Every plan rides the RER B from the airport into the middle of Paris. Six hours is enough for Notre-Dame, free and a few minutes from Saint-Michel Notre-Dame station; with 7 hours add the Sainte-Chapelle's stained glass, and with 8 the Louvre, closed on Tuesdays.
How much of Paris can you see on a Paris CDG layover?
With 6 hours, Notre-Dame: free, open every day and a few minutes from the station. With 7 hours, add the Sainte-Chapelle (€22). With 8 hours, the Louvre (€32, closed Tuesdays), and with 10, Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle and the Louvre in one day. Landing at night, rest at the airport and be at Notre-Dame when it opens.
Every plan below starts and ends at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), with the RER B into the centre. The times in town allow about an hour from landing to the train, the ride with the wait for a train (about 65 minutes to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame, and 80 to the Louvre with the walk from Châtelet-Les Halles), and being back at the airport 90 minutes before departure, with your onward boarding pass. They’re timed from Terminal 2; from Terminal 1 or 3, allow about 10 minutes more each way.
Before planning anything, check you’re allowed out of the airport: Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians and EU citizens need no visa, while Indian travellers need a Schengen visa (visa and transit rules). Then check the day. The Louvre and the Orangerie are closed on Tuesdays, and the Louvre and the Sainte-Chapelle also close on 25 December, 1 January and 1 May; Notre-Dame is open every day. Walking times are our estimates from map distances, and visit lengths our own allowances.
Tickets. The airport ticket is €14 each way on the RER B, so buy two, in the Île-de-France Mobilités app or on a Navigo Easy card. Each also covers a metro ride on the way, as long as you change within 2 hours.
Bags. The Sainte-Chapelle bans bulky bags and the Louvre asks you not to bring suitcases, so leave yours at the airport’s left luggage, in the Terminal 2 train station building, open 7am to 9pm.
6 to 8 hours: Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle
At 6 hours you have about 70 minutes in town; at 7, about 2 hours; at 8, about 3. Both plans use Saint-Michel Notre-Dame station, across the river from the cathedral.
Notre-Dame from Saint-Michel
The quickest plan: the cathedral, a few minutes’ walk from the station and free to enter. It suits a first visit on a 6-hour layover.
- Take the RER B from the airport to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame: about 45 minutes.
- Cross the river to Notre-Dame, about 7 minutes on foot, and spend about 45 minutes inside.
- Walk back to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame.
Opening hours. Monday to Friday 7:50am to 7pm, to 10pm on Thursdays; Saturday and Sunday 8:15am to 7:30pm. Entry is free. At busy times, book a time slot on the cathedral’s website to skip the queue.
Leave by. Be at Saint-Michel Notre-Dame station 2 hours 45 minutes before your flight: that covers the wait for a train, the ride, the walk into the terminal and 90 minutes at the airport.
Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle
The cathedral, then the Sainte-Chapelle’s walls of stained glass, a short walk away on the same island. It needs 7 hours.
- Take the RER B to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame and walk to Notre-Dame, open from 7:50am, or 8:15am at weekends. Spend about 45 minutes inside.
- Walk about 10 minutes to the Sainte-Chapelle and spend about an hour.
- Walk back to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame.
Tickets. €22 for visitors from outside the EU and EEA. Tickets are for a set time, and you can’t go in before it, so book one that fits your layover. A joint ticket with the Conciergerie next door is €30.
Opening hours. 9am to 5pm until 31 March, with last entry 30 minutes before closing. Closed on 25 December, 1 January and 1 May; on those days, take the Notre-Dame plan.
Bags. Bulky luggage and bags aren’t allowed.
Leave by. As above: be at Saint-Michel Notre-Dame station 2 hours 45 minutes before your flight.
8 to 10 hours: the Louvre
On the Louvre plans, 8 hours gives you about 2 hours 45 minutes in town and 10 hours about 4 hours 45 minutes, counting the walk each way from Châtelet-Les Halles.
The Louvre
The city’s great art museum, for 2.5 hours. Pick a few rooms rather than trying to see it all.
- Take the RER B to Châtelet-Les Halles, about 40 minutes, and walk about 20 minutes to the Louvre.
- Spend about 2.5 hours in the museum.
- Walk back to Châtelet-Les Halles.
Pick your day. Closed on Tuesdays, and on 25 December, 1 January and 1 May. Open 9am to 6pm, and to 9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays, which suits an afternoon landing.
Tickets. €32 for visitors from outside the EU and EEA. Book a time slot online before you go: the museum recommends it, and it saves queueing for a ticket.
Bags. Free self-service lockers beneath the Pyramid and at the Porte des Lions take smaller bags; the museum asks you not to bring suitcases or large bags.
Getting there. The nearest metro is Palais-Royal Musée du Louvre, on lines 1 and 7, but from the RER B the walk from Châtelet-Les Halles is simpler.
Leave by. Leave the Louvre 2 hours 55 minutes before your flight.
The Louvre and the Orangerie
Two museums from 9.5 hours: the Louvre, then a walk through the Tuileries Garden to the smaller Musée de l’Orangerie at its far end.
- Take the RER B to Châtelet-Les Halles and walk to the Louvre. Spend about 2.5 hours inside.
- Walk about 15 minutes through the Tuileries Garden to the Musée de l’Orangerie and spend about 75 minutes.
- Take metro line 1 from Concorde to Châtelet-Les Halles, about 10 minutes, and change to the RER B. Your airport ticket covers the whole way.
Pick your day. Both museums are closed on Tuesdays. The Orangerie is open 9am to 6pm, with last entry at 5:15pm, and closed on 25 December, 1 May and the morning of 14 July. On Fridays during its exhibitions it stays open to 9pm, last entry 8:15pm, which suits a Friday afternoon landing: check the museum’s website for your date.
Tickets. The Orangerie is €12.50, on top of the Louvre’s €32.
Leave by. Leave the Orangerie 3 hours 5 minutes before your flight.
10 hours or more: the Île de la Cité and the Louvre
At 10 hours you have about 5 hours in town; at 12, about 7.
The Île de la Cité and the Louvre
The full first visit: Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle on the island in the Seine, then the Louvre for the afternoon.
- Take the RER B to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame and walk to Notre-Dame, open from 7:50am (8:15am at weekends). About 45 minutes.
- Walk about 10 minutes to the Sainte-Chapelle, open from 9am. About an hour.
- Walk about 20 minutes across the Seine to the Louvre and spend about 2.5 hours.
- Walk to Châtelet-Les Halles for the RER B back.
Pick your day. Not on a Tuesday, when the Louvre is closed, and not on 25 December, 1 January or 1 May, when the Louvre and the Sainte-Chapelle both are.
Tickets. €22 for the Sainte-Chapelle and €32 for the Louvre; Notre-Dame is free. Book the Sainte-Chapelle for about 3 hours after you land.
Leave by. Leave the Louvre 2 hours 55 minutes before your flight.
Tours from the airport
No airline runs a transit tour at Charles de Gaulle, so for most layovers the plans above are the way to see Paris. If you’d rather have a guide and a driver, private layover tours meet you at arrivals and bring you back. Prices seen in November 2026:
| Tour | Length | Layover you need | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private airport layover tour | 4 hours | About 6.5 hours | From about US$307 |
| Private guided layover tour, pickup at Charles de Gaulle or Orly | 4 to 5 hours | About 6.5 to 7.5 hours | From about US$412 |
Both are on Viator’s Paris layover tours (opens in a new tab). The layover you need is the tour’s length plus an hour to get out of the airport and 90 minutes back before your flight. Check that the tour starts and ends at Charles de Gaulle.
GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab) lists tours and tickets in Paris itself.
Overnight: rest at the airport, then Notre-Dame at opening
Landing late in the evening, sleep at the airport, then be at Notre-Dame when it opens.
Rest at the airport, then Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle
- Clear passport control and sleep at the Sheraton in Terminal 2, next to the train station (see below). YotelAir is past security, so it suits a night without leaving the airport rather than this plan.
- Take the RER B to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame. Trains run from 4:50am; take one by about 6:45am (7:10am at weekends) to be at Notre-Dame as it opens at 7:50am, or 8:15am at weekends.
- See the cathedral, then the Sainte-Chapelle when it opens at 9am, and walk back to the station.
Earliest flight. Leave Saint-Michel Notre-Dame by about 10:10am and you can fly from about 1pm. Landing at about 11pm, that’s a layover of about 14 hours. With Notre-Dame alone, you can fly from about 11:30am, or noon at weekends.
24 hours
A full day fits Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle in the morning and the Louvre in the afternoon, which stays open to 9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays; on a Thursday, Notre-Dame is open to 10pm. If you’re out late, the last trains back leave Châtelet-Les Halles at 12:11am and Gare du Nord at 12:15am, and after that a taxi at the fixed fare takes 35 to 60 minutes. Until 18 December 2026, check the evening works first (see the tips below).
For a night in the city, book your own hotel. Flying Air France, you can stretch a connection at Charles de Gaulle to between 27 hours and 4 nights when you book your flights, and add a hotel package from its partner Extime Travel. A Paris Museum Pass, €85 for 2 days, doesn’t pay off on a layover: the three paid sights in these plans cost €66.50 together.
Rest at the airport
Which you can use depends on your next flight. YotelAir is past security, so you don’t enter France, but it needs a flight outside Schengen from Terminal 2E. The Sheraton is outside the transit zone, so you need to be able to enter France. Best first: the room past security.
YotelAir, past security in Terminal 2E
Compact rooms in the transit area, above Gate L in Terminal 2E. You need a boarding pass for a flight outside Schengen (the UK counts as outside) leaving from gates K, L or M, or to be arriving from one. Bring hand luggage only. There’s no set check-in or check-out time: book by the hour, 4 hours at least, or for one night, with a flight leaving on the day you check out.
Sheraton Paris Airport Hotel, Terminal 2
In Terminal 2, next to the train station, outside the transit zone, so you go through passport control and need to be able to enter France. It sells day rooms for travellers in transit as well as nights, with check-in from 2pm and check-out by noon. It suits a late landing and a morning flight, and the night plan above.
Tips that make a Paris layover easier
- Buy two airport tickets. The RER B needs the €14 airport ticket each way; a contactless bank card on its own won’t open the gates.
- Get off at the right stop. Saint-Michel Notre-Dame for Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, Châtelet-Les Halles for the Louvre.
- Check the weekday. The Louvre and the Orangerie are closed on Tuesdays.
- Leave suitcases at the airport. Left luggage at the Terminal 2 train station is open 7am to 9pm.
- Evening works until 18 December 2026. Until 11 December, on weekday evenings and some weekends, no RER B trains run between Châtelet-Les Halles and the airport from 10:45pm, and from 14 to 18 December none between Aulnay-sous-Bois and the airport. Replacement buses run but take longer.
- If the RER B stops. Take a taxi at the fixed fare, €56 or €65, or after midnight the Noctilien N143 night bus from Gare de l’Est or Gare du Nord, about every 30 minutes and 55 minutes to the airport.