Airport transfers · 2026-09-19 · 9-minute read
Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) is the second-busiest airport in Europe and the most confusing to arrive at: three terminals, of which Terminal 2 is really seven buildings (2A through 2G) strung along a kilometre of road and connected by walkways and a shuttle train, with the Air France and Star Alliance long-haul flights arriving at 2E and 2F and the walk from the gate to the exit in 2E's satellite halls running past twenty minutes. Paris also has a regulated flat taxi fare from the airport, which is one of the better taxi deals in Europe and worth knowing about. This guide explains the terminals, where a chauffeur meets you, the drive times to each district, the taxi and the private transfer side by side, and how to time the return. Orly, the second airport, has its own article.
CDG has three terminals: Terminal 1 (the round original, Star Alliance and others), Terminal 2 (sub-terminals 2A-2G; Air France and SkyTeam at 2E and 2F, most long-haul at 2E, low-cost at 2B and 2D, 2G for regional) and Terminal 3 (charter and low-cost). A pre-booked VTC chauffeur meets you in the arrivals hall of your sub-terminal with a name board. Drive times: the 8th and the Champs-Elysees 40-55 minutes, the Marais and the Opera 40-55, Saint-Germain 45-60, La Defense 35-50, Disneyland Paris 40-55 - all longer in the peak. The regulated taxi fare is a flat EUR 56 to the Right Bank and EUR 65 to the Left Bank; a private executive sedan is EUR 85-130, a luxury sedan EUR 120-190, a V-Class EUR 100-150. Book on the airport limo service page; Paris is on the destinations page.
The terminals
Terminal 1 is the original circular building at the west of the site, with the satellites reached by underground walkways and the famous tubes; it handles Lufthansa, United, Swiss, Turkish and most of the Star Alliance carriers, plus some others. Terminal 2 is the main complex along the central road: 2A and 2C (many foreign long-haul carriers), 2B and 2D (low-cost and short-haul), 2E (Air France and SkyTeam long-haul, with three satellite halls K, L and M reached by a shuttle train), 2F (Air France and SkyTeam Schengen), and 2G (a separate small building for Air France's regional flights, reached by a shuttle bus). Terminal 3 is the low-cost and charter terminal near the rail station. Airlines move, and the airport operator's passenger site lists them; dispatch confirms the sub-terminal from the flight number the day before, which at CDG matters more than at almost any other airport, because 2A and 2E are a ten-minute walk apart and 2G is a bus ride.
Arrivals from outside Schengen clear passport control (the automated gates take most EU passports; the non-EU lane in the morning arrival bank from the Americas and Asia at 2E can take an hour), collect bags, and exit into the arrivals hall of their sub-terminal. A pre-booked chauffeur stands at the exit with a name board; the morning text says which sub-terminal and which exit door. CDG's halls have a persistent population of unlicensed drivers soliciting passengers, against which the airport posts warnings; a chauffeur with a name board bearing your name is not one.
The VTC licence
France licenses chauffeured cars as VTC - voiture de transport avec chauffeur - a category created in 2009 and regulated strictly since: the driver holds a professional VTC card after an examination, the vehicle is registered and carries a red VTC sticker, the booking is made in advance, and the operator is registered. The what is a chauffeur article describes the general standard; the VTC card is France's version. Taxis are a separate licence with the right to be hailed and to use the taxi lanes, which on the motorway from CDG matters in the peak.
Drive times
CDG is twenty-five kilometres north-east of the centre, connected by the A1 and A3 motorways to the Peripherique ring road.
| Destination | Normal | Peak (7:30-10 am, 5-8 pm) |
|---|---|---|
| Saint-Denis / the Stade de France | 20-30 min | 30-50 min |
| The 8th (Champs-Elysees, the George V, the Bristol) | 40-55 min | 60-90 min |
| The Opera / the 9th / the grands magasins | 40-55 min | 60-90 min |
| The Marais / the 3rd and 4th | 40-55 min | 60-90 min |
| Saint-Germain / the 6th / the Left Bank | 45-60 min | 65-100 min |
| The 16th / Trocadero / Passy | 45-60 min | 65-100 min |
| Montparnasse / the 14th | 50-65 min | 70-105 min |
| La Defense (the business district) | 35-50 min | 55-85 min |
| Neuilly / Levallois / Boulogne | 40-55 min | 60-90 min |
| Disneyland Paris (Marne-la-Vallee) | 40-55 min | 55-80 min |
| Versailles | 55-70 min | 75-110 min |
| Orly Airport | 50-65 min | 70-110 min |
The A1 into Paris is congested in both peaks and the Peripherique at most hours; a chauffeur who works the airport daily knows when the A3 and the eastern Peripherique beat the A1 for the Marais, and when the surface streets through Saint-Denis are the only thing moving. VTC vehicles may not use the taxi lanes on the A1, which is one advantage the taxi keeps.
The taxi, and the honest comparison
Paris's licensed taxis charge a regulated flat fare from CDG: EUR 56 to any address on the Right Bank (north of the Seine) and EUR 65 to the Left Bank, for up to four passengers with luggage, at any hour. It is a good deal and it should be insisted on; a driver who quotes more, or runs the meter, is breaking the rule, and the city fines those caught. The limitations are the ones in airport transfer vs taxi: the rank queue in the arrival bank at 2E, which runs past thirty minutes; the vehicle being whatever is next; and the flat fare applying only to Paris proper, with La Defense, Neuilly, Versailles and Disneyland all metered. A private transfer at EUR 85-130 costs EUR 30-70 more and buys the name board at an airport where the exit is hard to find, the chosen vehicle, the flight tracking, the fare fixed before you fly, and the drop at the door of a Marais hotel in a street the taxi may not know. For a solo traveller with one bag to a Right Bank hotel, the taxi at EUR 56 is a fair choice; for a family, a late arrival, a business traveller or anyone going beyond the Peripherique, the private transfer.
What a private transfer costs
Indicatively, in euros:
- Executive sedan (E-Class, 5 Series) to central Paris: EUR 85-130.
- Luxury sedan (S-Class) to central Paris: EUR 120-190.
- Executive van (V-Class, up to 6 with luggage): EUR 100-150.
- Sprinter (up to 14 with luggage): EUR 150-240.
- Sedan to La Defense, Neuilly or Boulogne: EUR 85-135.
- Sedan to Disneyland Paris: EUR 95-150; van EUR 110-170.
- Sedan to Versailles: EUR 110-170.
- Sedan to Orly: EUR 100-160.
- Hourly, sedan: EUR 70-120, three-hour minimum; full day EUR 550-950.
Tolls and airport fees are included; gratuity is not expected in France. The European context is in how much does a limo cost.
Paris's districts, from a chauffeur's seat
The 8th is the palace hotels - the George V, the Bristol, the Plaza Athenee, the Crillon - and the corporate offices around the Champs-Elysees; the easiest district for a chauffeur. The 1st and the 2nd are the Louvre, the Ritz at the Place Vendome and the Opera's hotels. The Marais is the boutique hotels in streets a licensed vehicle can reach and a few pedestrian lanes it cannot. Saint-Germain and the 6th are the Left Bank's hotels and cafes. The 7th is the Eiffel Tower and the ministries. The 16th is the residential grand quarter with the Trocadero hotels. Montmartre is the hill with the narrow streets. La Defense is the business district to the west with the corporate hotels. Neuilly, Levallois and Boulogne are the office suburbs. Marne-la-Vallee is Disneyland and its hotels. The destinations page lists the city.
Business travel
Paris's corporate travel runs on La Defense and the 8th, the luxury and fashion houses, the banks, the pharmaceutical companies in the western suburbs and the trade fairs at Porte de Versailles and Villepinte (beside CDG, and a ten-minute transfer); the corporate account handles euro billing across Paris, Lyon and the rest of France, and the executive car service page sets out the product. Fashion weeks, the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget (beside CDG) in odd years, and the Roland-Garros fortnight fill the fleet, and the how early to book article sets out the notice.
Le Bourget and private aviation
Le Bourget, between CDG and the city, is the busiest private-jet airport in Europe, with FBOs whose ramp-side pickup the private jet and FBO transfers page covers; the drive to the 8th is twenty-five to forty minutes.
The return transfer
CDG's departures are the airport's weak point: the walks to the 2E satellites are long, the security and passport queues in the evening bank for the Americas and Asia are slow, and Terminal 1's layout adds ten minutes. Allow three hours at the terminal for a long-haul flight and two for a European one. From the 8th that means a pickup four hours before a long-haul departure in the peak; the chauffeur proposes it. The IATA baggage guidance applies.
Booking
Enter CDG, the flight number, the hotel's name and arrondissement (Paris has hotels with the same name in several), passengers and bags, and the vehicle in the booker. The fare is shown in euros and fixed. The chauffeur's name, photo, vehicle, sub-terminal and exit door arrive by text on the morning. Orly, Le Bourget and Beauvais are on the airports page.
Arriving at 2E, step by step
Air France's long-haul flights and most of the SkyTeam carriers arrive at 2E, whose gates are in three satellite halls - K, L and M - reached from the main building by a shuttle train. The sequence is: the walk from the gate to the train (five minutes), the train to the main hall (five), passport control (ten to sixty minutes depending on the bank and the passport), baggage claim in 2E's hall, customs, and the exit into the arrivals area, which is a long concourse with several doors. The chauffeur stands at the door named in the morning text with a name board. From there the vehicle is in the P-E car park across the road or at the pickup lane on the arrivals level, a three- to five-minute walk under cover. The how airport transfers work article explains how the walk-out time and the waiting allowance cover the satellites' distances.
Two transfers, priced
A couple landing from New York at 2E for five nights in the Marais: an executive sedan at about EUR 105 to a boutique hotel in the 3rd, met at the 2E door, fifty minutes on the A1 and through the Bastille to the hotel's street, against the taxi's flat EUR 56 after a thirty-minute rank queue and the question of the last street. A consultant landing from Frankfurt at Terminal 1 for two days in La Defense: an executive sedan at about EUR 100 to a tower hotel, met at the satellite's exit, forty minutes on the A1 and the A86, then a corporate account booking for the return. The private driver for a day article covers the day rate for Versailles and the Loire, and the how much does a limo cost article places Paris in the upper-middle of the Western European band.
The short version
Three terminals, seven sub-terminals in one of them; the chauffeur meets you at the named door of your sub-terminal with a name board; the taxi is a flat EUR 56 to the Right Bank and worth knowing; the private transfer is EUR 85-130 and buys the name board, the vehicle and the door; central Paris is forty-five minutes off-peak and ninety in the peak. Give the flight number and the booker shows the exact fare.
