How do I get from the airport to Paris?

From Charles de Gaulle, the RER B is the right answer for most arrivals. Trains leave from Terminal 2 — follow the green signs past the baggage hall, and prepare for a longer walk than you'd expect, maybe ten minutes through those fluorescent-lit corridors that smell faintly of cleaning solution and jet fuel. Terminal 1 connects via the free CDGVAL shuttle. The fare is roughly €11.80 ($14), the ride runs 35 minutes to Gare du Nord, 40 to Châtelet-Les Halles. Trains depart every 10-15 minutes from about 4:50am until midnight. One thing nobody mentions: the RER B through the northern suburbs can feel rough late at night. Keep your bags close between Gare du Nord and the airport after 10pm. During normal hours it's fine, just packed tight during the 7-9am and 5-7pm commuter crush — you'll be pressed against strangers with your suitcase wedged between your knees.

If you land after midnight or you're hauling heavy luggage with kids in tow, taxis from CDG have prefecture-fixed flat rates: €55 ($64) to the Right Bank — Marais, Opéra, Champs-Élysées — and €62 ($73) to the Left Bank — Saint-Germain, Latin Quarter, Montparnasse. Non-negotiable by city ordinance. A 15% surcharge applies on Sundays and public holidays. The taxi queue at CDG can snake 30 minutes deep on a Friday evening, but it moves steadily. Skip anyone inside the terminal who approaches you offering a ride — licensed Paris taxis are white or dark-colored sedans with a roof light and a meter, and they wait at marked stands outside arrivals. The Roissybus to Opéra (€16.60, roughly 60-75 minutes) sounds reasonable until you're sitting in Autoroute A1 traffic at rush hour watching the RER trains sail past underneath you. Take the train.

From Orly, you have better options than most people realize. The Orlybus runs every 10-15 minutes to Denfert-Rochereau on the Left Bank — €11.50 ($13.50), about 30 minutes if the A6 traffic cooperates. From Denfert-Rochereau you're on Métro lines 4 and 6, which reach most of central Paris in another 15 minutes. The Orlyval — a driverless shuttle connecting to RER B at Antony — costs around €14.60 combined and takes 35-40 minutes, which makes it slower and pricier for most destinations. Mind you, Orly's taxi flat rates sit well below CDG's. €37 ($43) to the Left Bank, €44 ($52) to the Right Bank. If your hotel is in the 5th, 6th, or 7th arrondissement, a taxi from Orly might make sense even on a tight budget — the fare difference versus CDG is real. The Tram T7 to Villejuif-Louis Aragon then Métro 7 is technically the cheapest route at under €3, but it takes close to an hour and involves wrestling luggage through narrow turnstiles designed for commuters, not travelers. Skip it.

One detail that saves real money: pick up a Navigo Easy card at any station for €2 and load your tickets onto it — single-use cardboard tickets are being phased out across the Île-de-France network. At CDG, the RER ticket machines accept credit cards but the chip readers can be temperamental with non-European cards. Tap-to-pay works more reliably if your card supports it. For connectivity the moment you land, set up an eSIM before your flight. The airport SIM counters charge roughly three times what a pre-purchased eSIM costs, and you'll want maps working the second you step off the train at Gare du Nord — the station's signage assumes you already know Paris. Gare du Nord hits you with that particular underground smell of warm brake dust and old coffee, the halls echo with accordion buskers, and the exits drop you onto Boulevard de Magenta without ceremony. Get your bearings before you surface. The Métro entrance is right there, and from Gare du Nord you're ten minutes from the Marais, fifteen from Saint-Germain.