Taxi vs Shuttle

Arriving in CDG at 10 am in July and leaving from Orly at noon a week later. Looking into Shuttle Vs Taxi.

Any comments would be appreciated

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I am not a huge fan of shared shuttles. I only used them once in Paris many years ago and almost missed a trans-Atlantic flight because the shuttle arrived about 45 minutes late. I think there have been similar reports on this forum about virtually every shuttle company — late or no-shows, over-charging, lost luggage, very long trips, etc.

My own preference if I am travelling light as I normally do is to take the RER into the city from CDG and then eiother the métro/bus or a taxi if necessary depending on where I am heading. Otherwise I just take a taxi from outside the terminal building. Cost ~40€ to ~65€ depending on distance, time of day, etc. (In rare circumstances the fare can be higher if you are so unfortunate as to get stuck in heavy traffic.)

Another option is to use a PRIVATE (i.e. not shared) service, such as Grey Shuttle www.greyshuttle.com who have an excellent reputation and will meet you at tthe exit from the customs area. (Shared shuttles do not.) This option is worth considering if there are several people travelling and/or if you want to lock in the price you will pay.

To and from ORY I would just take a taxi if you do not want to use the RER/Orlyval link. The difference in cost for a taxi between the center of Paris and ORY (~25€ to ~ 40€) is not that great. With three or more people a taxi is probably as cheap as or cheaper than most other options.

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If you have the extra money, I would take a taxi.

I use the shuttle but if you are so concerned about missing a departure time just use the taxi.

When I use a shuttle- bluevan.fr to return to the airport I always tell them to come an hour earlier than the time recommended by the airlines and include an hour drive time from the city. I call the shuttle company the evening before and I also call in the am to find out what time they will arrive.

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For what it%26#39;s worth to you, we%26#39;ve used shared, airport shuttle services for our returns to Paris airport (both CDG and Orly) on a few occasions, without the least amount of difficulty or problem. We%26#39;ve simply telephoned ahead (or rather had our hotel%26#39;s front desk telephone...since I have an irrational fear of %26#39;..foreign..%26#39; telephones) the day before departure for reservations. The shuttle vans arrived at our hotel to collect us either on-time or a bit before and got us to our departure terminals on time without the least fuss or bother.

But ORLY is much closer in to central Paris than CDG and taxi fares will probably be comparable to airport shuttle service fares, so there may not be much (or any) cost saving between the two modes of transfer. For ORLY either will %26#39;work%26#39; just fine.

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Since Orly is smaller and most flights from Orly are not transcontinental I always feel like I have a little bit more flexibility in getting there (i.e. if you try to get there 2 hours early and end up getting there one hour early, you won%26#39;t miss your flight). For that reason when travelling alone I like to use the Orly bus. It costs about 6€ and leaves from Denfert Rochereau RER stop. Unlike the bus from CDG, most of the travellers are French.

If you have baggage the taxi to denfert rochereau will be about 15€ max from anywhere in Paris. Once on the bus you have less than 30 minutes travel time to the two stops - Orly Sud or Orly Ouest.

There is also the OrlyVal train, (www.orlyval.com) that leaves from Chatelet - Les Halles. It costs just over 9€ and travel time is 35 minutes and since it is a train with only one stop en route, the travel time is reliable.

So if you want an economical travel option, take taxi to denfert rochereau and take the bus. But for two people or more a taxi will be about the same price or cheaper than taxi + bus.

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