Left Luggage In Paris: The Station Consigne Or A Booked Storage Point
The official SNCF consigne is cheaper for a short stop and pricier for a long one, and two Paris stations have no consigne at all. Here is the arithmetic, the hours and the fine print, side by side.
Short answer
The SNCF consigne costs EUR 4.00 for up to four hours at Gare du Nord, or EUR 5.50 to EUR 9.50 per fixed 24 hours at the locker stations. A booked Radical Storage point in Paris costs EUR 3.90 per bag per day plus a EUR 1.99 per-bag checkout fee, EUR 5.89 for one bag for one day. Short stops favour the consigne, multi-day stops favour booking.
Paris gives you two genuinely different ways to put a bag down, and most pages blend them into one vague "left luggage Paris" answer. The first is the official SNCF consigne: staffed desks and automated lockers inside five mainline stations, priced by duration and locker size. The second is a booked storage point in the Radical Storage network: a shop, hotel or cafe holding your bag behind a counter for a flat day rate, reserved and paid online before you arrive. They are not the same product, they do not cost the same, and the right one depends almost entirely on how many hours you need.
This guide puts the two side by side using each operator's own published figures. Where a number is arithmetic rather than an observed checkout, it says so. And where a station simply has no consigne at all, it says that too, because that fact changes the decision more than any price does.
What Left Luggage In Paris Actually Costs You
A staffed SNCF consigne at Gare du Nord charges EUR 4.00 for up to four hours, EUR 7.50 for four to twelve hours and EUR 9.50 for twelve to twenty-four hours. The locker stations charge EUR 5.50, EUR 7.50 or EUR 9.50 by locker size for a fixed twenty-four hours, then EUR 5 per bag per further day. A booked Radical Storage point costs EUR 3.90 per bag per day plus a EUR 1.99 per-bag checkout fee.
That last sentence needs unpacking, because the advertised price and the real Paris price are not the same number. Radical Storage markets its Paris network "from EUR 1.90 per day", but across 329 Paris location cards counted in this site's research, 316 showed EUR 3.90 per bag per day. The EUR 1.90 survives on only ten cards, all in the Bercy cluster. Treat EUR 3.90 as what you should expect to pay in Paris, and treat the "from" figure as a global marketing floor.
The EUR 1.99 fee matters just as much. It is charged once per bag at checkout and does not scale with the number of days, so one bag for one day comes to EUR 3.90 plus EUR 1.99, which is EUR 5.89. Three days with one bag comes to EUR 3.90 times three plus EUR 1.99, which is EUR 13.69. These totals are arithmetic on the two published figures, not an observed checkout, but the direction is clear: the fee stings on a one-day booking and fades on a long one.
There is a third price you may encounter, and it is worth knowing where it sits. At the airports, the operator Bagages du Monde publishes an indicative list starting from EUR 3 per hour or EUR 10 per day for carry-on bags, rising to EUR 5 per hour or EUR 20 per day for large bags. That is an airport product with a two-hour minimum, and it has nothing to do with either the station consigne or the city network. Radical Storage has no storage point at Charles de Gaulle or at Orly at all, which is covered in the site's CDG airport storage guide.
What The SNCF Consigne Gives You For The Money
Five Paris stations have an in-station consigne: Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon, Montparnasse, Gare de l'Est and Gare d'Austerlitz. Prices run from EUR 4.00 for a four-hour staffed deposit at Gare du Nord to EUR 9.50 for a large locker per fixed twenty-four hours elsewhere, with EUR 5 per bag per extra day. Opening hours cluster around 06:15 to 23:30, and payment methods differ station by station.
The consigne is run by SNCF Gares & Connexions, and its tariff is published on each station's own page. The grid below is drawn from those pages.
| Station | Type | Price (EUR) | Hours | Payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gare du Nord | Staffed desk | 4.00 up to 4h / 7.50 for 4-12h / 9.50 for 12-24h | 06:15-23:15 daily | Not stated as restricted |
| Gare de Lyon | Automated lockers | 5.50 small / 7.50 medium / 9.50 large per 24h, then 5 per extra 24h | 06:15-22:00 daily | Cash only, card refit in progress |
| Gare Montparnasse | Automated lockers | 5.50 small / 9.50 large per 24h, then 5 per extra 24h | 07:00-22:00 daily | Bank card only |
| Gare de l'Est | Automated lockers | 5.50 / 7.50 / 9.50 per 24h, then 5 per extra 24h | 07:30-22:30 daily | Coins only |
| Gare d'Austerlitz | Automated lockers | 5.50 / 7.50 / 9.50 per 24h, then 5 per extra 24h | 07:00-23:30 daily | Cash only |
The payment column deserves a warning all of its own. Arriving at Gare de l'Est with only a bank card means a walk to a change machine that may or may not work. And at Gare de Lyon, SNCF has announced a September 2026 refit to install a bank of lockers equipped exclusively for card payment, so the old cash-only advice and the new card-only reality may both be true during the transition. The tariff block on SNCF's own Gare de Lyon consigne page still describes coin payment while announcing the card refit in the same breath.
The locker dimensions are the hidden constraint. Small lockers measure 433 x 347 x 824 mm inside, medium 591 x 347 x 824 mm and large 908 x 519 x 824 mm, identical at Lyon, Est and Austerlitz. A large checked suitcase fits the large locker. A family with four cases may simply not find four free lockers, which is the capacity problem this guide comes back to below.
If your plans point you towards a station, the bookable alternative looks like this.
Where The Consigne Wins And Where Booking Ahead Wins
For a short stop the consigne wins: EUR 4.00 for four hours at Gare du Nord beats EUR 5.89 for a booked day. For anything beyond a day, booking wins: three days with one small bag costs EUR 15.50 at Gare de Lyon lockers against EUR 13.69 at a booked point. And booking is the only option that survives a full locker bank or a closed consigne.
Here is the arithmetic worked through, using each operator's published figures.
| Scenario | SNCF consigne | Booked Radical Storage point | Cheaper option |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bag, 4 hours, Gare du Nord | EUR 4.00 | EUR 5.89 (3.90 + 1.99) | Consigne |
| 1 bag, full day, Gare du Nord | EUR 9.50 | EUR 5.89 | Booked point |
| 1 small bag, 3 days, Gare de Lyon | EUR 15.50 (5.50 + 5 + 5) | EUR 13.69 (3.90 x 3 + 1.99) | Booked point |
| 1 bag, 12 hours, Gare du Nord | EUR 7.50 | EUR 5.89 | Booked point |
| 2 bags, 1 day, Montparnasse | EUR 11.00 (2 small lockers) | EUR 11.78 (5.89 x 2) | Consigne, marginally |
The crossover sits somewhere around the twelve-hour mark. Under it, the consigne's duration pricing at Gare du Nord, or a single fixed 24-hour locker fee elsewhere, usually undercuts the booked day rate. Past one full day, the booked point's flat EUR 3.90 pulls ahead, and the gap widens with every extra day because the consigne's EUR 5 top-up applies per bag per day while the network's EUR 1.99 fee is charged once per bag in total.
Price is only half the decision. A locker is first-come, first-served: SNCF itself states that its station lockers "meet with great success and can sometimes be full" and "may also be temporarily closed for works". A booked point is held for you, and cancellation is free any time before your scheduled check-in with a full refund. If your train arrives at 21:00 and your flight leaves at noon the next day, a guaranteed place at a known address beats a cheaper locker that may not exist.
Around Gare du Nord, the busiest of the five, the booked network is dense enough to be a genuine plan B rather than a consolation prize. There are 10 storage points around Gare du Nord, rated 4.75 across 2,937 reviews, with the earliest opening at 07:30 and the latest closing at 23:59. Check availability if the locker queue looks grim.
The density point matters for one specific traveller: the Eurostar passenger. Eurostar allows two bags plus one item of hand luggage per passenger on Standard and Plus fares, and no strict weight limit, so a family of four can arrive at Gare du Nord with twelve pieces. No locker bank absorbs that. The station's own consigne, on the lower ground floor opposite the exit marked Cour de taxis, might, but a booking definitely will.
Why Saint-Lazare And Bercy Change The Answer
Gare Saint-Lazare and Paris Bercy have no in-station consigne at all. SNCF's own list of thirteen stations with a left-luggage service names Austerlitz, Est, Lyon, Montparnasse and Nord in Paris, and pointedly omits both. SNCF handles them through an off-site partner within roughly five minutes' walk, with a new partnership scheduled to start on 30 September 2026.
That omission is the single strongest honest reason to book ahead in the western half of the city. A traveller changing trains at Saint-Lazare, or arriving at Bercy for an overnight bus, has no official locker to compare prices with. The choice is a booked storage point or nothing.
The tender detail is worth knowing because it is dated and checkable. On 1 June 2026, SNCF Gares & Connexions published a call for partners for a digitalised off-site left-luggage service, naming Aeroport Charles-de-Gaulle, Massy-Palaiseau, Massy TGV, Paris Bercy and Paris Saint-Lazare in Ile-de-France, with a planned partnership start of 30 September 2026. As of mid-September 2026 no winning partner had been announced. So the off-site arrangement at these stations exists, but who runs it and on what terms may change; a booked point with published hours and a printed voucher does not have that uncertainty.
Bercy is the budget sleeper-train and FlixBus station, and its booked network is small but real: ten storage points rated 4.76 across 466 reviews, open from as early as 00:00 at some points. It is also the one cluster where the advertised EUR 1.90 rate genuinely appears on location cards, which makes it the cheapest booked corner of Paris.
For the full picture of which stations have what, the site's Paris train station luggage storage guide maps all of them, and the bag drop map by district covers the parts of town no guide covers.
What The Radical Storage Guarantee Actually Covers
The Radical Storage guarantee is advertised at EUR 10,000 per bag, but the binding terms cap payment at EUR 3,000 per claim and state plainly that it is not a contract of insurance. Claims must be notified within seven days, a signed itemised list of the bag's contents with values is a condition of any payout, and theft must be reported to the police within forty-eight hours.
This is the fine print almost no comparison page quotes, and it changes how you should pack. The two figures belong together, always: EUR 10,000 is the marketing headline, EUR 3,000 per claim is the contractual cap in clause 9.4 of the Radical Storage terms, and clause 9.2.2 says the guarantee "is not an offer to insure your property and does not constitute a contract of insurance". A reader deciding whether to leave a laptop in the bag needs the cap, not the headline.
| Guarantee rule | What the terms say |
|---|---|
| Cap | EUR 3,000 maximum per claim, against the EUR 10,000 advertised headline |
| Notification | Within seven days of discovering the loss or damage |
| Itemised list | A signed list of all items with estimated values is a condition of the claim |
| Police report | Theft or criminal damage must be reported within 48 hours |
| Valuation | Current market value minus wear and tear; sentimental value excluded |
| Exclusions | Items not reported in time, over the cap, damaged in transit, or packed unsafely |
The practical takeaway is to photograph your bag's contents and list their values before you hand anything over. Clause 9.8.1 excludes any claim where the company has not received that signed, itemised list. It costs two minutes with a phone and it is the difference between a valid claim and a rejected one.
The SNCF locker makes no comparable promise at all. There is no published guarantee on a locker, only a door with a code, and SNCF's pages describe the service without any liability terms for stored items. That is not a reason to avoid lockers, but it belongs in the comparison: on one side a capped, procedurally strict guarantee, on the other no published protection at all.
Opening Hours, Capacity And The Risk Of Turning Up
The consigne's hours are fixed by the station: Gare du Nord 06:15-23:15, Gare de Lyon 06:15-22:00, Montparnasse 07:00-22:00, Est 07:30-22:30, Austerlitz 07:00-23:30. Booked points set their own hours, which are ordinary shop hours and vary by point, and SNCF itself warns that lockers can be full or closed for works. Neither option runs around the clock.
The "24/7" phrase you will see in search results is a template string, not a fact. Radical Storage's own Paris pages carry it in titles while publishing per-point hours that plainly are not round-the-clock: the Gare du Nord Grandes Lignes point runs 08:30-20:00, the Volontaires point 09:00-21:00 Monday to Saturday. Every point's hours come from its own card, and the booked network's real advantage is not longer hours but the fact that you can read them, and reserve against them, before you leave home.
Capacity is the consigne's weak point and SNCF is unusually frank about it. The operator's own words: the lockers "meet with great success and can sometimes be full" and "may also be temporarily closed for works", with a partner located within five minutes' walk as the fallback. That fallback is the same kind of off-site booked point this guide describes, except discovered at the worst possible moment, with a suitcase, at 21:00. Reserving the same thing in advance converts a scramble into a plan.
There is also a mismatch between consigne hours and travel hours that catches late arrivals. The last Eurostar departs Gare du Nord after the consigne closes at 23:15, and early TGV departures from Lyon leave before its 06:15 opening. For overnight and early-morning gaps, the late-night and Sunday storage guide covers which points stay open latest, and the multi-day options are laid out in overnight and multi-day bag storage.
At Gare de l'Est, the booked alternative runs to ten storage points rated 4.73 across 1,245 reviews, opening from 09:00 at the earliest and closing as late as 23:59, which comfortably bridges the station's own 07:30-22:30 locker window.
How To Choose In Five Minutes
Answer three questions in order. Which station are you at: if it is Saint-Lazare or Bercy, book, because there is no consigne. How long do you need: under about twelve hours the consigne is usually cheaper, over a day the booked point usually is. Can you absorb the risk of a full locker bank: if not, book, because a reservation is the only thing that holds a place.
Everything above compresses into one table.
| Your situation | Best option | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Four hours between trains at Gare du Nord | Consigne | EUR 4.00 beats EUR 5.89 |
| A full day, one bag, any station | Booked point | EUR 5.89 beats EUR 9.50 |
| Three days, one bag | Booked point | EUR 13.69 beats EUR 15.50 |
| Changing at Saint-Lazare or Bercy | Booked point | No consigne exists |
| Arriving late evening | Booked point | Reservation survives a full locker bank |
| Only coins, at Montparnasse | Consigne will not help | Lockers there are bank card only |
| Only a card, at Gare de l'Est | Booked point | Those lockers take coins only |
One habit worth forming whatever you choose: photograph the bag and its contents before drop-off, and keep the voucher or locker receipt somewhere that is not inside the bag. The itemised-list rule in the guarantee terms makes the photo worth having, and a locker code on a phone inside a locked locker is a problem with no elegant solution.
A note on what this site is. Luggage Storage in Paris is an independent guide, not a storage operator: every storage point recommended here is a real Radical Storage partner location, and this site neither owns nor operates any of them. The SNCF consigne figures come from SNCF's own pages, and the comparison is published because it is genuinely useful, not because it always favours the partner network. It does not.
Practical Rules That Catch Travellers Out
Three rules bite hardest. The old Paris Metro ban on bags over 75 cm no longer applies, dropped after a June 2025 ministerial answer, so a large suitcase is legal on the network. Leaving a bag unattended anywhere in a station is a fineable offence under the law of 28 April 2025, from EUR 72 up to EUR 1,500. And the airport left-luggage desk accepts a national ID card or passport only, never a driving licence.
The Metro rule is the one worth knowing because almost every older guide gets it wrong. Until spring 2025 the RATP enforced a ban on any bag whose largest dimension exceeded 75 cm, with a EUR 150 fixed penalty, and travellers heading to stations and airports were actually fined. After a public row, the Ministry of Transport confirmed in a written parliamentary answer that the dimensional limit has been dropped: bags a traveller can carry are now allowed so long as they do not obstruct others or carry dangerous objects. A suitcase is no longer a reason to avoid the Metro, though anyone who has dragged one through a rush-hour line 4 crowd will make their own judgement.
The abandonment law is the reason "just leave it somewhere for an hour" is not a plan. Under the law of 28 April 2025, a bag left behind in a station attracts a fixed penalty of EUR 72 rising to EUR 450 for involuntary abandonment, EUR 150 rising to EUR 750 if the bag carries no label, and EUR 180 rising to EUR 1,500 for manifest voluntary abandonment. SNCF's own figures explain the severity: it takes an average of nineteen minutes to deal with an unattended bag, and 360 items are left behind on trains and in stations every week. A free anonymous QR-code label is available in stations, and labelling your bag is both compulsory in SNCF stations and genuinely useful.
The airport rule is narrower but absolute. The Bagages du Monde desk at CDG and Orly checks bags in after an identity check that accepts a national ID card or a passport only, then X-rays and scans each bag before storing it. A driving licence will not get your bag accepted, and the operator's prohibited list, the only fully published one for a Paris storage operator, refuses hazardous or flammable items, weapons, perishable goods, live animals and counterfeit goods, with no refund on refusal. For the airport picture in full, including the Radical Storage inventory gap at both airports, see the Orly airport storage guide.
Common Questions About Left Luggage In Paris
Is the station consigne cheaper than luggage storage in Paris?
For short stops, yes: EUR 4.00 for up to four hours at Gare du Nord beats EUR 5.89 for a booked day. For a full day or longer, no: the booked point's EUR 3.90 plus the EUR 1.99 per-bag fee totals EUR 5.89 against EUR 9.50 for a large locker, and the gap widens each extra day.
Which Paris stations have an official SNCF consigne?
Five: Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon, Gare Montparnasse, Gare de l'Est and Gare d'Austerlitz. Gare Saint-Lazare and Paris Bercy have no in-station consigne; SNCF handles them through an off-site partner within roughly five minutes' walk.
Can I reserve an SNCF station locker in advance?
No. The consigne is first-come, first-served, and SNCF itself warns that lockers can be full or closed for works. If you need a guaranteed place, a booked storage point with a reservation is the only option that holds one.
What does the Radical Storage guarantee actually pay?
The headline is EUR 10,000 per bag, but the terms cap payment at EUR 3,000 per claim and state that the guarantee is not a contract of insurance. Claims need notification within seven days, a signed itemised list of contents with values, and a police report within 48 hours for theft.
Is luggage storage in Paris available around the clock?
No. Consigne hours run roughly 06:15 to 23:30 depending on the station, and booked points set their own ordinary shop hours, which vary by location. The "24/7" phrase in search results is a marketing template, not a description of any real Paris storage point.
Can I leave a bag for several days?
Yes, at both. SNCF lockers charge EUR 5 per bag per extra 24 hours on top of the initial fee, and a booked point charges EUR 3.90 per bag per day with the EUR 1.99 fee charged once per bag, so EUR 13.69 for one bag for three days. The booked point is cheaper from about the second day onward.
If your hours are short and your station is one of the five, use the consigne and keep coins or a card handy depending on the station. If your stop runs past a day, your station has no consigne, or you simply cannot afford to arrive and find nothing, reserve a point instead. These are the three station clusters where the booked alternative is strongest.