Tips for flying to Paris by Ryanair

1. In the baggage claim area of Paris-Beauvais Airport, you can buy tickets for coach services to Paris city center. But they only accept cash. Make sure you have an enough amount of Euro in cash before you board the Ryanair aircraft in your home airport.

2. Make sure you buy a return ticket (28 euro). There is no discount by buying a return rather than a single (14 euro), but you will avoid the long queue to buy a coach ticket when you return to the airport. You don't want to waste your precious time of being in Paris, by waiting to buy a coach ticket.

3. Once you exit the baggage claim area, go straight out of the airport building and walk to the right along the building. The coach to Paris departs from there. The airport map is available on page 8 of the PDF file that you can download from the airport website after clicking Timetable > Passenger's Guide.

4. In 75 minutes, the coach arrives at the bus parking lot near Porte Maillot station, served by Metro Line number 1 (the red line on the Paris Metro Map). Although there is a series of signage that leads you to the east entrance of the station, the west entrance of the station is closer. Head for the large M sign to the right.

5. Paris-Beauvais airport is packed on the Sunday evening when European visitors to Paris all go home by Ryanair and other low-cost airlines. If you need to check-in your luggage, make sure you arrive early.

6. Toilets in Paris-Beauvais airport are badly maintained. The floor is dirty. There's no hook for coats inside the cubicles. If you do need to change your clothes at this airport (say, because you are heading back to icy-cold Nordic countries in winter), use the disabled toilet at the check-in counter side of the airport.

7. Restaurants in Paris-Beauvais airport are not impressive. Try to have your last meal in Paris before you get on the coach.

8. The waiting lounge for boarding passengers is rather small with only a few seats despite a large number of passengers using this airport. Be prepared to keep standing for a while until you board the aircraft.

9. If the budget allows you to do so, avoid flying with Ryanair to Paris. Flying home via Paris-Beauvais airport is such a hassle. And using up your precious time as much as 150 minutes for taking a coach to Paris is a real waste of time, because the French capital makes you stay for as long as possible.

(This is the second-to-last blog post on the weekend trip to Paris in 2010. Click here to the final post.)