CDG or Orly to Paris: Train, Taxi and the Right Route for Your Hotel

Take the train if your hotel is near a direct stop. Compare a taxi when you’re sharing the cost or facing another connection with luggage. From Charles de Gaulle, the train is RER B. From Orly, it’s Métro line 14. Those two airports need different plans, even when the destination is the same hotel.

For a short visit, I would put more weight on the last part of the journey: the walk from the station, the number of changes and how much you’re carrying. Saving money on the train feels different when it drops you around the corner than when it leaves you with another Métro ride.

The Paris Région Aéroports ticket costs €14 per adult journey in 2026. It covers airport rail travel and connecting Métro, RER or train services within two hours of first validation, without exiting the network. It does not cover buses.

For direct Paris taxi journeys, the official 2026 fixed fares are:

• CDG to the Right Bank: €56 per car. This includes neighborhoods such as the Marais and Opéra.
• CDG to the Left Bank: €65 per car. Think Saint-Germain, the Latin Quarter and the Eiffel Tower area.
• Orly to the Right Bank: €45 per car.
• Orly to the Left Bank: €36 per car.

For two adults, rail tickets total €28. For four adults, they total €56. That makes a CDG taxi to the Right Bank the same base price as four full-fare rail tickets. From Orly to the Left Bank, even a couple pays only €8 more for the taxi’s base fare. These comparisons exclude ticket-card purchases and taxi supplements, and assume everyone fits with their bags.

Taxi bookings can add €4 for an immediate reservation or €7 for an advance reservation. A fifth passenger introduces another supplement. The Paris fixed fares do not automatically apply to hotels outside Paris or to app-booked private-hire cars.

1. Find the station for your terminal

Terminal 1 passengers need CDGVAL to reach the RER station. The station called Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1 is by Roissypole and Terminal 3, not inside Terminal 1. That name is easy to misread after an overnight flight.

Terminal 2 has its own station, Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV. Follow RER B signs there; the TGV trains are separate services. Terminal 2G requires the airport shuttle connection through 2F. The RATP terminal-access guide explains those connections; use the current fare above because that guide retains an older price.

2. Choose your Paris stop

The RER B line map is useful for matching a hotel address to these direct stops:

• Gare du Nord: a straightforward choice for a hotel close to the station.
• Châtelet–Les Halles: central Paris and connections onward. Check the actual exit and walking route before treating every central hotel as nearby.
• Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame: useful for the eastern end of Saint-Germain and parts of the Latin Quarter.
• Luxembourg: useful for hotels around the gardens and the southern Latin Quarter.

For the Eiffel Tower area or a hotel deeper into the Marais, compare the full connection against the taxi fare. My preference for an exhausted couple with large bags would often be the car; a solo traveler staying beside Luxembourg has a much stronger reason to use RER B.

3. Buy the airport ticket before loading local tickets

There is a small ticketing trap: you cannot add an airport ticket to a Navigo Easy card that already holds Métro-Train-RER tickets. Use a compatible phone or a suitable separate card, following the transport authority’s instructions. Don’t load a batch of local tickets first and assume everything will coexist.

Start by checking whether line 14 gets you close to the hotel. It serves Orly directly. The airport ticket above covers this journey, including eligible rail connections. Use the official airport journey planner with the hotel’s street address.

For a Left Bank stay, the €36 taxi fare deserves a look before automatically choosing rail. The price difference for two adults is small, particularly if the rail route needs a change. For a solo traveler with a light bag and a convenient line 14 destination, I would lean toward the train.

RoissyBus no longer runs between CDG and Opéra. It ended on March 1, 2026. The official replacement-options page describes express bus 9517 between Roissypole and Saint-Denis-Pleyel, where you can continue by Métro. This is a different route with a connection, not a renamed direct bus to Opéra. Its bus ticket is separate from the airport rail ticket.

For a late flight or a date with engineering works, run the journey planner for the actual departure time. A normal daytime route is not evidence that the same train will run that night. If the result adds replacement buses, that changes the taxi comparison considerably.

For a morning arrival, our two-day Paris itinerary keeps the first day lighter and puts the Louvre the following morning. With more time, the five-day plan gives you more room for neighborhoods and a day trip. Pick the arrival plan that fits your energy; the airport transfer doesn’t need to dictate the whole day.