Milan Paris
Milan and Paris each have three airports in the mix, producing six pairings that range from a quick cab-and-fly to a half-day project involving two long bus rides.
If you are in central Milan, fly from Linate. It is a short cab ride from the city. Linate to Charles de Gaulle runs several times daily on ITA Airways, Air France, and easyJet. If you are headed to the south side of Paris, Linate to Orly runs daily on easyJet and ITA and puts you closer. Both flights are about an hour and a half.
If Malpensa works better for you, Malpensa to Charles de Gaulle is the highest-frequency pairing on the route. Air France and easyJet fly it, with departures about every hour.
Ryanair flies Bergamo to Beauvais daily. The ticket price will be low. The ground transport will eat the savings. Bergamo is 30 miles from Milan, Beauvais is 55 miles from Paris. Budget a 60 to 90 minute bus on each end, plus the bus fare. A cheap easyJet fare from Linate or Malpensa often comes out the same with half the travel time.
La Compagnie operates Malpensa to Orly on an all-business A321neo. If you want a lie-flat seat to Paris without paying Air France business class prices, this is the only carrier on the route that offers one.
The train from Milan to Paris takes about seven hours. The flight is 90 minutes. Unless you want a stop in Turin or Lyon, fly.
easyJet covers four of the six airport pairings on this route. Pick whichever airports work on each end and easyJet will be there, so one carrier's route map does not lock you into a longer ground commute.
Have a specific need? Use the decision guide below to filter by your airline, where you live, lounges, or where you're staying in Paris.
Pick What Matters to You
Best pair by where you're coming from
Best pair by where you're staying in Paris
Which pair your airline flies nonstop
| Airline | MXP–CDG | LIN–CDG | MXP–ORY | LIN–ORY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| easyJet | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Air France | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Ryanair | — | — | — | — |
| La Compagnie | — | — | ✓ | — |
| ITA Airways | — | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| SkyAlps | — | — | — | — |
| Transavia France | — | — | ✓ | — |
Ranked by on-time performance
Lounge access by airport and terminal
Ranked by flights per week
Getting to the airport
Red-eye vs daytime departures
Premium cabin options
Connecting through Milan from a domestic flight
Six nonstop airport pairs connect Milan and Paris, with departures throughout the day. Adding a connection through a third city wastes hours on a 90-minute flight. The only case where a connection makes sense is if you need a single ticket onward from Charles de Gaulle or Orly, with baggage transfer and rebooking protection if the first leg runs late.
Milan & Paris Airport Profiles
Each airport has a personality. Terminal quality, transit access, lounge scene, and crowd levels vary dramatically — sometimes more than the flight itself.
Milan Metro
Malpensa has two terminals. Terminal 1 handles the majority of scheduled flights. Terminal 2 serves select carriers and sits a shuttle ride away. Check your terminal before leaving for the airport. The walk from security to far gates in Terminal 1 can take 15 minutes.
The airport sits 31 miles northwest of Milan in open countryside. The Malpensa Express train station is built into Terminal 1, making the rail connection to the city straightforward. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout both terminals.
Linate is Milan's city airport, five miles from the Duomo. A single terminal handles all departures. The building is compact. Security lines move quickly on most days, and gates are a short walk from the entrance.
The terminal was renovated in recent years, producing a clean, modern interior. Shopping and food options are limited compared to larger airports. For short European flights, the speed of getting in and out more than compensates.
Bergamo Orio al Serio is a single-terminal airport built for volume. Budget carriers fill the departure boards. The terminal is functional rather than comfortable, with basic food options and limited seating near gates during peak hours.
The airport sits next to the medieval hilltop town of Bergamo, 28 miles northeast of Milan. Security can back up during morning and evening peaks, so arrive with time. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout.
No high-frequency connections found. Check PMF routes for all options.
Paris Metro
Charles de Gaulle is three airports wearing one name. Terminal 1 is the original 1974 brutalist circle with satellite gates reached through underground tunnels. It handles Star Alliance carriers and has a retro-futurist quality that either fascinates or confuses on first visit. Terminal 2 sprawls across sub-terminals labeled 2A through 2G, the largest section by far, with 2E handling most transatlantic arrivals. Terminal 3 is the budget terminal: basic, separate, and a different experience entirely.
The CDGVAL automated shuttle connects the three terminals in about 8 minutes, but the walk from your gate to the shuttle platform can add another 10. Walking between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 is not realistic without the shuttle. Within Terminal 2, some sub-terminal connections are walkable and others require a bus. Security wait times spike during the morning transatlantic departure push from 2E.
The defining fact about CDG is its distance: 25 kilometers northeast of central Paris. The airport itself is well-equipped, modern in the newer sections, and stocked with restaurants and shops. But everything about your trip includes that commute into the city, which takes longer than many short-haul European flights.
Orly is compact, close to the city, and often overlooked by transatlantic passengers who default to CDG. Four terminals numbered 1 through 4 handle a mix of domestic, European, and a handful of long-haul flights. The terminals connect to each other on foot, no shuttle trains or underground tunnels required, which is a genuine relief if you have ever navigated CDG.
The international arrival areas are smaller and immigration moves faster than at CDG. The terminal buildings are functional rather than architecturally ambitious, though recent renovation has added polish to the arrivals hall and retail areas. It lacks the scale and lounge options of CDG, but what it trades in size it gains in speed.
Orly sits 13 kilometers south of central Paris. For anyone staying on the Left Bank or in the southern arrondissements, the ground transfer advantage over CDG is significant: half the distance, half the cost, and less time stuck on the motorway. The airport operates under an overnight curfew, so late-night departures and early-morning arrivals are not an option.
Beauvais-Tillé is a single-terminal airport 55 miles north of Paris. The distance from the city makes it a budget carrier outpost rather than a true Paris airport. Facilities are minimal: a few cafés, limited seating, and no transit rail link. Expect long queues at peak hours in a building not designed for the volume it sometimes handles.
No jet bridges at most gates. You walk across the tarmac to your aircraft. Check-in counters and security share the same compact space. If your flight is delayed, there is not much to do inside.
Châlons Vatry sits about 90 miles east of Paris in the Champagne countryside. It is a Paris airport in name only. The facility started as a military airfield and handles very little scheduled passenger traffic. A single small terminal covers check-in, security, and boarding in a space that feels closer to a regional bus station than an airport.
If this airport appears in search results for Paris flights, check the ground transport situation before booking. Getting to central Paris takes over two hours by road, and there is no rail connection from the airport.
No high-frequency connections found. Check XCR routes for all options.
Which Airlines Fly Which Pairs
Air France and easyJet serve both MXP and LIN to CDG — airport flexibility on the Milan side.
Not all planes are the same size. The aircraft type below each checkmark tells you whether you are getting a widebody (777, 787, A350) with wider seats and a quieter ride, or a narrowbody (737, A321) with a single aisle. On flights over five hours, the difference is significant.
A320, E190
A220-300, A320
A319, A321neo
A220-300, A319
A321neo
737-800
A319, A320
A319, A320
A319, A320
A320