Paris Airports Explained: CDG vs Orly vs Beauvais

Compare the three Paris airports

Paris has three airports that commonly appear in flight searches, but they are not interchangeable. Charles de Gaulle (CDG) lies northeast of the city, Orly (ORY) lies south, and Beauvais (BVA) is much farther north, outside the immediate Paris metropolitan area. The airport code matters more than the word Paris on a search result.

Choose around your hotel address, flight schedule, luggage and onward plans. A cheaper ticket can lose its advantage once you add a shuttle, an extra city transfer or an overnight stay. Use the whole-trip comparison in our guide to finding cheap flights, rather than assuming the lowest fare produces the cheapest arrival.

CDG: useful for long-haul flights and onward connections

CDG is usually the first airport to investigate for intercontinental trips and airline connections. Its size is also its main practical complication: reaching the airport does not mean you have reached your check-in desk. Check the operating airline, terminal and, where relevant, the specific terminal section before choosing your transport.

Getting between CDG and Paris

RER B links CDG with Paris, including Gare du Nord and Châtelet–Les Halles. Follow signs for the station serving your terminal; some journeys require an internal airport connection. From Paris, confirm that your train is on the airport branch rather than assuming every northbound RER B reaches CDG. Check routes and service information with RATP, the official transport operator.

CDG also has a mainline railway station at Terminal 2, useful for some onward journeys outside Paris. Not every destination has a suitable direct train, so compare the actual timetable and station against travelling through the city. After a flight, a flexible rail ticket or generous buffer may be more useful than the shortest advertised connection.

A taxi or prearranged car can simplify the final leg with children, bulky luggage or an address awkward for rail. Road travel is traffic-dependent, however. Compare official taxi arrangements and current fare rules before departure; avoid accepting an unsolicited ride inside the terminal.

Orly: direct Metro access makes the address important

Orly can be particularly convenient when your accommodation is close to Metro line 14. It serves many European and domestic routes as well as selected longer-haul services. Choose it for the route you actually need, not because its position south of Paris automatically makes every transfer easier.

Metro line 14 versus Orlyval

Metro line 14 serves Aéroport d’Orly directly, linking the airport with stations including Gare de Lyon, Châtelet and Saint-Lazare. The airport station is near Terminal 3; follow the signs onward to your terminal. Paris Aéroport publishes details of the connection.

Orlyval is a separate automated service linking Orly with Antony, where you change to RER B. It can still suit an address or onward journey along that line. Do not assume a pass valid on one airport route covers every alternative: check the exact ticket or pass conditions, especially when considering Orlyval.

Beauvais: calculate the full road transfer

Beauvais is the airport most likely to change your budget calculation. Its flights can suit travellers prioritising airfare, but the ground journey is a substantial part of the day. Treat the shuttle as a separate transport stage, then add the journey from its Paris stop to your accommodation.

The official Aérobus network connects the airport with Paris-area stops. The airport advertises the Porte Maillot journey from around 75 minutes, subject to traffic; that is not a guaranteed airport-to-hotel time. Routes, stops and operating arrangements can change, so check the official shuttle page for your date.

There is no direct rail service into the airport terminal. Travelling by train via Beauvais town requires another transfer to reach the airport. Unless that combination fits an existing itinerary, the official shuttle is generally the simpler option to evaluate first.

Beauvais makes more sense when the savings remain worthwhile after ground transport and your arrival leaves room for delays. It is less appealing for a very short stay, a late arrival with awkward onward transport, or an itinerary requiring another Paris airport. Check the return shuttle before committing to an early flight.

Connections: distinguish a transfer from a new journey

A connection inside one airport and a change between airports are different propositions. At the same airport, you may still face terminal travel, security, passport control or baggage collection. Ask whether the flights are on one protected ticket, whether baggage is checked through and what assistance applies after a missed connection.

Changing between CDG and Orly involves landside transport across the region. One public-transport option combines RER B with a change at Antony to Orlyval, subject to current operations. Other routes may suit your terminals better. Add immigration, baggage reclaim, transport waiting, road or rail disruption, check-in deadlines and security before judging feasibility.

Separate tickets leave you with more financial exposure if the first flight arrives late. Avoid building a tight self-transfer around an optimistic journey-planner estimate, particularly when Beauvais is involved. For an itinerary combining flights and trains, our guide to planning a multi-city Eurotrip explains how to structure the travel days.

Choose the airport, then organise the whole arrival

For a long-haul itinerary, start with CDG and compare any credible Orly alternative. For a city break, give substantial weight to a direct route from Orly or CDG to your neighbourhood. For a budget trip, keep Beauvais in consideration only after adding both shuttle journeys and the time they consume. If you have a long wait before departure, our guide on whether airport lounges are worth it can help.

Before departure, save your terminal, transport instructions, accommodation address and late-check-in arrangements offline. Recheck engineering works and operating hours close to travel. A route that works at midday may not work after a late arrival, and step-free access needs checking across every interchange.

Once booked elsewhere, bring reservations into TripOS by pasting confirmation emails, uploading PDFs or screenshots, connecting Gmail, or entering details manually. Its day-by-day timeline helps keep flights, trains and stays together, flags tight connections or overlaps, tracks your budget and lets you share the trip with companions or via WhatsApp.