Directions from the Blue Marble office, 2 rue Dussoubs,
to the Airports, by train.

Walking from our office to the airport trains for Charles de Gaulle or Orly
See the bottom of this document for comments on Beauvais Airport

Diagonally to your right as you come out of rue Montorgueil, and less than 100 m away, is a staircase leading underground, surrounded by an iron fence.  Go to this, and take it down.  A series of staircases, a corridor, and finally an escalator, will bring you into a vast underground shopping mall, the Forum des Halles.  Across the hall to your left as you come off the escalator is an entrance to the “Métro” and the “RER.”  Go there.

If you have a lot of luggage... you can avoid the stairs at the cost of 2 additional blocks of walking.  Ignore the above instructions.  Instead...

Use the airport ticket attached to this sheet to proceed through the turnstiles (or buy yourself a ticket to the appropriate airport).  Now, if you are travelling to Charles de Gaulle, read on.  If you are travelling to Orly or Beauvais, see the bottom of this document.


To Roissy / Charles de Gaulle Airport

Step 1, Roissy / CDG, Finding Your Platform
Follow signs to Line B, travelling in the direction of “Roissy / Aéroport Charles de Gaulle.”  Follow these signs down another set of stairs (or escalators), through another set of turnstiles, and down one more level to a platform.

You will find yourself on a platform with train tracks on both sides, one against the wall of the station, and the other facing still more tracks and platforms beyond.  This latter is the one you want.  It is clearly labeled for Line B, direction “Roissy / Aéroport Charles de Gaulle.”

Step 2, Roissy / CDG - Boarding and Riding the Correct Train to the Correct Stop
Above the platform is an electronic list of station names, with indicators which light up adjacent the name of each station served by the approaching train.  This electronic list includes the name of the airport.  It will list two stations bearing the name of the airport, numbered 1 and 2.  If you are going to Terminal 1 or to Terminal 3, you want a train serving “Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1.”  If you are going to Terminal 2, you want a train serving “Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2.”  All trains going to the airport serve the station for terminal 1.  Virtually all also serve terminal 2.

All trains stopping on this platform, whether travelling to Charles de Gaulle Airport or not, will stop at the Gare du Nord in one stop (3 minutes).  Get off here for trains to Beauvais.

In General:  Air France, Air Canada, Continental, Delta, American, British Airways, and Alitalia flights leave from Terminal 2.  Most other airlines leave from Terminal 1.  Charter and budget flights leave from Terminal 3.  But there are exceptions to these rules, and you should consult your ticket, call your airline, or consult the departure monitors in the airport train station to be sure you know from which terminal your flight departs.

Wait until an approaching train lights up the square adjacent your destination (Charles de Gaulle 1 or 2, as appropriate).  An added check:  the four-letter name written across the front of the train, above the driver’s cab, begins with the letter “E” if the train is headed for the airport.

Journey time is approximately 32 minutes.  If you are going to Terminal 2, it is the final stop, so you do not have to worry about rushing to get off.  But in any event, and especially if you are trying to go to Terminal 1, you may follow your progress on the strip map over each car door.  Note:  not all trains make all stops!
If you are going to Terminal 1 and miss your stop, simply get off at Terminal 2, and exit the RER station.  A clearly-signed people mover (shuttle train) will return you directly to Terminal 1, at the cost of a detour of just a few minutes.  This is quicker than catching a train back to the Terminal 1 rail station, where you would have to catch the same people mover to get to the air terminal.

Step 3 Roissy / CDG - Finding Your Way to Your Terminal
If you are headed to Terminal 1 (de-training at the Terminal 1 / Roissypole station), a free shuttle train (people mover) called CDGVAL will take you to the terminal building from the railway station.  Turn right once through the exit turnstyles to find it (it is then on the left).

If you are headed for Terminal 3 (detraining at the Terminal 1 station), you can walk there:  it is close by.

If you are going to Terminal 2, consult the flight monitors in the railway station itself (once you have come out of the exit turnstiles) to find out to which of the six buildings that make up the terminal you need to go.  All of 2-A, 2-C, 2-E and 2-F are used for intercontinental flights.  2-B and 2-D are generally reserved for intra-Europe flights.  In any event, follow the clear signs to the appropriate Terminal.


To Orly Airport
Go to the RER as if headed to Roissy / Charles de Gaulle, and follow signs for line B.  However, you must go to a different line B platform, for trains headed to the south, in the direction of Massy-Palaiseau or St.-Rémy-les-Chevreuse.  These trains all leave from the same platform, but so do other trains.  Take any train that lights up the platform indicator for the Antony station, and get off when you get there, 20 - 30 minutes later.

The Orly Airport people mover / shuttle train, which serves both Orly terminals, also serves the Antony RER station.  As you arrive from Paris, you will find it at the back of your train when you get off.  A ticket is required for this people-mover:  either the one that brought you from Paris, or a separate one.  It serves both Orly air terminals:  first "Ouest” (west) and then “Sud” (south).


To Beauvais Airport
Full disclosure:  we have never been to Beauvais Airport, and do not know anyone who has.  It is not really a Paris airport at all, but rather is in the eponimous town, 90 minutes northwest of Paris in good traffic (it is faster, and more pleasant, to take the train to some foreign countries).

However, should you need to make this trip, there are two "public transport" ways to do so.  The train is less frequent, and doesn't get you all the way to the airport (you still have a taxi or a shuttle bus ride), but it is faster and more reliable.  The bus is a pain to get to, and subject to traffic conditions, but it goes straight to the air terminal, and departures are timed to get you to flights.

(1) By train, from the Gare du Nord.
To get to the Gare du Nord, follow the instructions into the RER as if going to Charles de Gaulle airport, above.  But, once you are on the RER train headed for the airport, get off after only one stop, at the Gare du Nord.  Main line trains to Beauvais depart from here.  Journey time is about an hour, trains run hourly.  A 15€ taxi ride will get you from the Beauvais station to the airport in a few minutes, and taxis meet the trains at the station.  There is also a shuttle bus, but service is not frequent, nor particularly timed to connect to the train.

(2) By bus, from the Porte Maillot.
Porte Maillot is a freeway interchange on the western edge of Paris, served by line 1 of the métro (direction La Défense).

We’re not sure how to find the bus in the midst of the post-apocolyptic spaghetti soup of highways and fumes, but speculate that you would exit to the rear of the métro train when you reach the Porte Maillot station.  Buses depart Porte Maillot 3 hours before every flight, but it is important to know that the bus / plane connections are not guaranteed.  If the bus gets stuck in traffic, and you miss your flight, the airline will not refund you / put you on the next plane / be very sympathetic — even if you are on the airline that operated the bus!  That is not the nature of the airlines that serve Beauvais.