Aéroport Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, 20 km north of Paris, is the largest and busiest airport in Europe.

Everybody knows that. What they don't know is that there really is a village of Roissy, that it is in fact a pretty and prosperous traditional French village, and that it's a good place to spend the night before or after your flight, or indeed during your entire stay in Paris (map).

Roissy is normal in that it has its village square (Place du Pays de France), its church, post office and Gendarmerie post, a pretty park, traditional mairie (town hall) and modern cultural center called L'Orangerie.

Roissy is not normal in that it has 22 large hotels holding thousands of guest rooms only a few kilometers from the terminals at Aéroport Charles de Gaulle. More...

Other services in Roissy-en-France good for travelers include:

Two grocery stores on Place du Pays de France:

— Proxi (open 08:00 am to 21:00 [9 pm]) daily, 09:00 to 21:00 [9 pm] on Sunday)

—Petit Casino, open Monday through Friday 08:00 am to 20:00 (8 pm), Saturday 08:00 am to 13:00 (1 pm), closed Sunday.

Thirteen restaurants, mostly traditional French, mostly open for lunch and dinner weekdays, dinner only Saturday, closed Sunday, but one or two pizza restaurants and even Moon Sushi on the Place du Pays de France.

Isabelle & Yves Gautier's Boulanger-Patissier "La Favorite," on rue Dorval between la Mairie (town hall) and the Place du Pays de France, is essential to French daily life, with its traditional French breads cakes, pastries and big sandwiches at good prices. It's open Tuesday through Friday 06:30 am to 13:30 (1:30 pm) and 16:00 (4 pm) to 19:30 (7:30 pm), Saturday and Sunday 07:00 am to 13:00 (1 pm), closed Monday.