When I was planning my trip to Paris, I knew I just had to take a side trip afterward. My best friend from college lives in Europe, and I hadn’t seen her in 3 years. Everything in Europe is relatively close, and many airlines make it cheap to fly, so I started researching flights from Paris to Italy. This is the article I wish I’d found before I booked my flight, because I wanted to know if it was worth it to fly Ryan Air from Paris Beauvais-Tille.

As a matter of fact, when I booked my flight from Paris to Bari, Italy, I had no idea the Beauvais-Tille airport was so far from the Paris city center. It’s a very good thing I looked into it before the morning of my flight!

So if you’re considering flying Ryan Air from Paris Beauvais-Tille, read this post first. You’ll learn the pros, the cons and all the logistics details you need to decide to fly Ryan Air from Paris Beauvais-Tille.

The pros and cons of flying Ryan Air from Paris Beauvais-Tille

Pros of flying Beauvais-Tille:

Tickets are cheaper. Ryan Air is known as Europe’s cheap airline for a reason: You save beaucoup euros.

The airport is tiny. Beauvais-Tille is itty bitty, which means short security lines and zero confusion. It took me about 5 minutes to get through security there.

Most Ryan Air flights are short. Personally, I don’t need luxury when my flight is less than 2 hours long. I can get by just fine with the basic airline amenities. I’d rather save some money.

Buses don’t need reservations. The shuttle bus leaves 25 minutes after each arriving flight, and there are multiple buses, so you don’t have to worry about being left behind.

It’s easy to find the shuttle. If you’re flying back through Beauvais-Tille, it’s super-easy to find the shuttle back to Paris. It’s about a 5-minute walk from the baggage claim to the bus.

Level 10 travel tip: There’s a Starbucks where the bus picks you up at Beauvais-Tille. I was thrilled to see it and order a 20-ounce hot tea. (Why is it so hard to get decent tea in Paris?)

Cons of flying Beauvais-Tille:

There’s no direct public transportation to Beauvais-Tille. You can take the metro directly to Orly, but not so for Beauvais-Tille. You’ll have to take the metro (or a taxi/Uber) to the Beauvais-Tille shuttle bus stop, then ride the bus the rest of the way.

Beauvais-Tille is far from the Paris city center. It’ll take you about two hours to get to Beauvais-Tille, as opposed to about 30 minutes to Orly. (Make sure to look up directions and time estimates early, as trip times will vary depending on where you’re staying in Paris.)

Ryan Air charges for everything. There’s a reason Ryan Air is cheap: they’re cheap! You won’t get snacks, drinks or water on the flight, and you’ll have to pay for any carry-on bigger than a day backpack.

If you’re late, you’ll pay a fortune. If you miscalculate and end up having to take a taxi, expect to pay between 150-200 euros for a cab ride. It’s far!

Beauvais-Tille is bare bones. As I mentioned before, this Paris airport is small, so don’t expect a ton of services, shops and amenities. There was one cafe and one duty-free shop next to my Ryan Air gate and that was it.

How to make the most of flying Ryan Air from Paris Beauvais-Tille

Now that you’ve researched if it’s worth it to fly Ryan Air from Paris Beauvais-Tille, you might have decided to do what I did and click “buy” on those cheap flights! If that’s the case, follow these tips to make the most of flying Ryan Airport from Beauvais-Tille.

Watch out for upcharges on Ryan Air

When you check in, Ryan Air wants to charge you for all sorts of extras: picking your seat, walking through priority lines, an extra carry-on, etc etc etc. If you choose all these add-ons, your flight will be just as expensive as other airlines.

Be mindful of your carry-on

Ryan Air has strict rules about carry-ons: You can bring only one carry-on bag for free. And these are not American-sized carry-ons; they’re talking about a backpack or purse. If you want to bring two bags on, you have to pay extra.

Know where you’re going to catch the airport bus

I didn’t know exactly where the pickup spot for the Beauvais-Tille bus was, so I ended up wandering around with my roll-aboard for a while. Use this address in your google maps on your phone: 22-24 Boulevard Pershing, Paris. Or download this image onto your phone and navigate from there. The bus stop is within easy walking distance from the Porte Maillot stop on the metro and the RER.

Budget time to arrive to Beauvais-Tille

Plan ahead to figure out when you should leave for Paris Beauvais-Tille. Start at the time you want to arrive at the Paris airport and work backwards from there. Build in a time cushion for any hiccups (like the metro stop that stopped service without warning when I was headed to my Ryan Air flight).

Buy your shuttle bus ticket

There’s no need to buy your shuttle ticket ahead of time; you can buy your ticket from the automatic kiosk at the bus stop. When I arrived at the shuttle stop, there was quite a long line to buy a ticket from the cashier, who accepted cash, so pay with a card instead at the automatic kiosk. You’ll save a ton of time.

Level 10 travel tip: You can buy a round-trip ticket if you like, though you won’t save any money. (It’s the same price as two one-ways.) If you don’t buy a round-trip (which I didn’t—I was afraid of losing the paper ticket by accident), you can buy your return bus ticket in the baggage claim at Beauvais-Tille when you land.

Use free public wifi

The Beauvais-Tille shuttle bus doesn’t have wifi, but the airport does. I was able to log on to the free public wifi and work for a bit before flying Ryan Air from Beauvais-Tille.

Bottom line: Beauvais-Tille saves money but not time

The beginning of this blog post was a spoiler alert: I did end up flying Ryan Air from Paris Beauvais-Tille. I was traveling solo, and Ryan Air had a cheap direct flight to Bari, where I was meeting my friend. That doesn’t mean I’d recommend this route for everyone.

Go ahead and fly Ryan Air from Paris Beauvais-Tille if:

• you’re on a tight budget
• you’re flying alone or with a small group of other adventurous travelers
• Ryan Air offers a better, more direct route to your destination
• you have time to kill or can use the transportation time well, e.g. by working

But don’t fly Ryan Air from Paris Beauvais-Tille if:

• you’re on a tight timeline
• you’re traveling with young children
• you can get a similarly priced flight from Charles de Gaulle or Orly
• you have a lot of luggage

Regardless of how you fly, travel safely, and bon voyage!

Have you ever flown Ryan Air? What did you think about the European discount airline?