Paris CDG Airport

Terminal 2E. Spacious and open feel. Connection between the 2 different sections of 2E was easy on a short train ride. The biggest disappointment was no decent restaurant! Only a food court selling overpriced food of poor quality and small portions. The only reason I ate there was I had an Air France voucher due to a missed connection. I asked an AF representative for a recommendation of a good restaurant and he said I would have to go to 2F which would mean passing through time consuming security check points.

Impractical with long corridors (very long transfer from terminal 3 to terminal 2F) strange layout hard to find the way little services too little waiting space etc. Also famous for losing luggage. And: the airport has it own dedicated beggars and homeless people.

Paris CDG is one of the worst airports. Noisy dirty and staff unpleasant. Queuing is here a way of life 45 min-1 hour for the passport control with some instances of outright rudeness 45 min to get your luggage if you are lucky. Paris CDG is an incredible non human being airport and a shame for the French people.

Considering the French are famous for their food Terminal 2E (transit from intercontinental to European flight) offers very few culinary delights. Food court contains four bland looking restaurants that weren't open at 9am the day we visited leaving only Laduree some rubbishy looking modern takeaway shop (a coke for 4.90EUR?) and a small similarly overpriced coffee bar for refreshments. The shops seem to veer towards the high end (one can buy a Hermes bag but not a decent cup of coffee) with the exception of the excellent La Maison du Chocolat perhaps the only shop selling any gifts under 50EUR. To get from one part of the terminal to another you need to brave a half an hour bus ride that you need to factor into your connection. Seating is okay but it was bitterly cold inside. Signposting is indeed very haphazard but if you know where you are going then there is little in the way of unnecessary bureaucracy - only one security check which had many lanes and went very quickly manned by friendly staff who could also speak English.

Staff helpful but navigation of airport a complete nightmare. Had to get from 2Fto 2E to check in - this involved going down in a lift which had no information on it as to where 2E was. We had to ask at the desk - along a very long corridor and up a lift back to the 2nd floor and along another very long corridor with all our luggage - no joke for my parents!!

Trying to make a 50 minute connection between 2D & 2E. Somehow I managed it but to achieve this I had to run with bags all the way through 2D along an endless passageway between 2D and 2F across the road to 2E all the way to the far end of 2E through security into the bowels of 2E and finally to the gate. The to cap it all we were bussed to the plane which took the best part of 15 minutes. Don't change here unless you have at least 2 hours 3 if your inbound might be delayed.

I've been travelling through CDG at least once a year during the last 8 years and am still at a loss trying to figure out how to efficiently navigate this airport. It has to be one of the most chaotic airports in the world. Don't think that this is just another French idiosyncrasy. My French acquaintances are the most vociferous when it comes to CDG. My advice avoid it if you can it's a mess.

CDG is a very poor introduction to France (I am French!) and is really a shame. Terminal 1 is a consequence of the French politicians' love for "contemporary" - obsolete architecture and completely atrocious for passengers. Terminal 2 ABCD are too small badly designed no air- con and in all Paris airports the common point is the huge queue at passport control where you are lucky if 2 cops are there to control 3 or 4 long-haul flights ! which is a disgrace compared even to some Middle-East countries. Other common points are dirtiness and lack of toilets lack of moving sidewalks. This time flew from 2F which is slightly better more modern more space more available seats. Nevertheless was shocked to discover there is no lift to take you to departure level so manage with your suitcase in escalators - and no air- conditioning in the waiting rooms which is an issue because although in this one the ceilings are very high the architect has put windows everywhere.. A last word of advice for foreign travellers if your ticket read 2G be aware that this is a (bad) joke this is a totally different terminal and you need a 15 mn bus shuttle to go there after having left your rental car at 2 E/F. Any connection going through this terminal needs a bare minimum of 3 hours even worse than all the other reviewers said.

I was transferring on a ONT-SLC-CDG-MAN journey. On arrival we were parked at a remote stand and then bussed into the terminal following a 20-minute wait on the incoming plane. We also had to queue in the pouring rain to get on the bus. There then followed long queues to go through the x-ray caused by a combination of the fact that the security personnel spoke only French and the procedure being different from that at other hub airports. Specifically we were made to remove all electronic devices from our carry-ons and put them through in separate trays: not just laptops but cameras noise cancelling headphones shavers etc. etc. Most passengers did not understand the instructions in French hence the growing queue. Some of the PA announcements were made in French only including a paging call for someone with an English sounding name and a change of gate for a flight to Detroit. If CDG is going to take the money in airport fees from passengers in transit between English speaking countries this should not be happening. On the flight to Manchester I was denied boarding through the priority lane despite being a Flying Blue silver (and thus entitled to use it) and was made to join the back of the general queue. Another bus ride and wait in the rain then followed.

Terminal 1 as I was travelling with hand luggage only I was out of the airport within 10 minutes. I came out of gate 34 where AF coaches go to Paris. On my way back I came to CDG with the RER and transfered with the CDGVal shuttle and found the sign posting very efficient. Toilets were even clean on hall 5. Food counters plentiful at airport prices. T1 has a typical seventies architecture - better than T2.