Paris layover guide

Getting around from the crew hotel

From CDG hotels, the free CDGVAL shuttle and hotel buses feed the RER B station at Terminal 3/Roissypole; the RER B runs into Gare du Nord, Chatelet-Les Halles and Saint-Michel in 30-40 minutes. Buy a Navigo Easy card once and load it with t+ fares or a day pass from the machines, or simply use contactless where the network supports it. Watch the departure boards: some RER B trains run express to Gare du Nord, others stop everywhere - take the express.

In the city, the metro is dense enough that you are never more than a few hundred metres from a station, but central Paris is genuinely small: Opera to the Louvre is a 15-minute walk, the Louvre to Notre-Dame another 20 along the river. Lines 1 (Louvre, Champs-Elysees) and 4 (Saint-Michel, Montmartre side) do most of the tourist work. Last metros run around 12:45am weekdays, 1:45am weekends; after that it is Noctilien night buses or a pricey taxi back to CDG, so plan the last RER B (around midnight) with respect.

The 24-hour plan

The Seine walk is the layover masterstroke. Start at Notre-Dame (the cathedral has reopened; the forecourt and towers area are worth even a short visit), cross to the Left Bank, drift through the Latin Quarter and Saint-Germain, then follow the river past the Musee d'Orsay to the Pont Alexandre III - the most photogenic bridge in Europe - and finish at the Eiffel Tower gardens at golden hour. Every step of that route is free.

Evening: head to Le Marais for narrow streets, falafel on Rue des Rosiers and bars that do not care what time zone you are in, or climb Montmartre for the Sacre-Coeur steps at sunset - go up via the quieter Rue Lepic side and keep a hand on your phone in the crowds. Dinner at a bouillon (see below) and one glass of wine at a zinc-countered cafe completes the exercise. Paris rewards the crew member who does one arrondissement well over the one who taxis between five.

Eat well on a per diem

The bouillon is the crew secret weapon: historic workers' canteens serving classic French food - onion soup, duck confit, creme caramel - at almost cafeteria prices. Bouillon Chartier (Grands Boulevards, near the Opera crew hotels), Bouillon Pigalle and Bouillon Republique all do dinner for the cost of a London sandwich meal deal, no reservations, queues that move fast. Lunch strategy: the formule (set menu) at any neighbourhood bistro is dramatically cheaper than the same kitchen at dinner.

Beyond that, the boulangerie is your logistics department. A jambon-beurre baguette, an eclair and a bottle of water make a museum-day lunch for pocket change; note that many bakeries take cards only above a minimum. Supermarkets (Monoprix, Franprix) sell excellent cheese, wine and ready food for a hotel-room picnic - a legitimate and honourable Paris layover dinner when the fatigue is winning. Coffee at the counter (au comptoir) is officially cheaper than at a table; the crew move is standing espresso, then walking on.

• Bouillon Chartier, 7 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre: full French dinner, tiny bill, big atmosphere
• L'As du Fallafel, Rue des Rosiers: the Marais falafel benchmark
• Any boulangerie formule: sandwich, pastry, drink for well under 10 euros
• Marche des Enfants Rouges, Le Marais: oldest covered market, global food stalls
• Rue Cler or Rue Mouffetard for classic market-street grazing

If you have 48 hours

Day two earns you a museum, and the smart pick is the Musee d'Orsay over the Louvre for a layover: impressionists, one glorious converted railway station, doable in two hours. Book a timed ticket online the night before. Alternatively the Orangerie (Monet's water lilies, 90 minutes flat) or the Rodin Museum's sculpture garden give maximum art per unit of jet lag. First Sundays of the month are free at many national museums - and correspondingly crowded.

Then choose a slower quarter: Canal Saint-Martin for iron footbridges, brunch spots and a young local crowd; the Palais-Royal gardens and covered passages (Galerie Vivienne) for rainy-day elegance; or Pere Lachaise cemetery for a genuinely moving wander among Chopin, Wilde and Piaf. If you must do the Louvre, go at the Wednesday or Friday late opening, pick one wing, and forgive yourself for skipping the rest.

Crew-specific notes

Roissy-based crews: the village of Roissy-en-France itself has a decent boulangerie, a pharmacy and a couple of restaurants, and the Aeroville mall (free shuttle) covers cinema, supermarket and food-court needs when the city is too much. Time your return conservatively - RER B suffers strikes and works, and the last comfortable train back leaves the city around midnight. Downtown crews around Opera are perfectly placed: Galeries Lafayette's free rooftop terrace is five minutes away and its food hall solves gifts and dinner in one stop. Sunday closures still bite in France: many shops and some restaurants shut, but museums, bakeries (mornings) and the Marais stay open.