We were excited during our last Disneyland Paris trip to finally try an off-site stay for the bulk of our visit. Staying off-site can be a little intimidating for someone without much foreign travel experience. Your best options aren’t in the big city (Paris), and you’re leaving the “Disney bubble.” But you can save big $$$, which is what makes this an option worth considering. So read on to learn all about staying at off-site hotels and Airbnbs when visiting Disneyland Paris!
Why Stay Off-Site?
Money. There may be a few other reasons—some locations will have shorter (but not otherwise more convenient) trips to Paris, for example. But really, the reason to stay off-site is money.
While Disneyland Paris often has package offers that can produce reasonably priced vacations, these won’t always be available during your trip. And complicating things is that you’ll often save more by booking Disney hotels (through a site like Orbitz or Expedia) and tickets separately than by buying a package.
And if you’re a Disneyland Paris annual passholder, packages are never appealing. Disney offers some passholders discounts on hotels, but these are restrictive.
On-Site vs. Off-Site Prices
So there are a few reasons you might not want to stay at a Disneyland Paris hotel for your visit, but the main one is price. Here’s a look at some nightly rates for a three-night March weekend stay:
Disneyland Hotel: $501
Disney’s Sequoia Lodge: $198
Disney’s Hotel Cheyenne: $169
(Off-site) Ibis Budget near Val d’Europe Station: $65
(Off-site) Hipark by Adadgio Serris: $88
(Off-site) Airbnb near Val d’Europe Station: $77
Now, if you can get those Hotel Cheyenne or Sequoia Lodge rates, they’re pretty good deals. But it’s also common to see the lowest available rates at these hotels be closer to $250 or $300. It’s common that staying off-site can save you $200 per night.
Losing Extra Magic Time
Disneyland Paris offers Extra Magic Time (also called Extra Magic Hour) at both parks for one hour every day. During this time, only guests of Disney hotels and some annual passholders are allowed to access the park. So, is losing Extra Magic Time a big loss?
Not really. We love Extra Magic Time, but if you’re reading this post you’re presumably at least planning a multi-day visit to the resort. With two days, you shouldn’t have much trouble experiencing everything, even without Extra Magic Time. (With a single night, consider just paying for the Disney hotel.)
While we definitely think guests with access to the time should take advantage, it’s not as huge a perk as at the American Disney resorts.
Off-site Options at Disneyland Paris
There are three main options for staying off-site when visiting Disneyland Paris—anywhere off the RER A, north Serris, and near Val d’Europe.
Airbnbs and Hotels
Before we get to the locations, I just wanted to add that we’re talking in this post about both hotels and Airbnbs. If you’re unfamiliar with Airbnb—the short-term apartment rental service—I recommend reading our guide to Airbnb at Disney World, which talks more about the service generally.
Use our referral link to sign up for Airbnb and you’ll get $40 off your first stay of $75 or more. We’ll get up to $30 for referring you (thanks!).
Option 1: Off the RER A Train Line
For starters, anywhere in or around Paris that puts you near an RER A station (east of Paris) is convenient for getting to Disneyland Paris. We’ve covered the RER A train trip from Paris to Disneyland Paris in a separate post, but the journey takes about 35 minutes from central Paris.
If you stay off the RER A between Paris and Disneyland Paris, you’ll have lower prices than at either of the two, and an average 20-minute train ride to both. Staying west of Paris near the RER A will leave you with an easy, but long trip to the parks.
Option 2: Northern Edge of Serris
Options 2 and 3 are very similar. Just south of Disneyland Paris are two towns, Serris and Montevrain, and an RER A train station, Val d’Europe. In this area, you can either stay close enough to walk to the parks or use a free shuttle, or you can stay closer to the train station. Here’s an annotated map of the area (Disneyland Paris is the top of the map):
Original Map Copyright Google
We’ll start with the walking / shuttle option. Serris, France is the town immediately south of Disneyland Paris. The northern edge of Serris has several accommodations that are walkable or have a free shuttle to Disneyland Paris. (The shaded red box in the above image shows the area I’m talking about—it’s not an official area, just roughly where you’d want to stay.)
From this area, you can easily walk to Disneyland Paris. I’ve never made this walk, but you can see in various reviews of Airbnbs and hotels that the walk takes about 20 minutes. The area is well-documented on Google Street View if you want to see what it looks like.
The northern edge of Serris is about a 15 minute walk from the Val d’Europe train station, which is the other landmark to stay near in the area, discussed next.
As for the shuttle…I’m not 100% sure. The Hipark by Adagio Serris and the Hotel l'Elysee Val d'Europe both advertise having a free shuttle to Disneyland Paris, and I’m given to understand they share the shuttle. There’s a schedule available here.
That said, several nearby Airbnb listings reference the shuttle, and it’s clear that many people who aren’t guests of these hotels take the shuttle (here’s an example of a nearby Airbnb listing that references taking a free shuttle). If you have any additional information about this shuttle (or these shuttles?) let everyone know in the comments.
Option 3: Near Val D’Europe Station
While we mentioned “any” RER A station to start, the station closest to Disneyland Paris (other than its own Marne-la-Vallée—Chessy station) is Val d’Europe Station. That station is one stop from the Marne-la-Vallée—Chessy station at Disneyland Paris.
By I, Rcsmit, CC BY-SA 3.0 (source)
The Val d’Europe station is at the northwest edge of Serris. Most nearby hotels and Airbnbs are technically in Montevrain, though. The station is a 35-minute walk from Disneyland Paris or a 2-minute train ride. We’ll talk more about the train journey in our next section.
There are several hotels near Val d’Europe Station:
Hôtel ibis budget Marne la Vallée Val d'Europe
Residhome Val d'Europe
Hôtel ibis Marne la Vallée Val d'Europe
Hôtel l'Élysée Val d'Europe
In addition there are plenty of Airbnb options in the area. If booking an Airbnb, always read reviews to see how close the apartment is to the train station.
Stating Offsite in Serris / Near Val d’Europe
Now let’s talk a little more specifically about stays in Serris and near Val d’Europe.
Note: Val d’Europe and Google Maps
Google Maps uses the front entrance of the Val d’Europe station, which can add up to 8 minutes to its walking directions from the other side. A second entrance is found just outside Hôtel ibis budget Marne la Vallée Val d'Europe. It looks like this:
Copyright Google
La Vallée Village
La Vallée Village is an open-air outlet mall. Since it caters mostly to higher-end brands, the prices might not ring as “outlet” prices to many tourists. We’ve never been to La Vallée Village, but it has an entrance 2 minutes walking from the Val d’Europe Station and is about 5 minutes walking from the northern edge of Serris.
Val d’Europe to Paris
Given that it’s only 2 minutes closer to Paris than Marne-la-Vallée—Chessy, there’s not much of a perk to staying here vs. Disneyland Paris for visiting Paris. That said, if you were comparing a stay at the Ibis Budget near Val d’Europe to, say, Hotel Cheyenne, you could save a total of 30 minutes minutes walking both directions, which is something.
Getting from Val d’Europe to Disneyland Paris
The ride on the RER A between Val d’Europe and Marne-la-Vallée—Chessy takes about 2 to 3 minutes and costs 1.95 Euro. This means a family of four will spend an extra $20 or so every day on transit compared to staying at Disneyland Paris or at a hotel with a walking / free shuttle option.
During peak hours, the trains run every five minutes, but ten and fifteen minute gaps happen, too. You can check live train times online and via the RATP app.
With the ability to track times, if you were to stay at the Ibis Budget, which is literally a one minute walk from the station, you could probably get to Marne-la-Vallée—Chessy in five minutes, ten tops.
By comparison, Hotel Cheyenne is about a 15-minute walk from Marne-la-Vallée—Chessy, and Sequoia Lodge is about 10 minutes.
Coming from any of these locations, you’ll have to pass through security to access Disney Village and the parks. Security lines from the Disney hotels and from Marne-la-Vallée—Chessy are pretty comparable. Marne-la-Vallée—Chessy has more people but more gates.
Our Airbnb Experience Near Disneyland Paris
For a recent trip, we stayed at an Airbnb near Val d’Europe. I booked the trip about two months in advance, and my hotel dates were locked in my low flight prices. The best availability at Disneyland Paris was around $250 to $300 nightly, which I wasn’t interested in…
…Okay so actually I traded the $200 nightly for a single night at Disneyland Hotel ($500-ish) and the Airbnb stay.
Our Airbnb was a small studio with just a pull-out sofa bed for the two of us. The total price was $230 for three nights. That $77 nightly rate was over $150 better than anything Disney was offering, and came to about $500 savings over the three nights.
Our apartment was about a 5-minute walk from Val d’Europe. I didn’t use the real-time train tracking, but the trip from our apartment to the park gates took about 15 minutes plus any time waiting for the train.
There are a few small things from this experience I wanted to note for people considering this option.
First, RER A trains aren’t 24-hour. This won’t be a problem for most guests, as the last train is usually after midnight, but if you’re planning a wild night in Disney Village you may need to account for a backup travel plan.
Second, the station is pretty quiet late at night. While La Vallée Village has a lot of tourists heading to and boarding the trains, the other side of the station—where most of the hotels and Airbnbs are—gets really quiet at night.
Conclusions
Staying off-site at Disneyland Paris is a great way to save on the budget without compromising much in terms of ease of access to the parks.
You’ll lose Extra Magic Time, but if you’re visiting multiple days that isn’t a huge loss. While we’ve staying near Val d’Europe, I’d really like to try northern Serris and see what this walk (and shuttle) is like.
Either way, if you saw those Disneyland Paris hotel prices and your jaw dropped, fear not, a stay off-site is a perfectly fine option!
All Your Other Disneyland Paris Planning Questions Answered
Don’t be overwhelmed by Disneyland Paris planning! Take a second to check out our most important content! Just starting out? Check out our Disneyland Paris Trip Planning Guide. Need to know how much this is going to take out of your pocket? We’ve got a post on How Much it Costs to Go to Disneyland Paris.
Know what to ride with our: Disneyland Paris Rides Guide and Walt Disney Studios Park Rides Guide. And just as important, know how to get on the best rides without the wait with our Guide to Disneyland Paris Premier Access! For the complete guides to a day at the park, we have a One Day Disneyland Paris Itinerary and a Walt Disney Studios Park Itinerary.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.