Getting to Paris
Paris is incredibly easy to get to whether coming from England or any other part of Europe and there are plenty of different options to get you into the city.
By Train
From London
The Eurostar is perhaps the quickest and most convenient way to get right into the heart of Paris. The train service direct from London’s St Pancras takes just two and a half hours to get to Gare du Nord. Book well in advance to benefit from cheap tickets. Early bookings can cost as little as £69 return.
From elsewhere in Europe
Paris is well connected to the rest of Europe by train. Paris does not have one central station which services different parts of Europe, but six separate stations dotted around the city.
Below is a list of these different stations and the European countries they serve.
Gare du Nord - Trains to and from Belgium, the Netherlands, Cologne, Germany and the UK and regular trains from Northern Europe.
Gare d'Austerlitz - Trains to and from the centre and southwest of France (Orléans, Limoges, Toulouse (long way), Spain and Portugal and arrival of majority of the night trains.
Gare de l'Est - Trains to and from Luxembourg, Saarbrücken, Frankfurt, and Munich in Germany and Basel and Zurich in Switzerland.
Gare de Lyon - trains to and from Southern and eastern France: French Alps, Marseille, Lyon, Dijon, Avignon, Nice, Switzerland: Geneva, Lausanne, Bern and Italy.
Gare St Lazare - trains to and from northern France: Basse-Normandie, Haute-Normandie.
Gare Montparnasse - trains to and from the west and south-west of France (Brest, Rennes, Nantes, Bordeaux, Toulouse the fastest way and Spain).
By Plane
Paris is served by 3 international airports. The 2 major airports, Roissy Charles-De-Gaulle (CDG) and Orly (ORY) are both well linked by train or bus to the centre of Paris.
Roissy Charles de Gaulle (CDG airport code)
International airport which is the largest and most popular airport choice for tourists into Paris. 15miles northeast of Paris.
It takes around 1 hour to travel from Charles de Gaulle to the city centre. Find out more and book transfers
Orly (ORY airport code)
It is mostly domestic flights which land here. Orly is 9 miles to the south of Paris.
It takes around 45 minutes to travel from Orly to the city centre. Find out more and book transfers
Beauvais (BVA airport code)
Most budget carriers and charter companies tend to land and take off from here – including Ryanair, Wizzair, Sterling, BlueAir and Norwegian Air Shuttle. This airport is more than 1 hour away from the city Paris and you should easily account for 1:30 to get in the centre. Most airlines offer a shuttle service (ticket to be purchased locally).
Paris Airport Map (pdf)
Paris Airport Map For more information see this useful map of Paris which will show you the best way to get from all the major Paris airports to points of interest in the city