2018 CHARA Science Meeting
 

Venue and Lodging

The CHARA Meeting will be located at the Observatoire de Meudon near Paris, France. The meeting room is on the ground floor of the castle, which is marked as building #9 on the campus map available here.  The web page also provides information on rail service to Meudon from the Montparnasse station in Paris.

There are limited hotel accommodations in Meudon, and very few AirBnB rentals are available.  Booking.com lists four hotels in Meudon, but they all are more than 3 km away from the campus and without any easy public transport access. On the other hand, there are many option in the vicinity of Denfert Rochereau (near the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris) and Montparnasse (where trains to Meudon depart).  The RER train goes straight from the airport to Denfert-Rochereau and is easy to use.  A commented list of hotels is available here:

List of convenient hotels

Travel sites (like airbnb, booking.com, travelocity, etc) can also be useful to locate accommodations.

A few options near the Montparnasse train station and the Denfert-Rochereau area in Paris include:

Transportation

The train ride from Montparnasse to Meudon is short and easy (3 stops). Trains run every 15 min with an appropriate departure at 9:05 AM from Montparnasse. From the Meudon train station it is a 22 minute walk (uphill) to the castle within the observatory campus, following the itinerary listed here. At the arrival of the 9:05 AM train on Monday, we plan to have someone at the Meudon train station with a CHARA meeting sign to lead a hiking group to the castle.  If you have walking difficulties please contact the organizers in advance so that we can find an alternate solution.

Individual train tickets can be purchased at vending machines in the Montparnasse train station. Unit cost is 2,80€ and there is a 20% discount if purchased by 10 (a "Carnet"). Riding the TIM will require a separate metro (T+) ticket.  Overall, it is more practical to buy a 22,80€ weekly "all zones" Navigo pass, valid from Monday through Sunday, with unlimited travel throughout the Ile de France region (including travel options to/from both CDG and ORY airports).  Details on the Navigo pass can be found in English here.

More generally, itineraries, schedules, last-minute infos etc. for public transport within the Ile de France region can be checked here.

Meals

Lunch tickets will be provided free of charge to eat at the observatory's restaurant. There will be a wine & cheese party in the castle on Monday at 6PM.