NO,no no, not that. sicko.
On my way to Berlin in a few weeks, i will be in Paris for approx. 3 hours. right around lunchtime, no less. where, in your experience would be the ideal place to dine during my 3 hour french experience?
You mean a three hour layover? That doesn’t really give you much time to get out of the airport.
If you can get down into the 4th arrondissement maybe you can go up to the top of the department store called Samaritain. They have a little bistro up there that is reasonably priced and there is a nice 360 degree (almost) view of Paris.
It’s probably not the very fanciest food you could find in Paris, but it is a nice view.
not enough time, tapioca, you say? could i, in those three hours, if as soon as the plane landed, went out hand hailed a cab, make it to the tower known as eiffel? i know its stereotypical or whatever, but i wanna do it, dang it! could i make it?
Assuming you are flying into de Gaulle, no. de Gaulle is some distance outside of Paris proper. Not a long distance, mind you, but when you have a 3 hour deadline and have to clear security on the way back, it would be cutting it too close for my liking.
Too tight by far. Allowing anything less than an hour to clear security for any flight within Europe is being hopeful, to say the least. And if you’ve got immigration to deal with on landing in Paris, then forget it.
Sorry, you won’t be able to clear customs and immigration, get a cab, get into Paris, drink a coffee, let alone eat, and get back in time for your plane. The trip from downtown Paris to CDG in midday easily takes over an hour.
so, what, am i looking at a 3 hour terminal tenure?
I’m afraid so. The train is probably quicker than a taxi, but at best you would have around 10 minutes at the Gare du Nord bafore heading back to CDG.
well, crap. i really wanted to do that. i guess i could try and find a flight through CDG with a longer layover time. what would be an ample amount of layover time for, say 1 hour in “tourist” paris?
Paris deserves more than a glance amidst a three hour layover.
i know, but the main trip is to berlin. i’m sure i could get a 1 hour layover in munich if i wanted to, but i just wanted to see if i could pull off a minitrip.
Maybe six hours. Traffic in and out of Paris can be very congested, and the airport itself is a good sample of French efficiency, if you catch my drift.
Paris is stunning. An hour in ‘tourist’ Paris is still pretty darn incredible.
CDG to the city center (Notre-Dame) is a 25 min subway ride with a max wait of 15 minutes between trains. Depending which terminal you’re at you may need to take a shuttle bus, so I’d say maximum time from airport to city is about an hour.
So if you count a half hour to get off your plane and clear immigration, 1 hour to get into the city + 1 hour getting back out + 1 hour to get through security and board your next flight, we’re up to 3 and a half hours.
If you’re flying from the US you may find that you’re not really in the mood for it after 8+ hours in a cramped plane. But, if you’re really enthusiastic - I’d say you need a 6 hour layover, and I recommend checking out Notre Dame and eating in rue St Andre des Arts or rue de Buci (there’s a covered passage called rue Mazet off St Andre des Arts, picturesque and good food). This is all within 5 min walk of the subway station ‘St Michel Notre Dame’.
Enjoy !
I had 33 hours in Paris in late November. I’m starting to wish I’d asked here for some things to see (not that I didn’t pack a lot into those 33 hours on my own).
No chance on the Eiffel Tower. I was there about 9:30 on a Saturday (and not exactly the height of the tourist season) and had to wait about 10 minutes for the first elevator and another 10 for the elevator to the top. By the time I came back down, it was so crowded they had stopped selling tickets.
On Sunday I pushed my luck a little and went to the Air and Space museum at Le Bourget. I caught the train back to Paris, subway to my hotel to get my luggage, taxi to Gare du Nord and caught my train by one minute.
How long are you going to be in Berlin?
Can you simply get off the plane in Paris and spend a ‘day’ there and catch a train to Berlin?