Trains in France

[Ergle]

Thanks to all who have posted here - I have found the stories and advice fun and useful.

I am planning a trip to France next month. Train to Portsmouth, ferry to Caen, then cycling and camping my way down through France - hopefully getting as far as Provence.

When I head homewards, I would like to do parts of the journey by train - probably local ones.

If I were doing this in the UK, there are some regions, eg Southern, where as long as you avoid rush hours there is never a problem turning up at a station and taking a bike on the train - on others, esp in the West Country, my understanding is that you need to book ahead and once the designated bike spaces are taken up they won't let you on with a bike.

Can anyone advise as to the practicalities of this in France? Will I be able to realise my ambition of just turning up at a station and wheeling the bike onto the train pretty much as I please, or do I need to make advance bookings and risk not being able to get on?

Thanks

 

[Bigtwin]

I did this some 15 years or so ago. Went to Victoria and booked it all (sure the net will do now). All booked no probs, but you had to pay in France for each journey leg.

And that was the killer. Incredibly, they charged by the gear. We had 21 speed bikes, so it cost us 21 times as much as a SS. Blew most of our budget for the trip getting from the Channel to Paris. All pukka with receipts etc!!

Don't know if this is still the case, but might be worth checking - the shock nearly killed us!

 

[Ben M]

Me and two mates were wanting to get a train Strasbourg to Paris, each of us with a bike.

The trains only take three bikes each, so we cound't get close to the day that we want, we had to do it three days later than we wanted, despite booking around two months in advance.

 

[Will1985]

I think someone saw you coming! I've not had a problem with bikes on trains in France - I found the staff to be very helpful most of the time.

 

[andym]

Your best bet is probably to get a sleeper back to Paris and then take it from there. Start by checking out http://www.seat61.com/France.htm#Corail%20Lun%E9a.

If you don't speak French then probably www.tgv-europe.com is your best bet (and if you want to avoid the rubbish on the sncf.com site go direct to www.voyages-sncf.com).

If you decide not to go with the sleeper option then (bizarrely) your friend is the German Railways site and not the sncf website.

http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

This gives you two options: you can either check the radio button for 'local transport' or you can go to the bottom of the box and click on 'Further options' this then takes you to a page where you can check a box saying 'carriage of bicycles required'.

And if you get stuck then ring RailEurope - you'll have to pay a booking fee but the staff are very helpful.

Oh and if you want some general information on taking bikes on trains have a look at the English section of the website of the French cyclists organisation fubicy.

Incredibly, they charged by the gear. We had 21 speed bikes, so it cost us 21 times as much as a SS. Blew most of our budget for the trip getting from the Channel to Paris. All pukka with receipts etc!!

What is it April 1 already???

 

[Bigtwin]

What is it April 1 already???

Trust me, you really have no idea how much we weren't laughing.

 

[rich p]

Trust me, you really have no idea how much we weren't laughing.

Neither are we

 

[bikepacker]

Nice to Avignon
Avignon to Lyon
Lyon to Paris
Paris to Le Harve.
You can do this route on trains that take bikes.

Apparently here is one TGV train a day from Toulon to Paris that will take bikes but I have never found it or it's route.

 

[Brains]

I did this some 15 years or so ago. Went to Victoria and booked it all (sure the net will do now). All booked no probs, but you had to pay in France for each journey leg.

And that was the killer. Incredibly, they charged by the gear. We had 21 speed bikes, so it cost us 21 times as much as a SS. Blew most of our budget for the trip getting from the Channel to Paris. All pukka with receipts etc!!

Don't know if this is still the case, but might be worth checking - the shock nearly killed us!

They obviously saw you coming, but missed a trick, if they had charged you per spoke, they could have got even more out of you

 

[Tim Bennet.]

Stick to local trains. I've never had a problem just turning up and getting straight on.

Never paid by the gear either!

 

[andym]

Stick to local trains.

Well yes, except it's a really long way, I'd imagine that doing the trip by local trains would take a couple of days - so its worth investigating the sleeper service.

 

[PpPete]

Only problem we ever had on a local train in France was travelling with a baguette or two and a cheese - so as to be able to eat lunch whilst travelling.
It was apparently "not polite" - hell knows why..... maybe something to do with the cheese which was rapidly approaching it's sell-by-date.

Were we bovverd? A whole carriage to ourselves? Result !

 

[Speicher]

Nice to Avignon
Avignon to Lyon
Lyon to Paris
Paris to Le Harve.
You can do this route on trains that take bikes.

Apparently here is one TGV train a day from Toulon to Paris that will take bikes but I have never found it or it's route.

I have a copy of the Thomas Cook Summer 2009 European Rail Timetable. I have found a TGV that leaves Toulon at 0723 on Mondays to Fridays. It waits at Marseille St Charles for twenty minutes, then the next stop is Paris Gare de Lyon arriving at 1131.

More options timewise are available if you take a TGV from Toulon to Marseille St Charles (40 mins) then change for the TGV direct to Paris Gare de Lyon. This (according to my timetable) gives you approx 18 minutes to change trains at Marseille St Charles.

There are no route details as such because it does not stop between Marseille St Charles and Paris. This gives you the times, but try as I might I cannot find whether you can take bikes on this train. The timetable I have is called the Summer timetable, but says it is valid for June to December 2009.

I used to read "Rail Europe" (for hard-core train enthusiasts) each month, and it was said that the SNCF timetables were confusing, or missed out chunks alledgedly, or were misleading, alledgedly.

The Timetable number in the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable is 350. They also provide a small map of the routes for each country.

If you have travel agent near you, perhaps they have a copy for you to look at. I buy the summer one each year, so that I can plan any trips for the following year. Call me old-fashioned, but I would prefer to plan trips from a paper timetable.

Obviously check these details again, if you choose that route.

Edit just found another TGV originating from Hyeres (west of Toulon)
departs 1132, calling at Toulon and Marseille, arriving Paris Gare de Lyon 1531, but it only runs June 27th to Aug 28th.

 

[TheDoctor]

If you can get the bike into a bag, then any TGV will do. Look at seat61.com and this will give you all the train-related info you could ever need. Figure to change at Lille if you can - it's easier than getting across Paris.
SNCF site will also give you train info, but only a few months ahead.

 

[Speicher]

I agree that changing at Lille is much much easier, than crossing Paris.

Can I borrow your microscope Doc, to read the timetable again. I enjoy reading timetables, and working them out! Once did a British Railway timetable course, back in the day of paper timetables, the size of encyclopaedias. How old am I?