The Paris Beauvais Airport is in fact not in Paris nor is it anywhere near Paris.
Officially the Paris Beauvais Tille Airport (code: BVA), also sometimes referred to as the Beauvais-Tille Airport, is located just on the edges of the city of Beauvais in the commune of Tillé.
Depending on which highway you take, Beauvais is about 100km (62 miles) from Paris.
Should You Fly into the Paris Beauvais Airport?
In short, no. If you want to go to Paris, then this is not the best airport for you to fly into.
If you are looking at Ryanair or Wizz Air flights from cities in Europe that are taking you to the Paris Beauvais Airport, it is well worth looking at what other options you have for getting to Paris.
The airport is over 1.5 hours from the center of Paris (it once took me two hours to get from Paris to Beauvais). The cost to take the shuttle bus, which we’ll discuss below, makes the flight significantly more expensive.
So if it’s only a little bit more expensive to fly into Charles de Gaulle or Orly airports, then I would highly recommend saving yourself the time and hassle of the Beauvais airport and booking those other flights instead.
If, however, you are interested in visiting Beauvais or you plan to rent a car from the Beauvais-Tille Airport and want to have a road trip around this area of France, then by all means use this airport and enjoy your exploring.
The duty free shop inside Terminal 1.
Terminals at Beauvais-Tille Airport
There are two terminals at the Paris Beauvais Airport, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.
Nearly all flights leave from and arrive to Terminal 1.
The two terminals are directly beside each other, so if you accidentally go to the wrong one, you are about a 5-minute walk to the entrance of the other terminal.
When you arrive on the shuttle bus from Paris to the Beauvais Airport, you will see a board as you exit the bus terminal area.
The board has a list of all of the flights that are departing that day and it will tell you which terminal to go to. There are signs directing you to the two different terminals. Everything is very clearly marked.
You are quite far from downtown Paris from this airport.
What’s Inside the Paris Beauvais Airport?
There are very few options for food and drinks when you head inside the airport. If you will be flying during mealtime, it would be best for your wallet and your tastebuds to pack some food for yourself.
Before you go through security there are a few cafes and shops where you can grab something either before you fly or once you land.
If your phone is running low on battery and you need to charge it for a few minutes, you will have to do it before going through security.
In the waiting area at the entrance to the terminals, you will find a few places where you can plug electronics in. However, once you go through security there is nowhere inside the terminal for you to charge your phone.
This is also true of the airport WiFi. It works at the entrance of the airport terminal, so before you go through security. Or if you have just arrived at the airport and you have collected your luggage and come out into arrivals. It works there also.
However, once you get through security, the WiFi is incredibly weak and does not really work at all, especially if you are trying to connect on a laptop.
Through security, you will be able to buy some water as well as a few duty-free options. There is one cafe/restaurant inside that has quite expensive food.
There is no water bottle refill machine, but the water that comes out of the taps in the bathrooms is cold so you can refill it there if you have a bottle with you.
It takes over two and a half hours (and over €20) to get from the airport to this beautiful building.
Renting a Car
If you are planning a road trip around France and you are landing in the Paris Beauvais Airport, you have several options to choose from when it comes to renting a car.
At the airport, you’ll find Sixt, Europcar, Thrifty, Dollar Car Rental, and Hertz.
While you can risk waiting until you arrive to book a car, I highly recommend booking in advance to ensure you get a car you want at the best possible price.
I always book my rental cars around Europe on Discover Cars. They often have the lowest prices, they compare all of the rental companies, and they are very clear about what is and isn’t included in your payment.
Check prices and book a rental car with Discover Cars here.
The bus terminal at the Paris Beauvais Airport.
Getting from Paris Beauvais Airport to Paris City Center
If you are not renting a car, there is only one way to get to Paris from the Beauvais Airport, the airport shuttle bus.
The bus operates constantly from the moment the first flight arrives at the airport until after all of the passengers from the last flight have made it safely on the bus.
Their promise is that there will always be a seat available for you if you land at their airport.
They also operate from the wee hours of the morning from Paris back to the Beauvais Airport depending on the time of the first flight of the day.
If you do not pre-book your bus ticket, it costs €18 or €35 for a round-trip ticket. You can purchase these tickets inside the airport from machines that are next to the baggage claim area or you can walk outside, following the signs for buses, and purchase tickets from the counter as well.
The return ticket is an open ticket. You do not have to specify a date for your return to the airport when you purchase it.
If you want to save a few Euros, you can pre-book your tickets on the shuttle bus website here. If you pre-book your ticket, a one-way ticket costs €16.90, and a round-trip ticket costs €29.90.
The bus station in Paris where you get the bus back to the airport.
Shuttle from Paris to Paris Beauvais Airport
The shuttle bus from Paris to the Paris Beauvais Airport is located near the Port Maillot metro station. When you want to take the shuttle, simply get the metro to this station and then follow the signs.
As you are inside the metro station you’ll see signs that point you toward the Paris-Beauvais Airport Shuttle. Once you exit the metro station there are fewer signs to guide you.
Pin this location on Google Maps so that once you exit the metro you can navigate to the bus station. It is about a 2-3 minute walk from the exit of the metro station.
If you already have your return ticket from when you arrived to Paris, then you can get straight in line and hop on the next bus.
If you do not have a ticket, you can go to the left where there are machines to purchase tickets as well as a ticket desk where you can get one from a person at the ticket counter.
If you need to use the bathroom before you get on the bus (it’s a long journey!), there is a toilet in the shopping center across the street. Cross over and enter the shopping center and you’ll see plenty of signs leading you downstairs to the bathrooms.
The line to get on the shuttle bus to get back to the airport from Paris.
Airport Hotels
If you have an early flight from the airport or a late arrival, you may want to consider spending the night right next to the airport so that you can still get a good sleep.
The best and really only hotel airport is the Ibis Budget which is located directly next to the airport entrance. It takes less than 10 minutes from door to door, so you can simply walk from the hotel straight to the airport for your flight.
It is, like the flights that come and go from this airport, very budget.
The rooms are small but clean. The breakfast is surprisingly good and should be had while you are staying here because there is pretty much no other option for food nearby.
Rooms start at €90 per night for a twin room. You can check prices and availability here.