From the Paris airports to the centre
4 stopsUpdated July 2026
The Roissybus died on 28 February 2026. It had run since 1992, taking people to Opéra from Charles de Gaulle, and it still appears in guidebooks, blogs and even hotel information sheets as though it existed. It doesn’t. Île-de-France Mobilités closed it because Paris and A1 traffic made journey times unpredictable and it had lost around forty per cent of its passengers since 2023.
And what matters is what came after: nothing. No direct CDG-centre service replaced it. Route 9517 started the next day, but it goes to Saint-Denis-Pleyel, which is a métro interchange and not the centre. There’s a CDG Express announced for March 2027, and until it runs, don’t count on it. So in 2026, from CDG, the answer is the RER B or a taxi. And from Orly the news is good, for once.
The route, stop by stop
4 STOPS- 01
CDG: the RER B
With the Roissybus shut, the RER B has gone from being an option to being the way: it’s what Île-de-France Mobilités itself now recommends. It leaves from under the terminals and cuts through central Paris, stopping at Gare du Nord, Châtelet-Les Halles and Saint-Michel, which is to say it drops you anywhere.
One detail that saves twenty minutes and almost nobody checks: not all trains are the same. There are non-stops, which skip the intermediate stations, and all-stations ones. On the platform there’s a board showing which stations each train calls at. If yours has every light lit, it’s a slow one. Wait for the next if you aren’t in a hurry.
And note that an ordinary métro ticket doesn’t cover this journey: the airport RER has its own fare.
- 02
Orly: line 14
The best thing that has happened to Orly happened just now: since 2024, métro line 14 reaches the airport. An ordinary métro, automated, driverless, at métro frequencies, dropping you at Châtelet in about twenty-five minutes and also at Gare de Lyon and Saint-Lazare.
What makes it remarkable isn’t the speed, it’s the fare: it’s a normal métro, with no airport supplement, which happens in almost no European capital.
It has effectively retired the OrlyVal, that small expensive train that dropped you at Antony to change to the RER B.
The OrlyVal still has a use: if you’re headed for northern Paris or you need to connect to CDG, going via Antony and taking the RER B there can be more direct. For everything else, line 14.
- 03
The taxi, and the decree that changed the rule
Paris’s official taxis run a flat fare set by decree from both CDG and Orly: a closed price, the same day or night, tolls and luggage included, no meter. If a driver offers to put the meter on or quotes you a different price, that isn’t the official fare and you don’t have to accept it. You take them only at the marked ranks, never from anyone who approaches you in the terminal.
And here’s the change almost no guidebook has picked up: until recently there were two different fares depending on whether you were going to the rive droite or the rive gauche, and everyone repeated that. A prefecture decree of December 2025 unified it: there is now a single price for any address in Paris. If you read somewhere that it depends on the bank, that source is out of date.
We deliberately don’t give the amount here, because commercial sources still contradict each other and a badly copied number does more harm than none: what protects you is the rule, not the figure.
- 04
What’s gone, and what isn’t here yet
The Roissybus spent thirty-four years running from CDG to Opéra and closed on 28 February 2026. We mention it again because it’s the most repeated mistake in Paris right now: it’s still in printed guides, in articles nobody has updated, and on the recommendation sheets of some hotels. If someone recommends it to you, that source hasn’t been reviewed since last year.
What started the next day, route 9517, isn’t a replacement: it’s an express taking half an hour to Saint-Denis-Pleyel, which is a métro interchange with line 14, not the centre. It costs a normal fare, not an airport one, and depending where you’re going it’s very good. But a direct CDG-centre service, today, doesn’t exist.
And there’s a train, the CDG Express, announced for 28 March 2027. It’s announced. Don’t count on it until it runs: we don’t promise infrastructure that isn’t in service.
Frequently asked
Does the Roissybus still exist?
No. It stopped on 28 February 2026 after thirty-four years, because traffic made journey times unpredictable and it had lost around 40% of its passengers since 2023. And no direct service to the centre replaced it: route 9517 goes to Saint-Denis-Pleyel, which is a métro interchange. If a guide recommends it, that guide is out of date.
How do you get from Orly airport to central Paris?
On métro line 14, which has reached Orly since 2024: an ordinary automated métro, with no airport supplement, dropping you at Châtelet in about twenty-five minutes. It has retired the OrlyVal, which now only makes sense if you’re going to northern Paris or need to connect to CDG.
How much is a taxi from a Paris airport?
There’s a flat fare by decree from both CDG and Orly: a closed price, the same day or night, tolls and luggage included, no meter. Since a December 2025 decree there’s a single price for any address in Paris: it no longer depends on which bank of the Seine, as many guides still repeat. Marked ranks only.