How do I get to Paris?

Charles de Gaulle (CDG), 25 km northeast of central Paris, is where most international flights land: Air France's hub, and the arrival point for transatlantic services on Delta, United, and American. CDG's Terminal 2E, the main long-haul terminal, is a concrete-and-glass cavern that smells faintly of espresso and jet fuel even at 6 a.m. Orly (ORY), 14 km south, handles domestic routes, European short-haul, and some medium-haul to North Africa and the Caribbean: it's smaller, warmer in feel, and faster to clear. Then there's Beauvais-Tillé (BVA), 85 km north. Ryanair and Wizz Air use it because landing fees are cheap, but the 75-minute bus ride to Porte Maillot makes it a false economy unless your fare savings top €40. Most first-timers should plan around CDG.

From the US East Coast, direct flights run 7-8 hours on Delta, United, or Air France at $650-1,100 round-trip; JFK and Newark have the most nonstop options. West Coast adds 2-3 hours and $150-300 to the fare: LAX has a nonstop on Air France, SFO on United. From London, skip the flight. Eurostar from St Pancras to Gare du Nord takes 2 hours 15 minutes, drops you in the 10th arrondissement with the clatter of the station hall still in your ears, and costs £80-200 each way. No security lines, no taxi queue, no half-hour wait at a luggage belt. That said, if you book early, easyJet does Gatwick to CDG for £30-50, though by the time you add the RER B into town, the Eurostar probably still wins on total door-to-door time.

Paris flights are cheapest January through mid-March, when the city is cold and damp and the café terraces sit empty under grey skies. Shoulder months (April, May, September, October) bring warmer air and longer light but fares tend to climb 20-30%. The real pain window is mid-June through August and the Christmas-New Year bracket, when transatlantic round-trips push past $1,200 from New York. One trick worth knowing: flying into Paris and out of another European city (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome) on an open-jaw ticket often costs the same or less than a round-trip to CDG, and saves you a backtrack flight at the end. Check multi-city fares on Google Flights before defaulting to round-trip.

If you're arriving from elsewhere in Europe, trains often beat flying. Eurostar connects Brussels in 1 hour 22 minutes, Amsterdam in 3 hours 20 minutes, and Cologne in 3 hours 50 minutes: all pulling into Gare du Nord, where the rumble of wheels on iron echoes under the 19th-century glass roof. TGV runs south to Lyon in 2 hours, Marseille in 3 hours 15 minutes, and Geneva in 3 hours, arriving at Gare de Lyon on the Right Bank. The stations sit on Métro lines, so you're on the transit grid the moment you step off the platform. Mind you, second-class TGV fares start at €19 when booked 3 months out through SNCF Connect: that's cheaper than the taxi to most airports.