Indeed. You can take the TGV high speed train (I think…if not that then some train) from Paris to Nice. I’d prefer that over flying myself. It is six hours but much more relaxing and nice to see the French countryside as you go. Also, city center to city center (of course, you’d need to get from CDG to the train station in Paris but…you can take a train…might be able to book all the way through but not sure).
Six hours may seem a lot but by the time you figure in stopover time and transport from the airport in Nice to your hotel it might not be so bad. Maybe something to look at.
To get to Nice from CDG, you can go CDG-Roissy → Toulon → Nice.
I scoped this out last year when wondering whether to tack Nice onto our Eurotrip. Ended up not doing it, but that was the optimal rail trip, apparently.
Amsterdam is still a huge airport, a major hub. My recent experience is also that it’s become exceptionally busy with long queues everywhere. It wasn’t always like this, not sure what’s happening. But, in short, it suffers from the same stresses as any other very large airport, so the experience isn’t hugely different from CDG or Heathrow. But 5 hours is plenty of time!
Another option opened up with a 2 hour stopover in CPH on the way out, and a 20 hour layover on the way back, allowing us to spend a night in Copenhagen. I assume CPH is a smaller airport, and since it’s also in the Schengen zone we’d do our Immigration control there. Is that reasonable given the airport in question?
I connected in CPH once, nearly 10 years ago. But I was only half awake as I had to wake up at like 4am that morning, so I don’t remember much about it. I just remember buying coffee and a donut at a 7-Eleven in the airport and not realizing Denmark doesn’t use Euros. They accepted Euros as payment, but I got Danish Krones as change. But yes, as far as I remember CPH is a smaller airport, and you will go through immigration there.
But if you are connecting through CPH, I assume you will be flying on SAS. They have a reputation as being well, not quite as good as other European airlines. The biggest difference I recall is that there was just one meal that everyone got. Virtually every other airline offers at least two choices, but on SAS there’re just one, take it or leave it. And only one full drink service, and later coffee and tea. If you want a second soda you have to pay for it. And the inflight entertainment system was outdated by the standards of 2014. But I don’t think that’s true anymore; I believe they have upgraded their entertainment systems since then.
I do not understand the OP’s desires for a small connecting airport.
They are all overcrowded. The big ones are able to handle more people per day, but are overcrowded versus capacity. The small airports can handle fewer people per day but are overcrowded versus capacity.
Travel everywhere is booming and the airports are not keeping up. It’s a crisis throughout the industry.
One potential upside to a smaller airport is less walking between gates. But big airports tend to have moving walkways or trains or shuttles or whatever, while smaller airports lack those things. The total walking may well be about the same.
Another issue with a smaller airport is that if anything goes wrong, you have fewer options. Connecting at CDG you can get on any of dozen other flights to wherever you’re going. At CPH? Two at best.
My point is not to bitch at the OP. My point is to make sure the thing you seek is the thing you’ll get.
I’m not looking for a smaller airport; I’m just getting limited flight options that involve a few 2 hour stopovers. Based on that, I’m trying to determine which of those limited options are best.
No worries at all. With amount of travel and airline knowledge you supply here you’d be forgiven if you were unnecessarily critical, which you weren’t.
CPH is a fine mid-sized airport with a train station that connects you to the city in ~20 minutes. Depending on flight times, 20 hours could give you time to see the city a bit, grab a meal, and a good night sleep before heading back to the airport. We spent 3 days there in 2019 and really enjoyed it.
I still think that is waaay too tight a timeline. Maybe if everything works perfectly and to schedule that is doable but that is a big risk when traveling.
Best of luck though! I truly (really) hope you come back and tell me I was a worrywart and you had a fabulous vacation with no problems.
Nah, 2 hours on a single ticket with no immigration or baggage collection is fine. Also, flights from North America to Europe are often faster than the block time which would increase the buffer. 2 hours transiting through the US is a different story, although I have done shorter.
I think I would sleep at one of the hotels close to the airport, of which there are plenty. That way, if the Metro stop running and the traffic break down, you can grap the luggage and run to the check in.
I drive a taxi here in Copenhagen so I know the traffic.
I hate LHR with a passion, mostly because changing terminals involves cramming onto a bus with your carry-on bags and driving over to the other terminal. There’s no underground people mover or anything like that. And I always seem to arrive in Terminal 3 and depart from Terminal 5.
Yes, TGV. Just hope there is no small child continuously activating the sliding door between train cars, as one did while I was trying to sleep…continuously…for over 3 hours.
It appears that we arrive in Terminal 3 and depart from Terminal 4. Can’t be great, but hopefully we’ll survive.
The TGV isn’t a bad option, but for a short vacation like this it was a bit too much. Hopefully our connection goes without problem. I’ll report back next month.
If I have to change terminals at LHR I would never consider anything less than 4 hours. You have to reenter security on arrival at the new terminal. Last time I flew through there that line was massive, and multiple folk had tight connections. When they asked about making their connections the security dood said “we follow security protocols here, if you miss your flight the airline will rebook you when they can. Now get back in line”.
Those people were FACKED.
I had a 5 hour layover (stopover?), it took almost an hour to transfer terminals, and 2 and a half hours to get through security. Spent the next hour and a half very comfortably in the Cathay Pacific lounge eating dim sum.
I had a similar experience in LHR. Had to change terminals…I had no idea what I was in for (had to take a train to another part of the airport). I technically made it in time but was told about their 35 minute rule that you have to check in more than 35 minutes before the flight. I think I was eight minutes off and I am pretty sure my jaw was open as I glared in disbelief at the agent. That left me sitting in LHR for another six hours. Fun times.
All sorts of crap can happen when traveling. Last summer I took a shuttle (cargo van thing) from Newark to JFK. The advertised trip time was a little over one hour. I had five hours…plenty of time. The van was over an hour late picking me up and the drive took over three hours because of ridiculous traffic. I literally walked on my plane (after sprinting through the terminal…thank god I had a known traveler number to skip the long security line) five minutes before departure. Then I learned the plane was delayed because the co-pilot was stuck in traffic
Shit happens. You can’t count on everything going to plan (and these days air travel frequently does not go to plan).
Presumably the parents were unavailable or asleep themselves. In which case the child may have accidentally fallen out of the train between the cars. Just sayin’