Start with the honest numbers
Charles de Gaulle sits roughly 25 kilometres north-east of central Paris. Every guide will tell you the journey takes 45 minutes. In practice, door to door, plan for 50 to 70 minutes outside peak hours and rather more between 07:00 and 09:30 or 17:00 and 19:30.
That figure matters because it is the same for almost every option. The difference between them is not really speed. It is what the journey costs you in effort, in predictability, and in the state you arrive in.
RER B
The train is the cheapest option by a wide margin: €14 in 2026 with the Paris Region–Airports ticket, valid from any station in the Île-de-France. In clear conditions it is also among the fastest to the centre, running directly to Gare du Nord and Châtelet.
What the price does not include: getting yourself and your luggage from your terminal to the station, often via the airport shuttle; managing a suitcase on stairs and escalators at both ends; and the final leg from the RER station to your actual address, which is rarely walkable with bags.
It is the right answer if you travel light, alone, and are not exhausted. It is the wrong answer with two suitcases, a child, or after eleven hours in the air.
The official taxi
Paris taxis operate a flat fare between Charles de Gaulle and the city, set by prefectoral order: €56 to the Right Bank and €65 to the Left Bank, in either direction. This is genuinely useful: the price does not move with traffic, and you cannot be taken the long way round. Note that the flat fare applies to a direct journey only — ask for a stop on the way and the meter takes over.
The catch is the queue. At peak arrival times the official rank can take thirty to forty minutes, which is precisely when you least want to stand in line. And the queue is at the terminal exit, so you have already carried your bags out before you discover how long it is.
Ignore anyone who approaches you inside the terminal offering a taxi. Official taxis are taken from the marked rank, never from a tout.
Ride-hailing
Convenient in principle, unpredictable in practice. The fare is not fixed: it moves with demand, and demand at an airport peaks exactly when several long-haul flights land together. The pickup points are also some distance from the arrivals exit at most terminals, and change periodically.
The other weakness is delay. If your flight lands two hours late, your booking is gone and you rebook at whatever the price is at 1am.
A private transfer
The fare is agreed in writing before you travel and does not move with traffic or time of day. Your chauffeur tracks the flight from departure, so a delay, an early landing or a diversion costs you nothing and requires no phone call.
The part people underestimate is the meeting. Your chauffeur is inside the terminal, at the exit your flight actually uses, holding a name board, and takes the luggage from the trolley. You do not queue, you do not search, and you do not carry anything — we set out exactly what that involves in a separate piece on the meet and greet.
Two practical details that a taxi rank cannot offer. Child seats are fitted in advance if you tell us the ages at booking, at no extra cost. And the vehicle is matched to the luggage rather than to whatever arrives at the front of the queue: four hold cases and a pushchair belong in a V-Class, not in a saloon boot.
Honestly, it is not the cheapest option and it never will be. It earns its cost in three situations: two or more passengers, where the per-head figure closes quickly on a taxi; real luggage, where the train stops being viable; and a long-haul arrival, where the value of not thinking is difficult to overstate.
Which to choose
Alone, cabin bag only, daytime arrival, unhurried: take the RER B.
Alone or in pairs, moderate luggage, no fixed appointment: the official taxi rank is fine, allow for the queue.
Family arriving long-haul: one vehicle, room for everyone, seats already fitted, and no decisions to make after twenty hours of travel. This is where a private transfer stops being a comfort and starts being the only sensible answer.
Business traveller or corporate group: punctuality and a composed arrival are the point. For several colleagues landing on different flights, we coordinate the cars under one contact rather than leaving everyone to their own booking — that is the group arrangement, and it usually costs less per head than separate taxis.
And if you are wondering whether to tip the driver at the other end: in France, the short answer is no.
