How early should you get to Orly Airport?

🛡️ What happens between the terminal door and the gate

If you have a hold bag, the first stop is the check-in desk or a self-service kiosk. Paris Aéroport says the kiosks open five hours before take-off. Then comes security, in three steps. Your bags and belongings go into trays, you show your boarding pass, and you walk through the gate when the officer waves you on. Liquids are still limited to 100 ml per container, all in one clear bag of one litre, and laptops and tablets travel in a tray of their own.

Flights leaving the Schengen area add a border check. Holders of a biometric passport from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, aged 18 or over, can use the PARAFE automatic gates. Some other nationalities are eligible too, and everyone else queues at a police booth. Since October 2025, travellers from outside the EU on a short stay are also recorded in the new Entry/Exit System, with a photo and fingerprints. It was rolled out at Orly in stages and has run in full on departures since 10 April 2026, so the first time you meet it, allow a little more time.

Paris Aéroport does not publish live waiting times for these checks, and we would rather not guess at them. The honest answer is that they change with the hour, the season and the number of flights leaving together.

🚖 How long it takes to reach Orly from Paris

By road, Orly lies some 17 km south of Châtelet. We checked Google Maps for a Monday, from Place du Châtelet, with its usual traffic. Leaving at 4 am, the drive is given as 16 to 24 minutes. At 8 am it grows to 22 to 40 minutes, and at 6 pm to 26 to 50 minutes. Our drivers see the same thing every day. The roads towards Orly stay busy from the morning rush until about 9 pm, and a single accident on the A6 or the ring road can stretch any of those figures.

By public transport, metro line 14 is now the quick option. It runs from central Paris straight to the airport in about 25 minutes, with a train every 6 to 15 minutes. The Orlybus that many old guides mention has not run since 3 March 2025. Paris Aéroport now points travellers to metro 14, or to the RER B with the Orlyval shuttle.

Taxis, and ride apps like Uber, Bolt and Heetch, all go to Orly as well. Hail a taxi or open an app on the day, though, and you learn whether a car is free only at the moment you ask for one.

⏱️ Flying at dawn, before the first metro

Orly is closed to flights at night. The French environment ministry gives its curfew as 11.30 pm to 6 am, so the first departures of the day leave from about 6 o’clock. Apply the two-hour rule to a 6.30 am flight and you need to be at the terminal by 4.30.

Public transport does not fit that timetable. The RATP gives 5.30 am as the start of service on metro line 14 towards Orly, and on a Saturday morning Google Maps showed the first trip from Châtelet reaching the airport at 6.17. Orlyval starts at 6 am. Four Noctilien night bus lines, the N22, N31, N131 and N139, do run through the night between Orly and Châtelet or Gare de Lyon, stopping along the way, with your luggage on board beside you.

That leaves three realistic choices for a dawn flight. You can book a ride in advance, with a private driver or a taxi company, open a ride app at 3 am and see whether a driver is close by, or spend the night before in a room right next to the terminals.

ℹ️ The evening before your flight

Most of the stress at the airport can be taken care of at home, the night before.

• • Check in online if your airline allows it. Some open it as early as 30 days ahead, and easyJet keeps it open until two hours before departure
• • Check your terminal in the airline’s app, then look again on the morning you fly, since the app has the latest information
• • Write down the time your airline closes check-in and count back from it, then add the travel time for that hour of the day
• • Pack liquids in one clear one-litre bag and keep it on top of your hand luggage
• • For a non-Schengen destination, check that your passport is valid for the whole trip and see whether you can use the PARAFE gates
• • If you travel with children, a lot of bags or someone who needs assistance, add time. Both long-haul airlines at Orly 4 ask passengers who need help to come at least two hours before departure

Turning up very early does not always help either. On those long-haul flights the counters open four hours before take-off, and your suitcase has to wait until then.

🚖 If you would rather be driven to Orly

We are a private driver company based in the Val d’Yerres, south-east of Paris and a short drive from Orly. If you book a car with us, you choose the pickup time yourself, knowing your flight and your airline’s deadline, and we collect you from home, at any hour of the day or night. Transfers between Paris and Orly start from €59, a price fixed when you book.

At Orly, we normally pull into the professional car park beside your terminal, though a stop at the kerb is fine if you would rather. Our drivers are chosen with care and know the car parks and access roads of every Orly terminal. On request, your driver will help you carry your luggage as far as the check-in desk. The airport parking fees are ours to pay.

A few other details matter to travellers. A child seat costs nothing, just mention it when you book, cancelling is free as long as the pickup is still 24 hours or more away, and our drivers speak English. For the return, we follow your flight, and if it lands late the driver waits for up to two hours at no charge.