Having arrived at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) onboard an easyJet flight from Luton (read about that here), we had made our way to the Terminal 2/3 RER station ready to head to our first stop of the day. With just over 12 hours in Paris on this extreme day trip, we had plans to tick something off my AvGeek bucket list, before heading into the city itself to get a late lunch and see some of the sights. Unfortunately, whilst our first destination was less than 12km from the airport, it is not the easiest place to get to.
Needing to catch the RER B to Drancy, we jumped on a train, only to realise after departure it was a semi-fast service and so had to change trains at Aulnay-sous-Bois for a stopping service. From outside Drancy RER station we caught the 148 bus to the end of the line, from where it was just a few minutes’ walk to our destination, the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace at Le Bourget airport. Located in the old terminal building of Le Bourget, the museum is one of the top aviation museums in Europe and a must see for any AvGeek. Entry costs €17 and the museum covers everything from the early days of flight and Louis Blériot’s first heavier-than-air flight across the English Channel through to the modern day with airliners and rockets on display.
As an AvGeek, one of the issues I find with many air museums is the limited number of more modern airliners, mainly due to space limitations. The Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace on the other hand has a plethora of large airliners, with a Caravelle, Boeing 747, two Concordes (001 & F-BTSD) and the largest airliner of them all, the Airbus A380. Not only does it have these large airliners on display, you’re also able to look inside some of them, including the Boeing 747 and the pair of Concordes, all of which is included in the price of the ticket. The museum also has an interesting section on space exploration, with there also being Ariane 1 and Ariane 5 rocket launchers on display outside.
Realistically you could easily spend a full day at the museum if you want to fully cover it and, if I’d had a bit more energy, I’d have certainly spent a bit longer looking at collection covering the early days of aviation and the history of flight. You could also join a guided tour of the old control tower for an extra €4 but unfortunately the timings didn’t work for us. As well as the main exhibits, there are parts of the museum aimed at children, with more interactive displays, along with a restaurant/café, the staff of whom seemed somewhat surprised by us wanting to order some coffee. As I said, you could easily spend a full day at the museum, but after a few hours we had seen the main bits we wanted to see and decided it was time to head into the city.
Taking a different route to get back to the RER, we had a bit of a wait for a very busy bus which took us to Le Bourget RER where we were able to catch the RER direct to Gare du Nord. Whilst the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace is currently a bit of a pain to get to, it will soon be getting a Metro station as part of Paris’ Grand Paris Express Metro expansion, with the new Line 17 connecting Le Bourget Airport with CDG Terminal 2 and Le Bourget RER station amongst other places. This will make a visit to the museum much easier, with either a direct train from CDG, or a single change from RER to Metro at Le Bourget RER if coming from the city.
Arriving at Gare du Nord, we headed upstairs from the RER platforms and outside to the Café du Nord opposite the station which is one of Seat61’s recommendations for restaurants at Europe’s busiest train station. This was the lower key of the two options (the other, Brasserie Terminus Nord, had linen tablecloths and we felt a bit under dressed) and was a nice place to enjoy lunch, although the building works going on outside the station did add a bit of unwelcome noise to proceedings. Both my dad and I went for the Alsatian Sauerkraut, a traditional dish from the Alsace region of France, which was nice but quite overpowering, whilst for dessert I had brioche French toast whilst Dad had a chocolate pudding. Of course, a beer also helped refresh us whilst we ate, before we headed back across the road to the station and the RER.
Two stops down RER B from Gare du Nord is Saint-Michel Notre-Dame, a station that serves the Île de la Cité, an island in the river Seine that is home to the Palais de Justice, the Hôtel-Dieu, possibly the oldest continuously operating hospital in the world, and most famously Notre Dame Cathedral. One of the world’s most famous cathedrals, Norte Dame was partly destroyed by a large fire in 2019 and was lovingly rebuilt and repaired using traditional construction methods. After four and a half years of work, Notre Dame reopened in December 2024, once again becoming a place of prayer and worship that is open to all.
Prominently displayed on Notre Dames’s website is the statement “A place of prayer open to all, freely and without charge, for 860 years”. Unlike many major cathedrals in the UK which charge unless you are visiting for specific times of worship, Notre Dame is free to visit at any time, and you can literally just turn up like we did. You can get a timed ticket online, which allows you quicker access, however these aren’t required and you can just join the non-ticketed queue and wait for there to be space. Importantly, even the timed tickets are free, so if someone tries to sell you a Notre Dame ticket, they’re scamming you! We joined the non-ticketed queue and only had to wait around 10 minutes to get in, so I’d recommend going later in the day as it seems to be a bit quieter.
Inside Notre Dame is just stunningly beautiful and it is really impressive how it has been restored following the fire. It’s quite hard to describe but was quite light whilst also being dim at the same time and was peaceful despite the throngs of tourists (including ourselves) making our way around. Inside is also the cathedral treasury, which does cost €12 to enter and includes both religious and cultural artifacts from Notre Dame’s history. We decided to give the treasury a miss, although if those kinds of artifacts interest you I can imagine its well worth a visit, especially given my experience visiting the Bremen Cathedral treasury and how stunning some of those artefacts were. Either way, Notre Dame is a must visit if you’re ever in Paris and again is somewhere that you could spend a lot longer looking around in detail if you’re interested.
Back outside, we had a wander around the square outside, the Place du Parvis de Notre Dame as Google indicated France’s kilometre zero was here, however we couldn’t find it and the marker seemed to be in the middle of the Notre Dame queuing system. After this, we had time to visit a couple of tourist shops for souvenirs before heading back down to the RER and making our way back to CDG a bit early. I’m always a bit torn when it comes to Paris as to whether I like the city or not. Ultimately, I think it is overrated, and I don’t really have any interest in visiting places like the Louvre, but as this trip and my previous visits have shown, there’s something for everyone. The Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace was excellent, and I’d certainly like to revisit, hopefully when I’ve had a bit more sleep, and Notre Dame was just amazing. All in all a very good day in Paris!
Flights & Times 