Duty-Free & Shopping at Paris CDG Airport

Is there duty-free shopping at Paris CDG airport?

Yes — every terminal at Paris Charles de Gaulle has duty-free and shopping, and there is no minimum spend: you just show your boarding pass at the till. The airport's duty-free is run under the Extime brand (the retail arm of Paris Aéroport, formerly Aelia Duty Free), alongside beauty, fashion, watches, wine and French food boutiques. Almost all of it sits airside — past the security check, and in the non-Schengen halls past passport control too — so you shop after check-in, not in the departures hall.

Duty-free prices (no VAT, no excise duty) apply when your flight leaves the EU customs and tax area — including flights to the United Kingdom since Brexit, and to the French overseas departments and territories. Extime states the offer covers "passengers on international flights (excluding EU zone) or Dom-Tom". Flying inside the EU you pay ordinary French prices in the very same shops, but non-EU residents can still reclaim the VAT afterwards through the détaxe scheme, covered further down.

Duty-free shopping at CDG in brief

• Where: airside in Terminal 1, all of Terminal 2 (halls 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F and the 2G satellite) and Terminal 3.
• Biggest choice: Terminal 1 and Terminal 2E, which handle most long-haul departures and hold the flagship stores.
• Duty-free pricing: only for passengers leaving the EU tax area (UK and DOM-TOM included). EU-bound travellers pay standard prices.
• No minimum, no paperwork: the duty-free price applies from the first euro, on production of a boarding pass.
• Tax refund (détaxe): a separate scheme. Non-EU residents aged 16+ who spend more than €100 including tax in one store on one day can reclaim French VAT — validate at a Pablo kiosk before you fly.
• No arrivals duty-free: the shops are on the departures side, so buy on the way out, not when you land.
• Pre-order: Extime's Click & Collect takes orders up to 20 hours before your flight and is free.
• Opening hours: not a fixed timetable — the shops in a terminal run from the first flight to the last.

Where the duty-free shops are, hall by hall

Charles de Gaulle is three terminal complexes linked landside by the free CDGVAL shuttle — see our CDG terminals guide for how they connect. The practical consequence for shopping is simple: you can only reach the shops after security, and once airside you cannot ride CDGVAL to another terminal. Shop in the hall you actually depart from.

Terminal / hall	Typical traffic	What the retail looks like
Terminal 1 (satellites 1–7)	Star Alliance and other non-Air France long-haul	Flagship Extime duty-free in the central ring, luxury fashion and beauty, food and gifts
Hall 2A	Long- and medium-haul, mixed	Extime duty-free, beauty, French food and press
Hall 2B	Schengen	Compact tax-paid shopping and convenience — duty-free pricing does not apply on Schengen flights
Hall 2C	Non-Schengen	Extime duty-free, perfume and cosmetics, gifts
Hall 2D	Schengen and non-Schengen mix	Smaller duty-free plus essentials
Hall 2E (gates K, L, M)	Air France long-haul, Delta, KLM, China Eastern, Korean Air	The deepest offer at CDG: designer fashion, watches and jewellery, a large perfume-and-cosmetics floor, wine cellar
Hall 2F	Schengen short- and medium-haul	Tax-paid boutiques, beauty, French specialities — no duty-free pricing on intra-EU flights
Hall 2G	Regional Schengen, a satellite about 800 m from 2F reached only by shuttle bus	Very limited: essentials and grab-and-go. Do your shopping before you board the 2G bus
Terminal 3	Low-cost and charter	Small duty-free, essentials, grab-and-go food. No boarding gates of its own — passengers walk out to the aircraft

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 pioneered the Extime concept, designed to read as a luxury department store rather than an airport shop. Alongside the main duty-free hall you will find luxury houses, dedicated beauty counters, and food and gift outlets for last-minute buys. Note that T1's boarding satellites are reached by underground walkways from the central drum, so leave yourself time to walk back if you shop first.

Terminal 2, halls 2A to 2G

Terminal 2 is the biggest complex and where most passengers pass through. Hall 2E has the deepest luxury offer of the whole airport. Halls 2A, 2C and 2D carry proper Extime duty-free at a smaller scale. Halls 2B, 2F and 2G are predominantly Schengen, which means the shops there sell at ordinary French tax-paid prices for most passengers using them. 2G is the one to watch: it is a separate satellite about 800 m from 2F, reachable only by a shuttle bus, and its retail is minimal — buy before you get on the bus.

Terminal 3

Terminal 3 serves low-cost and charter airlines from a single compact building with no boarding gates of its own: a smaller duty-free, essentials and grab-and-go food. For a real selection, shop elsewhere or pre-order.

Opening hours at CDG duty-free, and why there is no published timetable

People search for "CDG duty free opening times" expecting a table of hours, and the operator does not publish one. Extime Duty Free Paris states it plainly: "Stores in a terminal are open from the first flight to the last flight, Monday through Sunday, at all terminals where flights are operated."

In practice that means:

• Hours follow the flight schedule of your hall, not a shopping-centre timetable. A hall with a 06:00 first departure has shops open before it; a hall whose last flight leaves at 22:00 winds down after it.
• Quiet halls close between waves. Terminal 3 and hall 2G in particular can be largely shut in the middle of the day or late at night.
• Individual boutiques vary within the same hall — the main duty-free store keeps the longest hours; single-brand luxury boutiques the shortest.
• If a specific shop matters, check the Paris Aéroport app or in-terminal signage on the day, or place a Click & Collect order instead so the stock is set aside.

Extime's customer line for shop questions is +33 1 76 27 68 19 (standard-rate number).

Who gets the duty-free price at CDG, and who does not

This is the single most misunderstood thing about shopping at a Paris airport, and it has nothing to do with your nationality.

• Flying out of the EU tax area — you get duty-free prices. No VAT, no excise. This includes the United States, Canada, the UK, Switzerland, the Gulf, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the French overseas departments and territories. Any passport, any residence.
• Flying inside the EU — you pay normal French prices. Duty-free was abolished for intra-EU travel in 1999. The Extime shop in hall 2F will sell you the same bottle, with French VAT and excise in the price.
• Non-EU resident on an intra-EU flight — you can still use the détaxe VAT refund on qualifying purchases, including ones made at the airport. That is the workaround, and it is the reason the two schemes get confused.
• Connecting through CDG from outside the EU to another EU country — you are treated by the destination of the flight you are boarding at CDG, not by where the journey started.

What is genuinely cheaper at CDG, and what is not

An honest answer, category by category. Duty-free removes French VAT (20% on most goods) and, on alcohol and tobacco, excise duty as well — but the shop also sets its own margin, so "duty-free" is not automatically "cheap".

• Spirits and champagne — usually the real saving. Excise is a large share of a French bottle price, so removing it bites. Watch the format: airport bottles are frequently 1 litre where a city shop sells 70 cl, which makes a like-for-like comparison look worse than it is. On Extime's own online shop in August 2026, Chivas Regal 12 Year Old was listed at 1 litre from €27.07, Johnnie Walker Double Black 1 litre from €37.42, and Baileys 1 litre from €21.50.
• Perfume and cosmetics — reliably good, and the deepest range at the airport. This is the category the terminals are actually built around; a 100 ml flagship fragrance such as Dior Sauvage Elixir was listed from €185.26.
• Tobacco — cheaper, but the allowance is the binding limit, not the price. See the allowance tables below before you buy a carton.
• Luxury fashion, watches and jewellery — the same price as a Paris boutique, or close to it. These houses hold their prices. The airport advantage is that a non-EU traveller avoids VAT at the till instead of queuing for a détaxe refund in town — a convenience gain, not a discount.
• French food, macarons and souvenirs — priced for convenience. A Ladurée or Leonidas box at the gate costs what it costs in the city or a little more; you are paying for buying it at the last moment.
• Electronics and sunglasses — usually the worst value. Compare online before you commit.

Prices above are the operator's own listed "starting at" figures observed in August 2026 and move with promotions and exchange rates — treat them as an order of magnitude, not a quote.

What to buy at CDG duty-free

Paris is a shopping city and the airport plays to it. The strongest categories are the classic duty-free ones. Popular buys:

• Perfume & cosmetics — the deepest, best-value category; French houses and global brands are well stocked.
• Champagne, wine & cognac — the signature CDG buy for a non-EU traveller, and the category where excise removal shows up most clearly.
• Whisky and other spirits — strong on litre formats and travel-exclusive bottlings you will not find in a city shop.
• French food & gifts — macarons, chocolate, biscuits, foie gras and gourmet treats make easy presents. Check your destination's food-import rules first: meat and dairy products, foie gras included, are prohibited entering the United States and several other countries.
• Luxury fashion & watches — designer houses and watch boutiques, above all in Terminal 1 and hall 2E (tax-free for non-EU shoppers rather than genuinely cheaper).

Liquids you buy airside are sealed and exempt from the usual 100 ml limit — worth knowing before you shop for perfume or spirits (see below, and our liquid rules guide). Waiting on a long connection? Our guides to the CDG lounges and where to eat at the airport pair well with a shopping stop, and trolleys and baggage wrapping are worth knowing about if you end up carrying more than you planned.

Duty-free allowances: what you can legally take home

Buying duty-free does not raise the limit on what you may import at the other end. As US Customs and Border Protection puts it: "articles sold in a Customs duty-free shop are free only for the country in which that shop is located" — so if your purchases exceed your home allowance, they are dutiable on arrival. The three tables below cover the destinations CDG shoppers ask about most. All figures are per person and, unless stated, cannot be pooled between travellers.

Coming into France or another EU country from outside the EU

These are the French customs allowances that apply if you are arriving at CDG from a third country, or connecting through it into the EU. Alcohol and tobacco allowances apply from age 17.

Category	Allowance per traveller
Goods other than alcohol and tobacco	€430 by air or sea; €300 by other means; €150 for travellers under 15
Cigarettes	200 (one carton)
Cigarillos	100
Cigars	50
Smoking tobacco	250 g
Spirits over 22% vol	1 litre
Alcohol up to 22% vol, fortified or sparkling wine	2 litres
Still wine	4 litres
Beer	16 litres

French customs is explicit that these are per person and not per vehicle or per family: "The quantities indicated cannot be added by several travelers for the same purchase." Within the tobacco or alcohol category you may mix proportionally — for example 100 cigarettes plus 25 cigars.

Going home to the United States

Category	Allowance
Personal exemption	$800 in accompanied baggage, available every 31 days, having spent at least 48 hours outside the United States. Otherwise the exemption drops to $200
Alcohol	1 litre duty-free within the exemption, age 21+. A second litre is dutiable — CBP's own example is "one liter will be duty-free … The other will be dutiable at 3 percent, plus any Internal Revenue Tax"
Tobacco	Not more than 200 cigarettes and 100 cigars, age 21+. Quantities beyond a personal exemption are subject to seizure
Family declaration	Household members returning together may make a joint declaration and combine purchases

Everything you did not have when you left must be declared, gifts included. Gifts worth more than $5 containing alcohol, tobacco or alcohol-based perfume cannot be counted as gifts within the exemption.

Going home to Great Britain

Category	Allowance
Goods other than alcohol and tobacco	£390, or £270 if you arrive by private plane or boat
Beer	42 litres
Still wine	18 litres
Spirits over 22% ABV	4 litres — or 9 litres of drinks up to 22% instead. This allowance is splittable, for example 2 litres of spirits plus 4.5 litres of fortified wine
Tobacco	200 cigarettes, or 100 cigarillos, or 50 cigars, or 250 g tobacco, or 200 heated-tobacco sticks — also splittable

One trap worth knowing: exceed a UK allowance and "you pay tax and duty on the total value of the goods, not just the value above the allowance."

Travelling on to another EU country from France, there are no duty-free purchases and no import allowance in the same sense — goods bought tax-paid for your own use move freely, subject to indicative quantity levels used to distinguish personal use from trade.

Buying duty-free on the way out versus on the way back

A question that comes up constantly, usually phrased as "can I use duty-free before I leave home, or only on the return leg". The answer has two parts.

• You can shop duty-free on either leg — an airport duty-free shop sells to any departing international passenger. What changes is whether the goods survive customs at the other end.
• Buying on the outbound leg is usually the worse idea. A bottle bought duty-free leaving your home country and carried back home again is still an import when you return, and it counts against your allowance. CBP spells the trap out: alcohol bought duty-free in New York before entering Canada and brought back into the United States "will be subject to Customs duty and Internal Revenue Service tax".
• At CDG the choice is made for you: buy on departure. There is no arrivals duty-free at Charles de Gaulle, and the shops sit airside on the departures side. If you land at CDG and want French wine or perfume, you buy it in the city or at the airport on your way out again.
• On a connection, buy on the last leg where you can. Sealed-bag rules survive one onward screening but are easy to break — see the liquids section.

If you are arriving very early to shop, note that bag drop opens on a fixed schedule per airline — our guide to the earliest check-in and bag drop at CDG has the windows, and luggage storage covers what to do with bags before then.

Duty-free prices vs the détaxe tax refund

Two different money-savers get confused at CDG. Duty-free is a price you pay at the till and is only for passengers leaving the EU tax area. Détaxe is a VAT refund claimed afterwards on ordinary, taxed purchases — useful for non-EU residents shopping anywhere in France, the airport included, and the only route open to you when your flight is intra-EU.

	Duty-free	Détaxe (VAT refund)
Who	Anyone flying out of the EU tax area, any nationality	Residents outside the EU, aged 16+, in France under six months
Where	Airside duty-free shops only	Any participating shop in France, the airport included
How	Applied at the till on production of a boarding pass	Take a tax-free form (bordereau), validate at a Pablo kiosk on the way out, then get paid
Minimum	None, from the first euro	More than €100 including tax, in the same store, on the same day
Deadline	None — you buy and go	Goods must leave the EU before the end of the third month after the month of purchase
What you save	VAT and, on alcohol and tobacco, excise removed before you pay	Part of the 20% VAT — the amount is set by the retailer or refund operator, not fixed by law

Do not budget for the full 20%. French rules leave the refund amount to the retailer, who deducts a commission for the refund operator, so the sum on your bordereau is materially less than the VAT you paid. Read the figure on the form before you sign it.

How to claim your VAT refund at CDG with Pablo

France validates tax-free forms electronically at self-service Pablo kiosks. The steps:

Step	What to do	Where
1. In the shop	Show your passport when you pay and ask for a bordereau de vente à l'exportation. Spend must exceed €100 including tax in that store, that day	Any participating shop in France
2. Before you check in	Bring passport, boarding pass, the bordereau and the goods themselves. Do this before you drop a bag containing the purchases	Departures hall, landside
3. Scan	Present the barcode at the kiosk's optical reader. "OK Validated voucher" means French customs has validated it electronically — no stamp needed	Pablo kiosk near the customs desk
4. If the scan fails	The screen will say the voucher was not issued regularly by your refund operator — contact that operator, or go to the customs desk with your items	Douane / détaxe desk
5. Get paid	Cash at a refund counter, or to a card or e-wallet. Card refunds typically take several weeks	Refund operator's counter

On kiosk locations, be sceptical of precise directions you read online. Paris Aéroport does not publish a fixed list of Pablo positions by hall, and French customs describes them only as sitting "near a customs service at equipped exit points". What is reliable: the kiosks are landside in the departures hall, before security, close to the douane/détaxe office, and signposted "Détaxe / Tax refund". Follow the signage in your own terminal rather than a gate number from a blog, and ask at a check-in desk if you cannot find it.

What détaxe does not cover: manufactured tobacco, petroleum products, weapons, cultural goods, private means of transport and their supplies, and anything needing a special permit. Purchases must be for personal use.

Eligibility, precisely: habitual residence outside the EU, at least 16 years old, in France for less than six months. EU residents, Monaco residents, diplomatic staff, students on stays of six months or more and transport-company employees travelling professionally are excluded.

Allow extra time: the kiosk and any customs inspection come before bag drop, so build them into when you arrive. See our departures guide for how early to get to CDG, and the EES passport control guide if you are also facing biometric registration on the way out.

Duty-free liquids, sealed bags and connecting flights

Perfume, spirits and other liquids bought airside are exempt from the 100 ml hand-luggage limit. They are handed over in a sealed, tamper-evident bag (a "STEB") with the receipt inside. Keep the bag sealed until you reach your final destination. Open it before a further security check and the liquids can be confiscated.

Extime confirms that liquids, aerosols and gels bought in its shops at Paris-CDG and Paris-Orly are cleared for transit. That protection is what the sealed bag buys you — and it only holds while the seal and the receipt are intact.

This matters most on a connecting itinerary: if another security screening lies ahead, buy your duty-free liquids on the last leg, or keep the sealed bag and its receipt untouched. Full details are in our CDG liquid rules. On a long layover and needing a break, lighting up is only allowed in the designated smoking areas.

Reserve online and collect at the airport

If you would rather not browse under time pressure, pre-order. Extime's online store carries more than 10,000 products and takes Click & Collect orders up to 20 hours before your flight; the service is free and you collect on the day of departure in your own terminal. You enter your departure date and flight number, and the site shows what is actually available for that hall.

It is the sensible choice in three cases: when you want a specific bottle or fragrance and cannot risk it being out of stock; when your departure is from a hall with thin retail such as 2G or Terminal 3; and when your connection is tight enough that browsing is not realistic. It also removes the opening-hours question entirely, since your order is set aside for you.

CDG terminal names change on 16 March 2027

Worth knowing now, because it will change where you are told your duty-free is. Paris Aéroport has announced that from 16 March 2027 the terminals at Paris-CDG adopt a single numbering system from 1 to 7, replacing today's T1 / T2A / T2E style designations, with the car parks renamed to match. Because some airlines sell tickets a year ahead, tickets issued from March 2026 onwards may already show the new terminal names.

Until then, and for as long as signage and boarding passes disagree, the rule that keeps you out of trouble is the one that has always applied at CDG: trust the hall letter on the departure board on the day, not the terminal number you remember. Our terminals guide tracks which airline uses which hall.

Frequently asked questions

Is Paris CDG duty-free cheaper than the shops in the city?

For perfume, cosmetics and spirits, yes — VAT and excise come off for travellers leaving the EU, and the airport stocks litre formats a city shop does not. For luxury fashion and watches the price is essentially a Paris boutique price; the advantage there is that a non-EU shopper avoids VAT at the till instead of queuing for a détaxe refund in town. Electronics and sunglasses are usually poor value.

Can I claim a VAT refund on shopping at Charles de Gaulle airport?

Yes. Residents outside the EU aged 16 or over, in France for less than six months, who spend more than €100 including tax in one store on one day can take a tax-free form and validate it at a Pablo kiosk in the departures hall before checking in. Do not expect the whole 20% back: French rules let the retailer set the refund amount, and an operator commission comes off it.

Is there duty-free in the arrivals hall at CDG?

No. Duty-free and the main shops at Charles de Gaulle are on the departures side, airside. There is no arrivals duty-free, so buy what you need on the way out rather than counting on shopping when you land.

Can I bring duty-free liquids through a connecting flight at CDG?

Only if they stay in the sealed tamper-evident bag with the receipt inside. If your journey has another security screening after CDG, keep the bag closed until your final destination, or buy the liquids on your last flight — otherwise they can be taken at the next checkpoint.

What time do the shops at Paris CDG airport open?

There is no published timetable. Extime states its stores are open "from the first flight to the last flight, Monday through Sunday, at all terminals where flights are operated", so hours track your hall's flight schedule rather than a fixed opening time. Quiet halls such as 2G and Terminal 3 can be shut between waves; check the Paris Aéroport app or terminal signage for a specific shop.

How much alcohol can I bring back from Paris to the United States?

One litre per traveller aged 21 or over is duty-free within the $800 personal exemption. A second litre is not banned but is dutiable — CBP charges 3% plus Internal Revenue Tax on it. The $800 exemption itself requires at least 48 hours outside the United States and is available once every 31 days; otherwise it falls to $200.

Do I need to show my boarding pass to get the duty-free price at CDG?

Yes, and that is all you need. Extime applies duty-free pricing on production of a boarding pass, from the first euro spent, with no minimum and no forms — provided your flight leaves the EU tax area. On an intra-EU flight the same shop charges ordinary French prices no matter what your passport says.

Where are the Pablo kiosks at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport?

In the departures hall of each terminal, landside and before security, close to the customs (douane) office and signposted "Détaxe / Tax refund". Neither the airport nor French customs publishes a fixed list of positions by hall — customs describes them only as being near a customs service at equipped exit points — so follow the signage on the day and ask at a check-in desk rather than relying on a gate number from a blog.

How late can I place an Extime Click and Collect order before my flight?

Up to 20 hours before departure. Extime's online store lists over 10,000 products, the service is free, and you collect your order on the day of departure in the terminal you are flying from. Ordering ahead is the reliable way to secure a specific bottle or fragrance and to sidestep thin retail in halls such as 2G and Terminal 3.