Schengen hub · checked 29 October 2026
ParisCDG · Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport
Paris layover guide from CDG: how to use the RER, what a 24 hour visit can actually hold, and when 72 hours is enough for Versailles.
- Into the city
- 35–50 min on RER B, plus a long walk inside CDG
- Best window
- Land by lunchtime, sleep near the RER, depart the next evening
- Watch-out
- CDG terminals are spread out. EES can add time at the border for non-EU passports.
- Entry
- EU citizens move freely. Visa-exempt visitors enter Schengen and meet the Entry/Exit System. ETIAS is not in operation yet.
Three lengths
One turn of the clock
24 hours
Paris on 24 hours is a walk, or a single museum with a ticket you already hold. It becomes a bad day when it turns into a checklist.
A night in the city
48 hours
Forty-eight hours is enough for a walk and a museum, in that order of priority if you do not already love the museum. It is still not the Versailles layover.
A long weekend on a ticket
72 hours
Seventy-two hours is the first Paris layover that can include Versailles without lying to yourself. Put it in the middle. Keep the last afternoon boring and pointed at CDG.
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Also on this hub
- Hotels
The glamorous arrondissement is the reward for a late departure. The airport hotel is the reward for an early one. Gare du Nord is the compromise that keeps RER B honest.
- Activities
Pay for the thing with a queue. Do not pay for a checklist tour that promises six arrondissements and a monument. You will see them through a window.
- Airport to city
The train is the plan. The terminal is the surprise. CDG is several stations and a bus ride between buildings pretending to be one airport, so read the departure terminal before you decide what 'three hours early' means.
- Entry
Leaving the CDG transit area is entering the Schengen area. For European citizens that is ordinary. For everyone else it is a border, even if the next flight is tomorrow.
Questions
Is 24 hours enough to see Paris from CDG?
Enough for one neighbourhood or one museum, not both done properly, and not Versailles. RER B is typically 35–50 minutes to central Paris once you are on it. The walks inside CDG and, for many non-EU passports, the Entry/Exit System queue sit on top of that.
Should I go to Versailles on a Paris layover?
Only on a 72 hour gap, on the middle day, with tickets booked and a plan to be back in the city by mid-afternoon. On 24 or 48 hours it replaces Paris with a queue and a train.
Where should I sleep for an early flight from CDG?
In the airport complex or at Roissypôle if the flight leaves in the morning. A beautiful hotel in the Marais is the wrong answer at 05:30, because you still have the RER and a terminal that may be 2E.
Do I need a visa or ETIAS to leave CDG and enter Paris?
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens do not need a visa. Visa-exempt non-EU travellers can enter for a short Schengen stay and, since 10 April 2026, are recorded in the Entry/Exit System, including biometrics. ETIAS is not operating yet; do not pay a third-party site for it. Travellers who need a Schengen visa must already have it. Staying airside is not an entry.