Paris Airport Transfers: CDG and Orly

Paris has two principal airports for a city stay: Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to the northeast and Paris-Orly (ORY) to the south. The most dependable public transport choice depends on the terminal, your arrival time, and whether you need a rail connection or a bus route. Paris Region <> Airports tickets cost €14 full price per journey in 2026, but ordinary city tickets and some passes do not cover the airport stations. Check the official journey planner on the day you travel because construction and disruption can change a connection. (IDFM airport ticket, checked 2026-09-07)

For CDG, the default rail option is RER B. Charles de Gaulle 1 serves terminals 1 and 3; Charles de Gaulle 2–TGV serves terminals 2A–2G. The station is not the aircraft gate: follow the airport’s terminal-transfer signs after leaving the train. The express 9517 bus now runs from Saint-Denis–Pleyel, while buses 350 and 351 provide slower surface alternatives from Porte de la Chapelle and Nation. RoissyBus is no longer an option: Île-de-France Mobilités ended the Opéra–CDG shuttle on 1 March 2026. (RATP airport routes, checked 2026-09-07, IDFM RoissyBus notice, checked 2026-09-07)

For Orly, Metro line 14 is the simplest rail connection for most central Paris journeys. Orlyval via Antony remains an alternative if your route already uses RER B, and tram T7 is a slower surface route from Villejuif–Louis Aragon. (IDFM airport access, checked 2026-09-07)

RER B is the direct CDG rail route from the Paris network. The current operator source publishes the departure windows and frequency, but not one universal central-Paris journey time. Use its live itinerary result for the departure station and travel date: the airport station, terminal transfer, luggage, and an onward Metro connection all affect the real trip. (RATP operating hours, checked 2026-09-07)

Express 9517 is designed as a direct 30-minute Saint-Denis–Pleyel to Roissy route, ending at RoissyPôle a short walk from the airport rail/terminal area. It is useful when your Paris origin is already on Metro 13, Metro 14, RER D, or the connecting bus network. It is not a direct central-Paris replacement for RER B. (IDFM end-of-RoissyBus notice, checked 2026-09-07)

The current operator page does not publish one fixed end-to-end duration for buses 350 and 351. Choose these routes for price or a convenient origin, not for a fixed arrival time during heavy road traffic. (RATP airport operating hours, checked 2026-09-07)

Metro 14 takes about 40 minutes from Saint-Denis–Pleyel to Orly Airport. The actual time from your accommodation depends on the first Metro connection and the walk through the station. Orlyval itself takes about six minutes from Antony, but the RER B interchange and terminal walk make the complete journey longer. (IDFM airport access, checked 2026-09-07)

The Paris Region <> Airports ticket costs €14 full price or €7 reduced. It is valid for a two-hour rail-mode journey on Metro, RER, Île-de-France trains, and Orlyval without leaving the network. It does not cover buses, trams, cable, or RoissyBus, which ended on 1 March 2026. It cannot be loaded on a medium that already contains a t+ or Metro-Train-RER ticket. (RATP airport ticket, checked 2026-09-07)

The 2026 Metro-Train-RER ticket is €2.55 full price and the Bus-Tram ticket is €2.05. Neither is an airport ticket for the CDG or Orly airport stations. Bus 350, 351, and 9517 use the Bus-Tram ticket; RER B and Metro 14 use the airport ticket when travelling to the airport station. (IDFM 2026 fares, checked 2026-09-07)

Navigo Easy costs €2 and supports the airport ticket and ordinary tickets. It is anonymous and lendable, but each traveller needs and validates a separate card. Products do not all coexist on one medium: the airport ticket cannot be loaded onto a card already containing t+ or Metro-Train-RER tickets, although a Bus-Tram ticket may coexist. The app can also hold compatible tickets on a phone. (IDFM Navigo Easy, checked 2026-09-07, RATP airport ticket, checked 2026-09-07)

Navigo Day costs €12.30 for zones 1–5 but excludes airport access. Paris Visite costs €30.60, €45.40, €63.80, or €78 for 1, 2, 3, or 5 days and includes the airports and Orlyval. Navigo Week costs €32.40 for all zones, runs Monday to Sunday, and covers CDG by RER B and Orly by Metro 14 when the selected zones include them; Orlyval remains an exception. (IDFM Paris Visite, checked 2026-09-07, IDFM Navigo Week, checked 2026-09-07)

No current taxi flat fare is recorded here. The accessible Paris Aéroport taxi PDFs are old or explicitly indicative documents; check a current airport or Paris taxi-authority tariff before joining the taxi queue. (CDG taxi sheet, Orly taxi sheet)

For a family or group, compare the price per passenger rather than assuming a car is automatically cheaper. Public transport gives the clearest fare when the destination is near a central rail or Metro station. A taxi may be more practical with bulky luggage, a very late landing, or a final address far from the network, but check the current official flat fare and which bank of the Seine your address falls on before choosing the taxi. A private transfer quotation is likewise date- and vehicle- dependent. Compare the complete door-to-door trip: the route to your hotel, each ticket needed, the service window, the terminal walk and any current disruption. A cheaper bus can lose its advantage if reaching its departure point requires another ticket or a difficult interchange with luggage.

The airport station is not the same as a city-zone station, so budget that boundary before selecting a pass.

RER B airport windows currently published by RATP are 04:53–00:15 from Gare du Nord, 05:26–00:11 from Châtelet–Les Halles, and 05:18–00:03 from Denfert-Rochereau toward CDG; the Paris direction runs 04:50–23:50. 9517 runs every day 05:20–00:30, every 15 minutes at weekday peaks and every 30 minutes off-peak; weekends are every 20 minutes by day and every 30 minutes in the evening. (RATP airport operating hours, checked 2026-09-07, IDFM 9517 notice, checked 2026-09-07)

Metro 14’s official sources disagree slightly on the final evening service: IDFM’s airport page says approximately 05:30–01:15 depending on the day, while RATP’s current airport operating page states 05:30–00:30. Check the date-specific planner for your station and direction before relying on a last train; a general network closing time is not your departure time. (IDFM airport access, RATP operating hours, both checked 2026-09-07)

For an early or late flight, select the route only after checking the date and terminal. RER B and 9517 have published daily service, but the last airport departure is earlier than the all-night Noctilien network. Buses 350 and 351 have shorter published windows than RER B. Orlyval also has its own operating window and is not included in ordinary airport-rail assumptions. The RER B and 9517 operators describe daily service, including Sundays. Check your actual Sunday date for engineering works, replacement buses and terminal access changes before settling on that connection.

If the final public connection does not fit the flight, use an official taxi rank or a prearranged transfer and verify the current price directly. Save your hotel address and arrival terminal before departure so that a late change of route is easier to handle. For the return flight, enter the airport terminal as your destination and work backwards from the arrival time required by your airline. Allow separately for the trip to the first station, any interchange and the walk from the airport stop to check-in. A timetable showing a train arriving before your flight does not by itself mean you can reach the gate in time.