Beauvais Airport

We found the airport excellent both when we arrived and departed. Staff were helpful and there were no delays. Do not use Paris Shuttle Services as we had a terrible experience. We waited an hour for our shuttle then managed to get someone in their office to be told he didn't know what had happened to our shuttle but would get another one of their drivers to speak to us at the airport. Eventually he found us to be told that our driver had forgotten us and that he would give us our money back then we would have to catch a bus going to Paris. With the hours wait then on the bus to bus park walk to the metro which was 1 mile away then change twice to get to our hotel. It took us 3 hours to get to our hotel after landing at Beauvais. On our return journey we waited just over an hour for the shuttle and were told by the hotel that as the shuttle company are obviously unreliable we will book you a taxi so that you will catch your flight. Just as we were waiting on a taxi the shuttle arrived at the hotel entrance. We cancelled the taxi as we had paid up front for the shuttle. The driver never even apologised and got us to airport 1 hour before the flight but it was a hair raising experience as he broke the speed limit most of the journey. So I would advise people not to book up and pay in advance for a shuttle.

Airport was wonderful - comfortable and easy access to your luggage after disembarking. BUT do not use ATA Beauvais shuttle service - it is uncomfortable unsafe and took much longer than just using the Ryanair bus. Simply the best transport out of the airport is to take the bus - the other options are either very expensive (private taxi) or a waste of time/money.

Be wary when paying up front for advertised pre-booked shuttle service such as parisshuttleservice.com. If they fail to appear then you are left with an expensive option of a private taxi plus the problem of getting your money back.

Arrived at Beauvais from Rome - great experience luggage was there in a matter of 10 minutes and we boarded the bus to Paris within 15 minutes of debarking the aircraft- great. On the flight back check-in was fast (we arrived 90 minutes early and they had 2 lines open). Security was also fast. But then came a nightmare- they have 4 gates and there are no screens that tell you where your flight will be. They are all very close together so that in our cast there were about 400 people wondering where they have to line up. Shortly before boarding they tell you where to go but you are squeezed in all the time- very unpleasant and stupid because they could change that easily. Also the bard at the gates take advantage of the new security measures and sell a 05 l bottle of water at 3€. More than next to the Eiffel tower! ALL employees we met were very friendly though.

There is now a ticket office in the bus park (can't quite call it a bus station yet) at Porte Maillot. You must buy your tickets there - they don't sell them on the bus anymore. So if you have to buy a ticket to Beauvais I'd recommend getting to Porte Maillot 15 minutes earlier. There is a good map of the Porte Maillot area and directions of how to get to the Metro station at www.hotelsreviewed.com/paris-porte-maillot- bus-metro.html

As a family we have used Beauvais a number ot times during the past few years and have seen the changes that this airport has had over this time frame. When we used it first I thought that it was a great airport with the fact that the plane comes right up to the door and the luggage was there as soon as you arrived at the pickup point and you were away within 20 mins of arriving. The departure check in was also a dream and you could live with the "tent". Having just arrived back from our most recent trip I have now changed my mind. The airport is now a lot busier with more flights arriving and departing and quite frankly it is not geared up to handle the situation it finds itself in. The problem starts as soon as you arrive. The arrival area is quite small and the luggage conveyor is also quite small. Flights are nearly full and 100-150 people trying to get in to get their bags makes it quite tight. The conveyor soon fills up and with the short distance of travel before bags start to come around again leads to a lot of stopping and starting of the belt. On this occasion it did not effect us as we were in no hurry out of the airport as we were were staying in a local hotel (which was prebooked) for the night before heading on in the morning. The car hire pick up point is fine and we had no problems. This is the third or fourth time that we have picked up a hire car and have never had any problem. One point could be that all the car hire offices with the exception of Hertz close before the last flights arrive so you are limited to which company you can use if you arrive late. The departure hall is also very small with no information as to which check in gate that your flight will be at apart from the screens that are behind each desk which do not display any info until the flight is actually checking in. With the lines of passengers checking in for other flights this leads to mad scrambles from where you may have managed to find a seat (Which are not exactually in plentiful supply for the amount of people) to where your flight eventually checks in. The problem is the depth of the actual hall. The distance from the desk to the window means that the queue tends to turn down along the hall where it gets caugh up with the queue from the desk beside it. After you have checked in you need join the queue to go through the security check. This you may feel is the same at every airport and is quite necessary and I do not have a problem with the check in itself. The problem is that at Beauvais there are not enough machines for the volumn of people passing through and also the area in which these checks are carried out is also quite small which leads to the large queue forming behind this. Having got through this you arrive in to the "new departure gates". This area still has no information regarding the particular gate that you will eventually board your plane until it actually opens for boarding. People start to queue where the think the flight will board only to find that they are at the wrong gate and another mad rust starts to get to the correct gate . Seeing as the gates are so close and when pass through the gate you walk to the plane how difficult would it be to put the information up at the gate before the flight arrives so people as least have a chance of being in the right area. If you are traveling with Ryanair book the priority boarding option. It cuts out any messing around as you do not have to join the mad scramble to try to get near the front of the queue for getting on the plane. Ok if you are traveling alone but with children you want to get seats together. Familys with children no longer get priority when boarding the flights so you could end up being split up if you are unluckly to be further down the queue for boarding. The facilities in this "new area" leave a lot to be desired. The gents toilet was in need of a good clean to the point that I would be reluctant to let the children use it. The cost at the "cafe" inside the departure area is a complete rip off and now that you cannot bring any thing through the security gate you are at their mercy. €3:90 for a small bottle of coke and not much cheaper for a "large coffee" which is in fact a slightly bigger then normal paper cut which is not even full. ( I would hate to see a small cup). Pretty negative feed back you may feel. In saying all above I would still use Beauvais again as it is a means to an end and the flights are quite cheap compared to other carriers but be prepared for what you get when you arrive.

I make the trip to Beauvais and Prestwick most weekends and I have never had a problem with the facilities. The airport authority are clearly investing in and upgrading the buildings with the income from increased flights and staff are always courteous and efficient and board the flights by sequence number. The airport is a bit far out like all Ryanair destinations but just try getting to CDG at peak times and you will soon appreciate the drive through the French countryside from Beauvais. For car rentals returns I suggest going into Beauvais centre to fill up your tank as all the petrol stations around the airport close by 7:00pm and the machines only seem to accept French Visa cards. Instead of turning right at the airport road traffic lights turn left past McDonalds and follow the signs for Beauvais centre / Cathedral - which is a straight road. Just at the town centre traffic lights turn right and you will see a Total petrol station open until 10:00pm.

We were a family of two adults and two kids travelling from Prestwick to Disneyland Paris. As Beauvais airport is about 117kms from Disneyland and relatively expensive for four to get there and back we decided the cheapest way was to hire a car and print out a route planner from the A.A. to make our destination easier to find. Getting there was not a problem and took just over an hour but coming back on the Sunday evening heading in the direction of Paris was a different story. The traffic was heavier and we got lost a few times which might not have happened had we taken a decent map with us. The car was due back at the Hertz Rental by 7pm and as we were running a bit late we decided to wait till we got to Beauvais before topping up the fuel. There was a gas station 2kms from the airport but unfortunately it was closed . As we didn't have the time to start looking about for another we took the car back and was charged 57euros for the half tank of diesel we used. Make sure you top up en route when you find a station otherwise it could end up being a very costly car hire. Otherwise Hertz were very reasonable at £73 for the 3 days hire and we were given a brand new Peugeot which let us get about and discover some good designer outlets very close to the Parks and a big shopping centre at the junction of the A104 9kms from Disneyland. It had a big Carrefour supermarket. We were able to purchase fruit salad cold meat and rolls to do us while in the Parks as what they offer in the Parks is total junk food and very costly. The other good thing with hiring a car is you can then choose a cheaper hotel to stay at a bit further away from the parks and if you have the yearly pass for the parks you can park at the parks for free otherwise it is 8 euros each day you park there. It would probably work out even cheaper to take our own car and drive all the way there but we were limited for time and we did get exceptionally cheap tickets with Ryan Air having booked well in advance. I hope this information will be useful to future travellers with kids and on a limited budget.

I've flown into Beauvais twice now from Prestwick and encountered no problems. The departure 'lounge' is a tent but the rest of the airport looks up to scratch and is more than sufficient for what you pay for. As said before bus services to Paris are very punctual and although it can take up to 90 minutes to get into town depending on the time of day it is still a good service. The bus then drops off at Porte Maillot next to the Palais which has access to Metro Line 1 in its basement or you can access the metro just across the road. All the main 'city centre' areas of Paris are located on this line such as Champs Elysees Arc de Triomphe Louvré Concorde and Gare de Lyon train station. A good few of the stops on this line also connect to the areas where most of the cheaper hotels are located so it's a simple process as long as you're not trying to navigate the metro with all your luggage during a busy time.

Bus connection to Paris is very efficient. This airport has very few shops. The shops that are here are very expensive but in general everywhere in Paris is expensive. The duty free shop here is very expensive and you will save very little buying here if you are flying between EU countries. Would not recommend Paris for a weekend break. The people in Paris are very boring and have no sense of humour. They need to learn how to smile but I suppose that is very difficult with the cost of living here. Coming from Ireland I am glad to be home.