No way you can make anything work.

Anonymous wrote:My flight is booked. I tried multiple times to book something from Poland to Paris with an overnight stopover and there is NOTHING, no results, nada. It is so strange. Anyway my options are to keep the 8h layover or possibly switch to a 2h layover. Those are my options. 2h seems really tight given all the reports of CDG been difficult to navigate / begin unreliable.

Enjoy Poland, it is great!

It sounds like you already booked your flights but I wonder if a way to do it with an overnight in Paris would have been to book the roundtrip ticket as US-Poland (Warsaw?) and then from CDG-US. And a one way ticket on Wizzair from Poland (again, assuming Warsaw here) to Paris Orly.

I do not understand trying to squeeze a mini vacation into a tight layover. Customs at international airports can be monstrously long - it could easily eat up 6 hours of your time just leaving the airport and getting to Notre Dame and standing in line for your timed entry (which will still have a long line) and then getting back and standing in line for hours. Then you’re cutting it close for no reason.

Anonymous wrote:It took us 90 minutes to get through customs at CDG on March 12.

That is good to know. What that going in or out of the airport?

It took us 90 minutes to get through customs at CDG on March 12.

Anonymous wrote:Go to Versailles and rent golf carts and tear about the grounds. It’s a beautiful place and if you slip Henri or Jean Claude a fiver, you might get one of the carts that has had the speed governor removed. You can drift on the pebble covered pathways in those buggers. So much fun.

Do not do this. Versailles is even farther from CDG than Paris.

If you have kids with you, Disneyland Paris is less than a 15 minute train ride from CDG.

Go to Versailles and rent golf carts and tear about the grounds. It’s a beautiful place and if you slip Henri or Jean Claude a fiver, you might get one of the carts that has had the speed governor removed. You can drift on the pebble covered pathways in those buggers. So much fun.

OP, I think you made the right call to not risk it.

Many years ago, I took the train to CDG from central Paris and it took roughly 2 hours, and even though I was well ahead of the 3 hour suggested time for check in, I was still bumped from my flight despite getting to the counter with 2.5 hours until departure time. Granted, this was prior to online check in and I did have a bag to check, but it was still half a day lost.

It did turn into a fun story, though. It was a Sunday late afternoon/early evening flight and a bunch of people (20?25?) were bumped. We all lined up in the Air France rebooking line and an American living in Paris was first in line (married to a Frenchman and spoke perfect French) and announced to all of us what our rights were: Travel Voucher to be used within a year OR $500 Euros in cash. She STRONGLY encouraged all of us to take the latter, and they still had to book us all home, feed us and put us up overnight. Wow, the daggers those Air France employees were staring at her with....

The hotel was somewhat of a party. We all drank, ate and had a fun night. I woke up early and enjoyed an extra day in Paris, returning to CDG and eventually returning home just one day later than scheduled. I did have to email my boss, letting her know I'd be late back to work, but "C'est la vie," she said. What really could be done?

No way I'd plan to leave the airport. Too stressful. Shop at the airport, nap in one of those Yotel Air pods

Anonymous wrote:Having just been in Paris, notre dame and the base of the Eiffel Tower are not really close but it’s doable to uber in between. You can get timed tix to notre dame a day or two before (free online) but that will guarantee your timeslot.

No need to Uber, the RER C is much faster and goes directly between the two. It's 10 minutes on the train and a 5 minute walk on each side.

Anonymous wrote:My flight is booked. I tried multiple times to book something from Poland to Paris with an overnight stopover and there is NOTHING, no results, nada. It is so strange. Anyway my options are to keep the 8h layover or possibly switch to a 2h layover. Those are my options. 2h seems really tight given all the reports of CDG been difficult to navigate / begin unreliable.

This is helpful information. That means you will need to clear passport control AND security if you exit the airport.

2 hours is fine for a connection, it's not THAT complicated. If you don't leave the airport, you will only have to do passport control, not security again. The path is here:

https://cdgairportguide.com/connecting-flights-paris-cdg-airport/transfer-terminal-2f/terminal-2f-to-terminal-2e/

You'll probably end up leaving out of 2E-L.or 2E-M (yes their terminal naming system is crazy, they are actually changing it next year)

https://onemileatatime.com/news/paris-charles-de-gaulle-airport-updating-terminal-naming/

This stresses me out so much and I lived in Paris for 3 years. Even if technically doable it just sounds awful between the travel time into and out of the city and heading to some of the most packed destinations on a tight timeframe.

Anonymous wrote:you could also look to just go to a little cafe in Bonneuil-en-France area---near the old airport le bourget. It is cute enough around there and at least you'll be out of the airport and very close!

Thank you! That might be a good option if we otherwise have to sit in the airport for 8h. Our layover is on a Saturday and we are expected to arrive around 9:30 a.m. Then leave about 6 p.m. (or something like that, I'm not logged into my flight account). I will look into your suggestion further.

Having just been in Paris, notre dame and the base of the Eiffel Tower are not really close but it’s doable to uber in between. You can get timed tix to notre dame a day or two before (free online) but that will guarantee your timeslot.

you could also look to just go to a little cafe in Bonneuil-en-France area---near the old airport le bourget. It is cute enough around there and at least you'll be out of the airport and very close!