The French capital is served by many railway stations located at the very heart of the city, and two international airports on its outskirts (15–25 km away). These locations can be found on the Collaboration Meeting Map.
On this page are reported several options to get to Paris from abroad. If you search how to reach the city centre, get around and go to LPNHE, jump to the How to get to LPNHE? page.
🚄 By train
If you come from another European country, in addition to being much more environment-friendly than plane, arriving by train is certainly the most convenient way as railway stations are located in the city centre. You can search for routes with Trainline; when reasonable train routes exist from your city, the best options are reported below for convenience (sorry Stockholm and Coimbra folks, we tried to find train routes for you but we know it would be hard to spend 24 hours onboard before/after our meeting!).
From Germany 🇩🇪
In most cases, the German XENON cities are only one connection away from Paris:
- Freiburg Hbf–Paris Gare de l’Est in ~ 4:10, with a change at Karlsruhe Hbf,
- Heidelberg Hbf–Paris Gare de l’Est in ~ 3:40, with a change at Mannheim Hbf,
- Karlsruhe Hbf–Paris Gare de l’Est in ~ 2:30 by direct train,
- Mainz Hbf–Paris Gare de l’Est in ~ 4:10, with a change at Mannheim Hbf,
- Münster (Westf) Hbf–Paris Gare de l’Est in 7–8 hours, with a change at Karlsruhe Hbf or Mannheim Hbf.
From Italy 🇮🇹
In most cases, the Italian XENON cities are at least two connections away from Paris. If you are really determined to combat climate change by not flying, the best options are the following:
- Bologna Centrale–Paris Gare de l’Est in ~ 13:00, with changes at München Hbf and Mannheim Hbf,
- Ferrara–Paris Gare de Lyon in ~ 9:45, with changes at Bologna Centrale and Torino Porta Susa,
- L'Aquila–Paris Gare de Lyon in ~ 15:11, with changes at Terni, Roma Termini and Milano Centrale,
- Napoli Centrale–Paris Gare de Lyon in ~ 11:55, with a change at Torino Porta Susa,
- Torino Porta Susa–Paris Gare de Lyon in ~ 5:40 by direct train.
From Switzerland 🇨🇭
In most cases, Zürich is at least one connection away from Paris, however there is also a direct train:
- Zürich HB–Paris Gare de Lyon in ~ 4:00 by direct train (~ 5:00 with a change at Basel SSB).
From the Netherlands 🇳🇱
In most cases, Amsterdam is at least one connection away from Paris, however there is also a direct train:
- Amsterdam-Centraal–Paris Gare du Nord in ~ 4:00 by direct train (~ 5:00 with a change at Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid).
🛬 By plane
If you come from further regions of the world, you will probably arrive by plane at one of the two international airports of Paris:
- Paris-Charles de Gaulle (also referred to as "Roissy Airport" or "CDG"), located 25 km northeast of Paris,
- Paris-Orly (often referred to as "Orly Airport"), located 15 km south of Paris.
You can reach the city centre from both airports through a dense network of public transports, direct buses and shuttles as well as taxis: all details can be found on the airports dedicated page, and directly on the public transport pages here (from Paris-Charles de Gaulle) and there (from Paris-Orly).
For convenience, note that the most common way to get to the centre of Paris from the airports is to take the commuter train line RER B which will bring you in 30–45 min at the following stations:
- Châtelet–Les Halles, the heart of the network with many possible connections (metro and bus lines),
- Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame, for a direct connection to the LPNHE via metro line 10 heading to Gare d'Austerlitz, getting off at the Jussieu station.
