Trains:
If you are planning on traveling throughout France or Europe, you will probably be taking advantage of France’s incredible train system. You can buy individual tickets at the train stations themselves, or you can get a pass at a travel agency or by going through a service such as Rail Europe.
There are six major train stations in Paris, each serving a different area of France and Europe. For more information on train travel, contact the SNCF.
- Gare d’Austerlitz serves the southwest, Loire Valley, Bordeaux, the Pyrénées
- Gare de l’Est serves the east: Strasbourg, Reims, Switzerland, Austria
- Gare de Lyon serves the southeast: Lyon, Avignon, Marseille, Nice, Italy
- Gare Montparnasse serves the west and Brittany
- Gare du Nord serves the north: Lille, Belgium, Amsterdam, Germany
- Gare St. Lazare serves the northwest: Normandy
To get into Paris from the train stations, you can take a taxi (remember to wait at the taxi stand outside the station) or the metro. Each train station is also a metro station.
Coming from England, you will use the Channel Tunnel and its Eurostar Express which offers daily service from London to Paris. The trip takes 3 hours, around 20 minutes of which are actually under the Channel. Trains leave from London’s Waterloo Station and arrive at the Gare du Nord in Paris.
