Williamhdc

How much time should be allowed to clear customs, retrieve luggage and get to Gare De Lyon, late on a Friday afternoon? We have a 12:55 arrival at Terminal 1.

Andrew

A few hours at least, I'd say.

A better question might be: where is your final destination, and what train options do you really have? Is there a train leaving every hour from Gare de Lyon to your destination? One every four hours?

Are you sure you can't get a train directly from CDG airport train station to your destination?

kerouac

A 12:55 arrival at Terminal 1 should go quickly, unlike the poor people who arrive at Terminal 2 at 6 a.m.

You have more than enough time to get to Gare de Lyon "late" in the afternoon.

Take the CDGVal automatic shuttle from Terminal 1 to the CDG1 RER station, take the RER B to Gare du Nord and cross the platform there to get the RER D which will take you directly to Gare de Lyon. There are escalators to help you at CDG and Gare de Lyon.

Sarastro

You should allow a minimum of 4 hours. Consider the following:

1. You do not really know that your CDG flight will arrive on time.

2. Passport control lines at terminal 1 can be just as bad as they are at terminal 2. A one hour wait can easily occur in late morning, early afternoon.

3. No one knows exactly how long you will take to deplane the aircraft nor how much time you will spend at baggage claim.

4. Allow at least 1 hour to leave CDG and arrive at Gare de Lyon. You do not know highway conditions nor the status of the RER B should you take the train.

5. Upon arrival at the train station, you will need several minutes to gather your luggage and find your train.

There is a significant difference between how fast you might possibly make this connection and the time you should allow such that if the unknown occurs, you will be reasonably assured of still making your train.

Southam

An alternative, on surface roads, is Le Bus Direct (formerly called Air France Cars). The #4 service goes to Gare de Lyon. It's more comfortable than the commuter train/Metro, no stressful change at Paris Nord, and a little more expensive. Duration of trip depends on the Paris traffic, which can creep in rush hours. Tickets can be bought on-line in advance.
http://www.lebusdirect.com/en/
If you want to stick to rail travel, these sites help:
www.Parisbytrain.com
https://www.ratp.fr/en
which links to a recently revised interactive itinerary planner.

StCirq

I've taken Le Bus Direct the last couple of times. Well worth the 17 euros IMO. Takes a bit more than an hour. Give yourself 2 hours to get through the airport to the bus and overall you should budget 4 hours from touchdown.

kerouac

I find it interesting on many of these threads how certain people always concentrate on how things can go wrong and cause delays. You might not even get to the airport. Your plane might crash or be hijacked. But in the vast majority of cases, you and the plane arrive as scheduled and people want to know what to do. But no, they are told that everything might still go wrong. I have never seen these same people apologizing for recommending so many extra hours when the OP comes back and says they they got their baggage quickly, were through immigration in 15 minutes and stepped on the RER 15 minutes later, only to have to wait another 3 hours for their train or whatever.

When did the world become so pessimistic about people doing their jobs properly? Are these "debbie downers" projecting how they performed their own jobs on the rest of the world?

kerouac

On the same theme, I remember someone on these forums who would always retort, when somebody claimed there was an escalator in the metro or RER, that "they are usually not working so don't count on them." In my own experience, about 2% of escalators in the transit system are not working when I wish they would. But perhaps I should add an extra hour to my travel time for these cases.

Christina

I would never allow four hours for that. That scenario presumes getting out of CDG alone takes 3 hours!!!

It depends what the end goal of this game is. I also take the AF bus because it's comfortable and I'm never in a hurry to get into town upon arrival, I never have appointments. If I were trying to plan a train ticket (which is usually what this question is about) and I was really fixated on getting the cheapest train ticket so bought nonrefundable ones and I'd freak out if I lost that 20 euro fare or whatever, then 4 hours should be a good bet, I agree.

djkbooks

<<A 12:55 arrival at Terminal 1 should go quickly, unlike the poor people who arrive at Terminal 2 at 6 a.m.>>

That has always been our experience.

Terminal 1 is a dream compared to any in Terminal 2. We have always breezed through Passport Control. Last time, one of the guards had to wake up the USA officer who was asleep in the booth with the light out. We have arrived on a 12:55 flight (Aer Lingus from Dublin) half a dozen or so times in recent years. Flight has always been on tine or a bit early. Bags are usually on the carousel within minutes. We've never waited longer than 15-20 minutes.

Even though there are three of us, we prefer Le Bus Direct. Your bags are handled for you and it's a very comfortable ride on a modern coach with climate control. I'm one who would never take the RER/Metro with luggage after an overnight flight. Le Bus Direct has always gotten us to Gare Montparnasse in just over an hour, longest ride 90 minutes, that time of day. Typically, we wait half an hour for my brother's IcelandAir flight, have a leisurely coffee on the ground level, then head for Le Bus Direct, and we are at the apartment before 4 PM.

<<There is a significant difference between how fast you might possibly make this connection and the time you should allow such that if the unknown occurs, you will be reasonably assured of still making your train.>>

This is very true. There's no point in rushing if it's not necessary. As mentioned, much depends on your destination from Gare de Lyon and the train schedule.

I'm one who likes to allow more time than less and would allow for a nice, leisurely, lunch in/near Gare de Lyon and collecting beverages/snacks or a sandwich, ahead of boarding the train.

greg

For my May arrival at CDG terminal 1, my wife's luggage came out with the wave 1 delivery at 20 minutes after getting off the plane. My luggage came out with the wave 3 delivery at 40 minutes after getting off the plane.

Robert2016

Traffic into Paris was rather heavy when we arrived on Tuesday. It took 1-1/2 hours for the taxi to reach the 7th, leaving CDG at 10:15. In January it took only 40 minutes to go from the 7th to CDG during the early morning commute. You be the judge on how much time to allow.

billkpuck

Thanks to all for the input. I think I will wait to purchase train tickets until we get to the station, one less deadline to meet!

StCirq

You'll pay a lot for that decision, but maybe it's worth it to you. I always buy my tickets months in advance and plan for 4 hours to hedge my bets.