Paris Airport Connections: Guide to CDG Terminal 2 Layovers

Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport(CDG) is the busiest airport in the EU. This is mostly due to the massive Air France hub located here at their home airport. Unfortunately, CDG also has somewhat of a reputation as a difficult and time consuming airport to connect at. If you’re flying with Air France (or their Skyteam partner airlines like Delta), and you need to make a connection within Europe, there’s a high probability that you’ll have a layover in CDG at Terminal 2.

I’ve transited CDG lots of times. Sometimes a CDG Layover is butter smooth and a fantastic experience. Other times it’s a nightmare and very frustrating. The biggest decider is the amount of time between flights.

Bottom Line: With lots of time, CDG is a very pleasant experience with lots of amenities to take advantage of. On a short CDG layover, it can be panicking and downright unpleasant. CDG does have 2 other terminals, 1 and 3, but Air France doesn’t use them and you’d be unlikely to make a connection at those.

In This Guide

CDG Airport Terminal 2 Layout

This whole thing is CDG Terminal 2. Terminal 2 at CDG is made up of 9 different piers. These are labeled 2A-2G. What’s a little more confusing is that CDG Terminal 2E is also divided into 3 different piers labeled K,L, and M.

The good news is that all of the CDG Terminal 2 piers are connected to each other via a system of trams, trains, and busses. The bad news is that these transfers are time consuming.

There is plenty of signage to direct you to the correct gates, walking is possible between some of the 2E and 2F piers, but the others will require a bus or tram. There are plenty of maps of of CDG Terminal 2, bu I really recommend following the signage. Depending on what flights you’re taking there is also security and passport control between different boarding piers.

Getting around CDG Airport Terminal 2

As you can see, CDG Terminal 2 is a very large complex of buildings. There’s no hard and fast rule for how you get between the different gates at Terminal 2. Some of the time you can just walk. Others will require a bus. Yet some different ones will require a tram.

The important thing to remember is to follow the signs. It’s very easy to get turned around and loose track of where you are. If you follow the signs you will make it to the right place. It might involve some walking and then a tram/bus but you will find the correct gate. When transferring between the different piers, you might have to clear security or passport control. Most of the piers have their own check points, there isn’t a central area that you’ll be shuffled to.

Give yourself plenty of time to transfer piers and I won’t transfer piers unnecessarily. No lounge or restaurant is worth the effort for me to change terminals.

CDG Airport Terminal 2 Security and Passport Control

Broadly, CDG has two different types of departure gates, Schengen and Non-Schengen gates. These gates are separated into the different terminals. For example 2F and 2G contain only Schengen gates and 2E only has Non-Schengen gates. So if you were arriving from Canada(Non-Schengen) at 2E and transiting to Germany(Schengen) at 2F you would have to pass through both Security and Passport control.

• A good rule of thumb is if you’re arriving into the Schengen area you’ll have to pass through security then passport control.
• If you’re leaving the Schengen area, you’ll have to go through passport control but no security.
• If you’re not entering or exiting the Schengen area, just transiting through without entry, you won’t pass through passport control, but you might have security, depending on the departure airport.

Don’t worry too hard about this. You cannot do it wrong. As you move from your arrival gate to the departure gate at CDG Terminal 2, you will be required to do all of the right steps in the right order. You cannot screw it up.

The security lines can be long at CDG. There is a priority lane for use by Sky Priority customers. There’s often a person checking boarding passes to direct you to the correct location too.

Passport control is also a somewhat slow affair. Many people can use the electronic gates here at CDG, including US and Canadian passport holders, but this can also be time consuming.

CDG Airport Terminal 2 Minimum Connection Time

Here’s where CDG get’s weird. Minimum connection time is really difficult to judge and it mostly depends on if you need to pass through passport control and/or security. This is a very large uncertainty when your arriving or departing on an international flight. I’ve had trips where getting through all the necessary steps took less than 5 minutes. Other times it’s taken about an hour.

In my opinion, Air France(and all of Skyteam) will schedule connection times that are too tight for the average traveler. Even as a somewhat seasoned traveler, there are legal connections at CDG that make me nervous. Sometimes this isn’t an issue as there are later flights and you’ll be re-scheduled, assuming you’re on a single ticket. Other times this can lead to a serious delay in your trip if you miss the only or last flight of the day.

Flight Type	Air France Minimum Connection Time	James’ Minimum Connection Time*	Comfortable Connection Time
Schengen to Schengen	45 Minutes	45 Minutes	45 Minutes
Schengen to International	60 Minutes	75 Minutes	90 Minutes
International to Schengen	60 Minutes	90 Minutes	120 Minutes
International to International	60 Minutes	60 Minutes	75 Minutes

*I’d like to make it clear, I’m often willing to make risky connections. I also miss flights because of it. I really do think that the published minimum connection times are too short for flights that involve passing through passport control. There’s just too much variability.

Some connections are easy at CDG, Schengen to Schengen will often just be walking from one gate to another. There’s no security or passport control so it’s pretty constant how long the transfer process will take. International to International also doesn’t involve passport control, just security so the process is also less variable.

CDG Airport Terminal 2 Busses and Trams

Due to the layout of CDG Terminal 2, it’s very probable that you’ll have to change boarding piers during a layover, especially if your connection involves exiting or entering the Schengen Area. To do this, some boarding piers allow you to walk between them, others you’ll have to take a Terminal 2 bus or tram. The important thing to remember here is to pay attention to the signs. You don’t want to end up taking the bus to the wrong terminal. From terminal to terminal there’s often a dedicated bus or tram, make sure you get onto the correct bus. These bus terminals are well staffed and you can ask them any questions.

There is a tram that connects Terminal 2 K, L, and M gates, these are all Non-Schengen gates. There is a security check point between these boarding areas. You can also walk between 2 L and F, but you’ll need to pass through passport control and sometimes security(depending on where you land).

As always, just follow the signs to the correct set of boarding gates to get on the correct CDG Terminal 2 bus or tram. You’ll be queued to the correct area as long as you follow the directions.

CDG Airport Terminal 2 Lounges

CDG is the largest hub in the Air France network. Because of this, there are plenty of Air France Salon Lounges here at CDG. Some are better than others, but as I said before, I wouldn’t transfer terminals or boarding piers just for a lounge. My opinion is that the convenience of being in the correct pier is the primary goal. CDG isn’t ATL and you really don’t want to get stuck waiting in a line just to visit a lounge.

I think the best lounge in CDG is the Air France 2F Schengen Lounge(review here). I also have a review of the 2E-M gates international terminal Air France Lounge(Review). The Air France 2G Schengen Lounge is available for small regional flights too(Review).

CDG Airport Terminal 2 Restaurants and Amenities

CDG Airport Terminal 2 has lots of restaurants and shops to fill your time with during a flight connection. As with most international airports, a good amount of space is allotted to duty free shopping. I’m usually not one to care about duty free but when leaving Europe I like to pick up a bottle of something we cannot get at home.

Scattered through the terminals are all sorts of high end shopping. I’m still not sure who buys luxury items in airports, but someone must or they wouldn’t keep those shops around. For restaurants there are plenty of options from fast sandwich shops, to full service dinning. There are also lots of cafe options for a nice coffee or snack. My suggestion, if you’re just passing through, I wouldn’t say there’s anything remarkable here, but then again, I’ve not tried everything.

CDG Airport Terminal 2 Final Thoughts

CDG Airport is a little bipolar. I’ve had easy fast layovers yet on the other hand, I’ve had connections from hell. Unfortunately I don’t think you’ll ever know what you’ll find at CDG Terminal 2. What I do know, is that with enough time, and a little patients, CDG is nothing to fear. You may have to pass through security or passport control during your layover, the layout can be a little confusing, but if you follow the signs you’ll find your way to the correct boarding pier.

While on your layover at CDG Terminal 2, if you have access, the Air France Salon Lounges are a very nice way to spend a few hours. Some are better than others, I personally really like the Terminal 2F Schengen Lounge. I would not recommend anyone attempt to unnecessarily change Terminals or boarding piers at CDG, it’s just too much effort and the individual piers do sometimes check boarding passes and can deny access.

CDG is a busy airport, it can be a little hectic, but I cannot overstate how much more pleasant the layover experience is when you have enough time. I don’t shy away from a CDG layover with Air France and Skyteam, just be prepared.