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Paris CDG Airport Map: Terminals, Distances, Walking Times and Parking Explained

Charles de Gaulle is not one airport but three terminals spread over a site the size of a small town, and the map most people look at only makes sense once you know what the shapes mean. This guide describes the plan in words: where each terminal sits, how far apart they really are, how long the CDGVAL and the walks take, where the two railway stations are, where to park, where to drop someone and where to wait for them. It is the spatial chapter of our Paris CDG Airport guide, written by a team that drives to every terminal several times a day. Which airline uses which terminal is a separate question, answered in our CDG terminals guide.

Book a CDG transfer ↗

The quick answer

  • Three terminals in an arc. Terminal 1 is the round building at the western end, Terminal 3 the small flat building in the middle at Roissypôle, Terminal 2 the long chain of halls 2A to 2G at the eastern end. The airport sits about 25 km north-east of Paris.
  • The CDGVAL links them. A free automatic shuttle train, roughly every four minutes from about 4 am to 1 am, about eight minutes end to end.
  • Inside Terminal 2 you walk — except to 2G, which has its own shuttle bus from 2F.
  • Two railway stations. Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1 at Terminal 3 (RER B only) and Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV inside Terminal 2 (RER B and high-speed trains).
  • You cannot wait at the kerb. Dropping off is allowed, waiting is not; collect people from the short-stay car park beside their hall.

Gates, counters and works change constantly; the interactive plans on parisaeroport.fr remain the reference for a specific desk or gate. What follows is the stable picture you can plan a journey around.

How CDG is organised: three terminals in an arc

Look at any map of Charles de Gaulle and you see three very different shapes. Knowing what they are saves the single most common mistake at this airport: assuming the terminals are next to each other.

Terminal 1 is the concrete ring on the western edge of the site. It opened in 1974 and is the airport's original building: a circular core surrounded by satellite boarding piers reached by underground corridors. On the map it is the circle on the left.

Terminal 3 sits roughly in the middle of the site at Roissypôle, the airport's business district, where the hotels, the bus station and the first RER B station are. It is a single, low building — the simplest terminal at CDG and the one most people never see unless they fly a charter or a low-cost carrier.

Terminal 2 occupies the eastern half of the site. It is not a single building but a chain of halls built over thirty years along a central spine of roads: 2A, 2C and 2E on one side, 2B, 2D and 2F on the other, and 2G a smaller, separate building further east. Between the C/D pair and the E/F pair, in the middle of the spine, stands the second railway station, Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV, with the Sheraton hotel built above it. On the map Terminal 2 is the long shape on the right, and it is far bigger than it looks: walking from one end to the other is a journey, not a stroll.

Real distances between the terminals

  • Terminal 1 to Terminal 2: about 3 km by road. Not walkable with luggage; the CDGVAL covers it in roughly eight minutes.
  • Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 / Roissypôle: around 1 to 1.5 km. Again, take the CDGVAL; the roads in between are motorway-style and have no pavements worth the name.
  • Terminal 3 / Roissypôle to Terminal 2: around 2 km, four to five minutes on the CDGVAL.
  • Within Terminal 2: the chain from 2A to 2F stretches over more than a kilometre. 2G is a separate building beyond 2F, reached by shuttle bus.

The practical rule: between the three terminals you take the CDGVAL; inside Terminal 2 you walk, except to 2G. Nobody should set out on foot from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2, and the airport's layout does not make it possible in any sensible way.

The CDGVAL: the free shuttle that holds the airport together

The CDGVAL (short for CDG Véhicule Automatique Léger) is a driverless light rail line that opened in 2007. It is free and needs no ticket, and it runs on its own track, so it is unaffected by road traffic. It has five stations, in this order:

  1. Terminal 1
  2. Parking PR (long-stay car park)
  3. Terminal 3 / Roissypôle — RER B station Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1, bus station, hotels
  4. Parking PX (long-stay car park)
  5. Terminal 2 — on the 2E/2F side of the chain, with the Aéroport CDG 2 TGV railway station a short walk away

Frequency: a train about every four minutes during the day, a little less often very early and very late. Operating hours: roughly 4 am to 1 am. Between about 1 am and 4 am a replacement bus runs between the terminals instead; it is slower and less frequent, so a night-time connection between Terminals 1 and 2 needs a bigger margin.

Journey times on board: Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 / Roissypôle, about 2 to 3 minutes; Terminal 3 to Terminal 2, about 4 to 5 minutes; Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 end to end, about 8 minutes. Those are train times only — allow for the walk to and from the stations, which is where the real minutes go.

A second, smaller automatic shuttle exists inside Terminal 2E, linking the main building to the satellite boarding halls L and M. It is airside only, so it concerns departing and connecting passengers, not someone meeting a flight; our Terminal 2E guide covers it.

Walking and transfer times, terminal to terminal and hall to hall

The figures below are door-to-door estimates for an adult walking at a normal pace with a trolley, including the waits that are part of every transfer. They are ranges on purpose: a single number would be false for half the people reading it. If you are connecting between flights, add security, passport control and the walk to the gate on top, and always follow your airline's minimum connection time rather than our estimates.

Between terminals, public side, via CDGVAL

  • Terminal 1 ↔ Terminal 2 (any hall A–F): 20 to 30 minutes — about 5 minutes to the T1 platform, up to 4 minutes' wait, 8 minutes on the train, then 5 to 15 minutes from the Terminal 2 station to your hall (2E/2F closest, 2A/2B furthest).
  • Terminal 1 ↔ Terminal 3: 10 to 15 minutes.
  • Terminal 3 ↔ Terminal 2: 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the hall.
  • Terminal 1 or 3 ↔ 2G: 35 to 45 minutes, because the 2G shuttle bus comes on top of the CDGVAL and the walk to 2F.

Inside Terminal 2

  • 2E ↔ 2F: 5 to 10 minutes on foot. The two halls face each other across the station and are joined by signposted covered walkways — the shortest and most used link in the airport.
  • 2A ↔ 2C and 2B ↔ 2D: each pair is one connected building, 3 to 5 minutes.
  • 2C ↔ 2E and 2D ↔ 2F (same side): 8 to 12 minutes along the covered walkways.
  • 2A ↔ 2E or 2B ↔ 2F (the full length of one side): 12 to 18 minutes.
  • Crossing from one side to the other (2A to 2B, or 2C to 2F): the halls face each other across the central roads and the pedestrian crossings are at the ends of the pairs and around the station — count 10 to 15 minutes rather than the two it looks like on the map.
  • 2F ↔ 2G: 10 to 20 minutes door to door by the dedicated shuttle bus from the 2F side. The ride is short; the time is in the wait and the walk at each end.
  • Any hall ↔ the Aéroport CDG 2 TGV station: 3 to 5 minutes from 2E, 2F, 2C or 2D; 10 to 15 minutes from 2A or 2B; 15 to 25 minutes from 2G via the bus.

Inside Terminal 1

Terminal 1's circular design means distances are short but vertical. The central core holds check-in, arrivals and the shops; the satellites are out on the apron, reached by underground corridors with moving walkways. From the arrivals hall to the CDGVAL platform allow about 5 minutes; from check-in to the furthest satellite gate, 10 to 15 minutes once you are through security.

Reading the map in words: levels, roads, car parks and stations

Airport maps show the terminals as flat shapes, but at CDG the important information is vertical. Here is how each terminal is stacked.

Terminal 2, halls A to F

Every hall in the main Terminal 2 chain follows the same logic: departures upstairs, arrivals downstairs, with two roads stacked on top of each other to match. Cars dropping a departing passenger take the upper road and stop at the departures kerb; cars collecting someone use the lower level, where the arrivals halls open onto the car parks and the taxi ranks. If a driver takes the wrong ramp you end up on the wrong floor of the right building — a classic five-minute detour.

Each pair of halls has its own covered car park beside it: PAB for 2A and 2B, PCD for 2C and 2D, PEF for 2E and 2F. The railway station, Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV, is in the middle of the chain between the C/D and E/F pairs, underneath the Sheraton; the Terminal 2 CDGVAL station is beside it. Reading the map from west to east: 2A/2B, the PAB car park, 2C/2D, the PCD car park, the station and hotel, 2E/2F, the PEF car park, then a gap, then 2G with its own car park, PG.

Terminal 2G

A small, single-level regional hall east of 2F, outside the main loop of roads. It has its own drop-off, its own small car park and its own shuttle bus to 2F. It is the one part of Terminal 2 where a car is genuinely quicker than anything else, because every other way out passes through the bus.

Terminal 1

A ring with a hollow centre, crossed by the famous glass escalator tubes. Departures and arrivals are on different floors of the ring, and the satellites are reached from the departures level by corridors under the apron. The P1 car park is at the foot of the building; the CDGVAL station is at the lower level, signposted from the arrivals hall. Because the building is round, "the other side of the terminal" is always a walk around the ring, never across it — unless you take the tubes through the middle.

Terminal 3 and Roissypôle

Terminal 3 is a one-storey hall with check-in and arrivals a few metres apart. Walk out and you are on the Roissypôle plaza: the Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1 RER B station and the CDGVAL station are a few minutes away under cover, the bus station is on the same plaza, and the Roissypôle hotels are around it. The P3 car park is adjacent, and the PR long-stay car park is one CDGVAL stop away.

The road system

Arriving by car, the airport presents itself as a motorway interchange with signs for Terminal 1, Terminal 3 / Roissypôle, Terminal 2A-2C, 2B-2D, 2E-2F and 2G. That split is the piece of information to have ready: the two sides of Terminal 2 are served by separate ramps, and a driver who takes "2A-2C" for a passenger flying from 2D has to loop round again. Have the hall letter from your boarding pass, not just "Terminal 2".

The two railway stations at CDG

Charles de Gaulle has two stations and their names are the source of endless confusion, because neither is called what you expect.

Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV — inside Terminal 2

The main station. It sits in the middle of the Terminal 2 chain, between halls 2C/2D and 2E/2F, under the Sheraton hotel. It is served by the RER B into Paris (Gare du Nord, Châtelet–Les Halles, Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame, Denfert-Rochereau) and by TGV and other high-speed trains that bypass central Paris altogether: Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Nantes, Rennes and other French cities. For anyone heading to the regions this is a far better option than crossing Paris to a city-centre station.

From 2E, 2F, 2C or 2D it is a few minutes on foot by covered walkway; from 2A or 2B count 10 to 15 minutes; from 2G, take the shuttle bus to 2F first. Signs read "Gare SNCF / RER" or "Trains".

Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1 — at Terminal 3 / Roissypôle

Despite its name, this station is not inside Terminal 1. It is on the Roissypôle plaza beside Terminal 3, a few minutes' covered walk from the Terminal 3 doors and one CDGVAL stop from Terminal 1. It is served by the RER B only — no TGV. If you are flying from Terminal 1 and arriving by RER, get off here and take the CDGVAL; if you are flying from Terminal 2, stay on the train one more stop.

The RER B from either station reaches Gare du Nord in about 25 to 35 minutes on a direct train, longer on a stopping service; trains run from around 5 am to around midnight, and the airport fare is a special single ticket, roughly €13 at the time of writing. Check the current fare and the night timetable before you rely on it, especially on strike days.

Where to wait for someone, terminal by terminal

Meeting an arriving passenger at CDG is harder than at most airports because the public arrivals areas are long and have several exits. These are the arrangements that actually work.

Terminal 2, halls A to F

Each hall has its own arrivals level, and passengers emerge through automatic doors from the customs area directly into the public hall. Wait in the arrivals hall of the hall printed on the ticket, facing the exit doors from baggage reclaim, not out on the pavement. Two tips save a lot of phone calls: check the hall, not just the terminal — a passenger told "Terminal 2" could come out at any of six halls spread over a kilometre, and the arrivals screens show the hall for each flight; and at 2E, all gates lead to one exit, so whether the aircraft docked at K, L or M there is only one door to watch.

If you must agree a precise spot, pick something fixed and signed — the information desk, a named café, the entrance to the station walkway — rather than "by the doors", because there are usually several.

Terminal 1

Arriving passengers come out into the public arrivals level of the ring through numbered doors spaced around the circle, and the ring is big enough that two people can wait on it without seeing each other. Fix a landmark on the arrivals level — the information desk or the CDGVAL access — and tell the passenger to walk round to it. Do not wait on the roadway outside, where stopping is not allowed.

Terminals 2G and 3

Both are small and simple: one arrivals exit, one public hall. Wait inside — at Terminal 3 the plaza outside is open-air.

Be met at the right door, with your bags carried

A chauffeur booked through us waits inside the arrivals hall of your exact terminal and hall, holding a sign with your name, having tracked your flight so he is there at touchdown rather than at the scheduled time. You receive his name and mobile number before you land; 60 minutes of waiting are included for passport control and the baggage belt; he carries the bags to a car parked in the terminal car park, so there is no crossing of the airport and no search for a number plate at the kerb. Fixed price to Paris from €119.

See CDG transfer prices ↗

Parking and drop-off at CDG, terminal by terminal

The rule that governs everything else: you cannot wait in a car at the kerb at CDG. The roadways in front of the terminals are for stopping only, long enough for a passenger to get out with a suitcase, and they are policed. Anything longer — waiting for someone, meeting a flight, loading slowly — happens in the car parks.

Dropping someone off

In Terminal 2 halls A to F, drive to the upper (departures) road of the hall on the boarding pass and stop at the kerb. At Terminal 1, the departures kerb runs around the ring at the departures level. At 2G and Terminal 3, the drop-off is directly in front of the single building. Each short-stay car park also has a dépose-minute zone which, at the time of writing, gives a short free window — around ten minutes — before charging starts. Check the current free period on parisaeroport.fr, as it has changed over the years.

Picking someone up

Park in the short-stay car park of the hall you are meeting, walk into the arrivals hall, and bring the passenger back to the car. Short-stay parking is charged by the hour and is not cheap, but an hour's ticket costs far less than the fine or the stress of circling the roads.

The car parks, by terminal

  • Terminal 1: P1, covered, at the foot of the terminal. Long stay: PR, one CDGVAL stop away.
  • Terminal 2A / 2B: PAB, covered, between the two halls.
  • Terminal 2C / 2D: PCD, covered, between the two halls.
  • Terminal 2E / 2F: PEF, covered — also the car park for the station and the Sheraton.
  • Terminal 2G: PG, a surface car park beside the hall.
  • Terminal 3: P3, beside the terminal on the Roissypôle side.
  • Long stay for the whole airport: PR and PX, each with its own CDGVAL stop, plus cheaper outlying car parks with bus shuttles. Book long stay online in advance — it is markedly cheaper than paying on the day.

The taxi ranks

Each hall has its own official taxi rank on the arrivals level, signposted "Taxis". Taxis to Paris charge a regulated flat fare: €56 to the Right Bank and €65 to the Left Bank at the time of writing, luggage included. Ignore anyone offering a taxi inside the terminal — only the rank outside and a driver you have booked in advance are legitimate.

How long from landing to the exit, by terminal and origin

The question everyone asks and nobody answers precisely, because it depends on three things: whether the flight came from inside or outside the Schengen area, whether there are checked bags, and which terminal and gate the aircraft docked at. Here are honest ranges, measured from the moment the aircraft stops to the moment the passenger walks into the public hall.

Schengen arrivals, no passport control

Flights from the rest of the EU and the Schengen countries skip border control entirely. Hand luggage only: 10 to 20 minutes, mostly the walk from the gate. With checked bags: 25 to 45 minutes; 2F and 2G handle these quickly, Terminal 1 can be slower because the satellites are further from the belts.

Non-Schengen arrivals, with passport control

  • Terminal 2E (halls K, L, M): 45 to 90 minutes with checked bags. Halls L and M add the airside shuttle before you even reach passport control, and the early-morning long-haul wave produces the longest queues of the day.
  • Terminal 1: 40 to 80 minutes with checked bags; the corridors from the satellites add a few minutes.
  • Terminal 2A/2C, 2B/2D: 30 to 60 minutes with checked bags.
  • Terminal 3: 30 to 50 minutes; the building is small, but there are no air bridges, so a bus from the aircraft is part of the time.

Automated e-gates are open to adults with biometric passports from the EU and a list of other countries including the UK, US, Canada and Australia, which shortens the wait considerably. Non-EU travellers are now registered in the European Entry/Exit System on first entry, which adds time on busy days.

Rule of thumb for someone meeting a flight: for a Schengen flight with bags, head for the arrivals hall about 20 minutes after landing; for a long-haul flight, 45 minutes after landing, and expect to wait.

Finding your way inside: signs, colours and the classic traps

The signage code

Paris Aéroport uses a consistent colour code in all three terminals. Yellow signs are for the flight itself: departures, arrivals, check-in, boarding gates, baggage reclaim, connecting flights. Green signs are for leaving or moving around: exits, trains, CDGVAL, buses, taxis, car parks, hotels. White or neutral signs point to services.

Signs are bilingual with pictograms. The French words that matter: Départs (departures), Arrivées (arrivals), Sortie (exit), Correspondances (connecting flights), Livraison bagages (baggage reclaim), Gare (railway station), Navette (shuttle), Parking (car park) and Porte, which means both "door" in the public areas and "gate" airside.

Traps that catch people every day

  • "Terminal 2" is not an address. Six halls, over a kilometre, two sides of a road. Always travel with the hall letter.
  • The wrong side of Terminal 2. 2A-2C and 2B-2D face each other across the central road and are reached by different ramps. Dropped at 2C when flying from 2D? It is a 10-to-15-minute walk, not a dash across the road.
  • The wrong floor. Departures are upstairs, arrivals downstairs. Meeting someone on the departures level means you will not see them.
  • The station names. "Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1" is at Terminal 3, not Terminal 1.
  • Hall letters change. Airlines move halls for works and seasons; the boarding pass issued on the day is the only source worth trusting.
  • 2G is further than it looks. On the map it appears next to 2F; in practice it is a bus ride.
  • Leaving the secure zone by mistake. If you are connecting, follow the yellow Correspondances signs, never the green Sortie signs.

Leaving CDG for Paris: your options and where to find them

CDG lies about 25 km from the Paris ring road and roughly 35 km from the Eiffel Tower by road. By car, allow 45 minutes on a clear road and up to 1 hour 15 in weekday rush hours, longer on strike days or in heavy rain. Every option below exists at every terminal; what changes is where you find it.

  • Pre-booked chauffeur. The driver waits inside the arrivals hall of your hall with your name on a sign; the car is in the adjacent short-stay car park. Fixed price from €119 to Paris, flight tracked. See the CDG airport transfer page.
  • Taxi. From the official rank outside the arrivals level of each hall. Regulated flat fare: €56 Right Bank, €65 Left Bank at the time of writing. Queues can be long at peak arrival times.
  • RER B. From Aéroport CDG 2 TGV inside Terminal 2, or Aéroport CDG 1 at Terminal 3. About 25 to 35 minutes to Gare du Nord, around €13. The cheapest fast option, but with luggage, stairs and crowded trains it is the least comfortable, and it does not run overnight.
  • Roissybus. The dedicated airport bus to Opéra, stopping at each terminal. Around 60 to 75 minutes depending on traffic.
  • Night buses. Between the end of the RER and the first morning trains, the Noctilien buses link the airport to Paris from Roissypôle and Terminal 2; they are slow and infrequent, so a night arrival is the case where booking a car in advance makes the greatest difference.

Our CDG to Paris guide compares all of these by price, time and comfort for different kinds of traveller.

Frequently asked questions

How many terminals does Paris CDG have and how are they arranged?

Three. Terminal 1 is the round building on the west of the site, Terminal 3 is the small flat building in the middle at Roissypôle, and Terminal 2 is the long chain of seven halls (2A to 2G) on the east. They form an arc around the central road system and are linked by the free CDGVAL shuttle train. Inside Terminal 2 you walk from hall to hall, except to 2G, which has its own shuttle bus.

How far apart are the terminals at CDG?

Terminal 1 is about 3 km by road from Terminal 2, with Terminal 3 roughly in between. None of the three is within walking distance of another; the CDGVAL takes about eight minutes from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 and two to three minutes from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3. Within Terminal 2, the halls from 2A to 2F stretch over more than a kilometre.

Is the CDGVAL free, and what time does it run?

Yes, the CDGVAL is free and needs no ticket. It runs roughly every four minutes from about 4 am to 1 am, calling at Terminal 1, the PR car park, Terminal 3/Roissypôle, the PX car park and Terminal 2. Between about 1 am and 4 am a replacement bus covers the route, more slowly and less often.

How long does it take to walk from Terminal 2E to 2F?

Five to ten minutes. The two halls face each other across the Terminal 2 railway station and are joined by signposted covered walkways; it is the shortest link at the airport. Connecting passengers should follow the yellow Correspondances signs rather than leaving the secure area.

How do I get to Terminal 2G?

By the dedicated shuttle bus from the 2F side, which runs every few minutes; count 10 to 20 minutes door to door. 2G is a separate building beyond 2F, outside the main loop, and cannot be reached on foot from the public areas. From Terminal 1 or 3, take the CDGVAL to Terminal 2, walk to 2F, then take the bus: 35 to 45 minutes in all.

Where is the train station at CDG?

There are two. Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV is inside Terminal 2, between halls 2C/2D and 2E/2F under the Sheraton hotel, and has both the RER B and TGV high-speed trains. Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1 is at Terminal 3/Roissypôle — not inside Terminal 1 — and has the RER B only. From Terminal 1, take the CDGVAL to reach it.

Where do I wait for someone arriving at CDG?

Inside the arrivals hall of the exact hall shown for their flight (2A to 2G, Terminal 1 or Terminal 3), facing the doors from the customs area. Confirm the hall on the arrivals screens, since Terminal 2 alone covers six halls over a kilometre apart. At Terminal 1, agree a fixed landmark on the arrivals level, because passengers emerge through several doors around the ring.

Can I stop outside the terminal to pick someone up?

No. The roadways are for a brief drop-off only and waiting is not allowed. To collect someone, park in the short-stay car park beside their hall (P1, PAB, PCD, PEF, PG or P3) and walk into the arrivals hall; the car parks also have a drop-off zone with a short free period.

How long after landing will my passenger come out?

For a flight from within the Schengen area, 10 to 20 minutes with hand luggage only, 25 to 45 minutes with checked bags. For a flight from outside Schengen (the UK, the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle East), passport control comes first: 45 to 90 minutes at Terminal 2E, 40 to 80 at Terminal 1, 30 to 60 at 2A to 2D, with the longest queues in the early-morning long-haul wave.

Which terminal is my airline in at CDG?

It depends on the airline and sometimes on the route and season, and allocations change. Trust the terminal and hall printed on your boarding pass and the screens on the day. The airline-by-terminal list is a separate guide — see our CDG terminals guide; this page is about the layout of the airport itself.

Related guides

Know the map — then let someone else walk it

Book a flight-tracked CDG transfer from €119: a chauffeur waiting inside the arrivals hall of your exact hall with your name, 60 minutes of waiting included, bags carried to a car parked in the terminal car park, fixed price door to door.

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