Dijon in 3 hours.

@nick – not a great plan after 24 hour flight, after having a crash in Florida after a dealyed flight with a stop-over (10hrs) I will never rent again directly after a long trip

@nick – not a great plan after 24 hour flight,

Exactly my feeling, and I’ll be driving in a country I’ve not driven in for 10 years, on an unfamiliar side of the road. And that’s before I’ve worked out what to do with the car in Dijon (with one-way hires usually prohibitively expensive).

If you did want to go into Paris for a couple of hours you could leave your bags at the left luggage and take the Roissybus into town (allow about an hour each way). Probably enough time for a coffee and a wander along the river.

There seem to be some direct trains have a look on this website SNCF

There are, but the earliest one for me is at nearly 8pm, and I land at 12:30… Coming back there’s nothing.

Any ideas on how much I’d be looking at for a taxi to Gare du Lyon?

Probably enough time for a coffee and a wander along the river.

It’s the ‘probably’ that worries me. I’ve played layover roulette in Singapore before now, and the stress of “what if I don’t get back on time” pretty much ruined the object.

@zokes – many more trains from Gare du Lyon, check taxi costs to that station from CDG. – EDIT I’ll ask the girlfriend, there are some good taxi sharing services in Paris

As I posted and deleted getting accross Paris with bags is a PITA with train/metro due to all the stairs.

BEST WESTERN PARIS CDG AIRPORT rent room by the hour for stop overs

EDIT I’ll ask the girlfriend, there are some good taxi sharing services in Paris

That would be great. A quick google suggests upwards of 70 euros and maybe >1h depending on traffic

Trying to cross Paris will take you longer than 6 hours, and be worse than sitting on a plastic chair with no food or drink in the crappest airport in Europe….

I’d just go via Lille, it’s not far, it’s quite an accessible station IIRC, shouldn’t be too much faff.

Trying to cross Paris will take you longer than 6 hours, and be worse than sitting on a plastic chair with no food or drink in the crappest airport in Europe….

Yeah, and this is making me very worried about my return, for which there is no direct train unless I leave Dijon at 7 am with a 9 pm flight…

Am I the only one wondering how unfitgeezer knows which airport hotels rent rooms by the hour……? 8)

Tripadvisor throws up here as an option for a few hours to kill (if I ditch the bag at a luggage store at the AP).

http://www.hotels-roissy-tourisme.com/en/

Thoughts?

@molgrips 🙂 You can get round the peripherique quite easily midday !

@zokes – yes you should allow an hour and that price seems about right. The girlfriend thinks there is an Air France bus, she’s checking now (I’ve used these into the center and they are cheap and convenient leaving from outside the terminal)

I think in your shoes I’d suck it up and go from CDG to Gare de Lyon via the RER. You just have to change at Chatelet Les Halles, where there are escalators. That will be cheaper and quicker than taxi.

GF looked it up. Bus is 16.60 euro and direct. It leave leave outside terminal and has plenty of rooms for bags. Buses run every half hour (first stop Gare du Lyon then onto Montparnasse). You can save money by buying ticket online and printing it out and presenting to driver, or pay cash. A taxi will be 70 euro or a shared one half that.

Air France Bus

Great – cheers guys. Air France Bus it is. This makes things much easier 🙂