France by Train: Booking Tips

Traveling by train in France is one of the most efficient, comfortable, and scenic ways to explore the country. Unlike air travel, train stations are usually in the center of town, and you don’t have to deal with cabin bag limits, airport security lines, or being strapped into a seat in a pressurized cabin for hours. With Paris as a major rail hub, you can reach cities across France and Europe quickly and affordably—if you know how to book smartly. This article covers the basics, including different kinds of trains, the Paris stations, purchasing tickets, and how to find the best deals.

When to Book

You won’t always have the luxury of booking your train tickets far in advance, but if you do, you should know that there’s a bizarrely convoluted schedule of when different kinds of train tickets go on sale. This is most important if you want to get the cheapest prices on the high-speed trains such as the Eurostar and TGV InOui trains, which go up like plane tickets the closer you get to the travel date.

As a very loose rule, tickets for TGV InOui and Intercités trains go on sale four months in advance. However, ticket sales open a bit earlier than that for travel during the vacances scolaires, or French school holidays (when families travel). Those dates are never fixed, but are announced (usually with much fanfare in the French press) a few weeks before the ticket sales open (subscribe to the SCNF newsletter to be notified). TGV tickets to Spain, Switzerland and Italy go on sale six months in advance. TER tickets are on sale between three and five months in advance. Ouigo train tickets are on sale two to nine months in advance. Eurostar tickets to the UK are on sale eleven months in advance, but to Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands four months in advance.

Having said all that, I recommend just doing a search to see for yourself what’s bookable and what’s not (sometimes you will see train times listed for certain dates but then “not bookable” or “not yet available”, or simply not listed at all where the price would be showing (as if it doesn’t exist), subscribe to the SCNF newsletter to be notified, and put a reminder on your calendar for when your tickets “should” be on sale according to the guidelines above so that you check back.

Online Ticketing Options

Assuming you already know where you want to go and when, I recommend opening three tabs in your web browser and plug that info into the official SNCF Connect website plus two other official ticketing partner websites:

• SNCF Connect is the official website/app for the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), France’s national railway company, which operates the country’s national rail traffic, including the high-speed rail network. If you’re living in France or spending a lot of time traveling within France, this should be your default option when booking, as there are no booking fees. They also sell Interrail passes for European residents.
• The Trainline website/app is an official partner of SNCF as well as rail networks throughout Europe, so it has the benefit of allowing you to purchase multiple tickets for different kinds of transport in one place (for example, a train ticket in France and a bus ticket for Italy). It’s also supposedly easier for those not based in France to make complicated ticket changes or to get refunds if your train is cancelled. The prices are the same as the official SNCF Connect prices, but they add a booking fee. They also sell Eurail passes for non-European residents.
• Omio is another official partner of France’s SNCF and other international train, bus and airline networks, useful like Trainline for international travelers based outside France who want to book all of their travel for multiple countries in one place.

Once you’ve put in the same destination and travel date(s) on each of the three sites, you’ll be able to see the full range of options available to you. I always start this way because in almost every case, you won’t see every option available on any of the three alone (although in my experience, Trainline tends to show the most). SNCF Connect and Trainline additionally make it easy to see the price of tickets on the days immediately before and after your chosen travel date (which can sometimes save you quite a lot of money, assuming your schedule is flexible).

Note: When typing in the name of the city, choose “any station” or the name of the city itself instead of a specific station.

Once you have all of the options laid available on the three sites in front of you, the two most important things to consider before making your choice are the station and the type of train.

The Paris Train Stations

There are seven train stations within the border of Paris, all connected to the city’s metro/RER system (and therefore relatively easy to access from anywhere in Paris):

• Gare d’Austerlitz: Intercités trains to Loire Valley, Limoges, Toulouse, and the night trains
• Gare Montparnasse: TGV Atlantique trains to Western France (Brittany, Brest, Rennes), Bordeaux, Biarritz, Lourdes, and the Spanish border at Hendaye.
• Gare du Nord: TGV trains to northeast France (Lille, Calais), and Eurostar trains London, Brussels, Cologne, and Amsterdam; connects to both Paris airports via RER B.
• Gare de l’Est: TGVs to eastern France (Nancy, Metz, Reims, Strasbourg, Colmar), Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Munich.
• Gare de Lyon: TGVs to the south of France (Lyon, Dijon, Clermont-Ferrand, Avignon, Marseille, Nice, Montpellier), the French Alps, Switzerland, Italy and Barcelona; connects to Orly airport via metro line 14
• Gare de Bercy Bourgogne – Pays d’Auvergne: TGVs to Vichy and Clermont Ferrand, and regional trains to Lyon and Dijon; this is actually a smaller station to handle overflow from the Gare de Lyon
• Gare St-Lazare: Regional trains to Normandy (Caen, Cherbourg, Rouen, Le Havre); connects to Orly airport via metro line 14.

Most destinations are tied to a specific station, so for example trains to Brittany usually leave from Montparnasse and trains for Provence from Gare de Lyon. One major exception is that the overnight sleeper trains leave from Gare d’Austerlitz.

Note that sometimes when booking a roundtrip ticket, the departure station in Paris may differ from the arrival station when you return to Paris.

Suburban Train Stations

When selecting “Paris – all stations” as the departure station, you might also see some options to depart from (or return to) stations just outside Paris.:

• Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy (at Disneyland; on RER A, €2.50 fare)
• Massy (near Orly airport; on RERs B and C, €2.50 fare)
• Roissy – Charles-de-Gaulle (at CDG airport, terminal 2; on RER B, €13 fare).

On the plus side, these routes can be a bit cheaper and sometimes less crowded. The downside is the hour-long RER trip to get to these stations from Paris. Since 2025, it’s only €2.50 to take the RER to or from Paris and Chessy or Massy stations, but it’s €13 to or from Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle station, so be sure to include that into your calculations. And beware of periodic late night or weekend closures on RER lines, check here), or you may end up with an expensive taxi fare.

Search results on SNCF-Connect show the station names right away, whereas you’ll need to click to expand any given train on Trainline and Omio to see the name of the station.

Doublecheck Your Destination Station

Also be sure to double-check the full name and address of the station at your destination, as some cities have more than one station, and one might be far from the center of town (for example, Aix-en-Provence has a TGV station about 15 minutes’ drive from the center of town, and an older station for slower trains in the center of the city). You won’t necessarily be able to choose your station, but it’s good to consider if you’d rather take a slower train and be able to hit the ground walking, vs a faster train where you will need to taxi or shuttle into town.

The Different Types of Trains

Once you’ve narrowed down which station(s) work for you, the next very important step is to pick your train. Here are the usual contenders departing from Paris.

TGV – train à grande vitesse

These are high-speed trains, travelling up to 320km/h (200mph) on the newer lines, with over 120 million passengers every year. When booking you might see several different TGV options, depending on the destination. They go the same speed, but are very different experiences, so make sure you choose wisely!

• TGV InOui: With service to over 200 destinations, these are France’s famous high-speed trains that make everyone fall in love with train travel. Operated by SNCF, they have all of the latest services like the dining car (called Le Bistro), a nursery area for young children, free wifi and access to free films, TV series, and magazines (like on an airplane), as well as electric outlets (shared in 2^nd class), reclinable seats, and even adjustable lamps in first class. There’s room for small suitcases on the overhead rack and larger suitcases at the ends of each car. You can choose your exact seat in 1^st class (where seats are larger and there are fewer passengers per car) but you can select your seating “preference” in 2^nd class. Aside from 1^st and 2^nd class rates, there are also full and semi-flex rates if you want more options to change your mind. Tickets can be booked up to four months in advance, with announcements for the opening of ticket sales for the holidays and major school breaks. They also have flash sales (sometimes you’ll see “Prems”, the historic name for the discount tickets), sign up for the newsletter to be informed.
• Ouigo Grande Vitesse: These budget TGV trains operated by SNCF are like low-cost airlines, offering far fewer comforts than InOui trains. Your ticket only allows for a small backpack or bag that can fit under your seat; the narrow seats don’t recline; there are no center seat armrests; there’s no snack bar or catering options; you have to pay an extra “Ouigo Plus” supplement for access to wifi, power outlets, being able to choose your seat when booking, and being able to bring a large bag. There’s an overhead rack, but it’s so small you can only put a hat or a small purse up there. In theory only people who paid the supplement can bring suitcases that go in the rack at the ends of the train carriages, but no agents check who is putting their bags there, so space quickly runs out and you end up putting your suitcase under your legs. I would really avoid these uncomfortable Ouigo trains for the longer journeys (over 2.5 hours) unless you really have no other option. You can book these trains from two to nine months in advance (the price will be blank and it will say “non reservable” on trains before ticket sales have opened). SCREENSHOT
• Eurostar: This is the Franco-British company most famous for the Paris-London “chunnel train” (after the tunnel under the English Channel), which opened in 1994. Today the journey takes just 2 hours and 18 minutes. In 2022 Eurostar merged with the Thalys train company, and now also has service from Paris to Lille in northern France, the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Schiphol airport), Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp, Liège), Germany (Aachen, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Essen and Dortmund), and Switzerland, in partnership with the TGV Lyria (Basel, Zurich, Lausanne, Geneva). See the route map here. Eurostar trains usually have a bar/dining car and even 2^nd class is fairly comfortable with electric outlets and reclinable seats. You can purchase your tickets on SNCF Connect or on Eurostar’s own website (where you’ll find the very handy rate calendar with the best deals already highlighted).
• Other International Trains: Since 2020, SNCF no longer has a monopoly on train service in France, so you will now see high-speed trains in French stations from Italy (Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa), Spain (Renfe’s AVE), Switzerland (SNCF-SBB partnership, TGV Lyria), and Germany (Deutsche Bahn’s ICE). You can only book online at SNCF Connect for the cities with direct trains from France (see the map here) or where the transfers are within France. If you need to transfer outside of France, you’ll need to buy a ticket to the station where you’re transferring, then the second ticket from the destination country’s rail service. That’s tedious, so in this case just book through Omio or Trainline so you can book and pay for both tickets in one place.

Regular (Slower) Trains

If you do a search more than two months in advance, these may be the only bookable options available (some TGVs can only be booked within two months of travel). They’re generally cheaper and serve additional cities the TGVs don’t. But slower doesn’t always mean cheaper (I’ve seen TGV trains with direct service cheaper than regular trains with a connection), especially if you’re booking in advance. Here are the slower train options:

• Ouigo Train Classique: In addition to Ouigo’s budget TGV service is their ultra-budget option on regular (slower) trains. These bargain-basement trains are available from Paris to Lyon, Dijon, Nantes, Blois-Chambord, Chartres, Rennes and Brussels (and some of the stations along the way) for €10 to €59. Tickets are reservable up to nine months in advance, which is a good insurance policy to book in advance in case you miss the sales on the TGV InOui tickets (here’s the map of the cities served by Ouigo trains). The €10 fares are great for day trippers who want to visit the Loire Valley castles, Chartres Cathedral, or the Art Nouveau museums in Brussels without staying overnight. Just like their OuigoTGV counterparts, the Ouigo Trains Classique has little in the way of service or comfort, with only 2^nd class seating, no dining car, and additional cost for Wifi and any luggage beyond what will fit under the seat.  
• TER: Transport express regional These are the SNCF’s regional train networks that are run locally under different names, including the Transilien network in the Île-de-France region surrounding Paris, or Intercités network that fills in gaps throughout France where there is no TGV service (meaning these are often older, slower trains meant for traveling short distances). Learn more about the suburban Transilien trains operating from Paris in this article, Paris Public Transportation.
• Night Trains: Intercités de Nuit After disappearing for several years, the night trains are back!  Operated by SNCF, these Intercités de Nuit depart from Paris between 8pm and 10pm and wake up in the morning in cities in the south of France from the French Riviera and Provence to the Pyrenees and Basque Coast. There are no private cars with bathrooms, but you can book a 4-bed (1^st class) or 6-bed (2^nd class) couchette with shared toilet and washroom in the hall. There is also the option to book one of the semi-reclining seats if you’re really desperate, but you’d have to be pretty desperate to spend the entire night in a chair when for just a few more euros you’re in a lockable compartment with your luggage, in a bed with a pillow and sleeping bag, and a little pochette with bottle of water, wet wipes, ear plugs and eye shade. There’s free Wifi and an electric outlet at each bed, too. If you don’t want to share, you can simply book all four or six beds yourself. There’s also the option for solo female travelers to reserve a bed in a women-only compartment, for no additional fee. Keep in mind there’s no dining car (eat beforehand or bring a snack), but a light breakfast can be delivered to your couchette compartment. There’s no special place to book a night train, it will simply appear as one of the options (usually after 8pm) when you search for trains on any given day, departing from Gare d’Austerlitz in Paris.

Making Your Booking

Choose the Website

Once you’ve zeroed in on the train you want, you’re ready to make your purchase. If the ticket is available on all three websites, then you’ll have to pick which one is best for you. Sometimes this isn’t just a case of personal preference for how a website is setup. I generally use SNCF Connect because I’m used to it (and it’s available in French or English, change the language at the top of the footer on any page), but I know getting refunds for cancellations can be a bit complicated if you don’t live in France. I find Europe Rail is quite stingy with information and takes too long to explore each option in detail. And Trainline often gets me to the end with a lower price then says, “Sorry, no more tickets are available for this price” and makes me start over (and charges a booking fee). But the two latter sites are best for those purchasing tickets for travel throughout Europe or on different modes of transport, all in one place. If you want to cover all your bases, create an account on each one before you get started so that when/if you do find the ticket you want, you can go straight to “purchase” without the detour of setting up an account.

Hold that Price!

Once you’ve got a ticket in your shopping cart, it usually displays a message that you have 30 minutes until it expires. If you need more time to decide, you can put some tickets on hold with the “Option Pause”. It’s a free reservation hold that lets you temporarily secure seats and lock in a fare, giving you extra time to finalize your decision or gather passenger details before actually paying (the exact date and time it will expire will show). You’ll see the option just before paying for tickets on TGV InOui and Intercités trains up to 48 hours before departure. It cannot be used for non-exchangeable/non-refundable fares, Ouigo, Eurostar, or TER trains. This is what it looks like:

You’ll receive a deadline (usually displayed in a confirmation email), after which the hold expires if you haven’t paid. Since it costs nothing to hold the ticket, there’s no risk!

Getting Your Ticket

Most train tickets sold in France are now eTickets, which you can show on your smartphone (usually using the SNCF-Connect or Eurostar apps, depending on which ticket you have). You can also print it out, a good backup plan in case your phone gets lost or the battery dies while you’re traveling. eTickets cannot be transferred to another person; you’ll need to provide the name and date of birth for each passenger when you pay, and the name cannot be changed after purchase.

Once you’ve paid, you’ll see a booking reference of six letters, for example “Reference: TJZGFY”. Take a screen shot, or write it down, just in case the confirmation email doesn’t make it to your inbox. This confirmation reference and your full name is what you’ll need to pull up your reservation in the app or on the website (and essential if you lose your phone or the confirmation email).

Always choose the eTicket Option

Sometimes you will still see the option to have tickets snail mailed to you in France (ouf, risky!) or to print out your ticket at the train station kiosk. I do NOT recommend either option, but especially the second one because you will need the exact same credit card you used to pay to retrieve the tickets. I had purchased tickets several months early, then my credit card expired and I received the new one, which then did not work to pick up my tickets because even though it was the same bank account, it wasn’t the same card!

Finding Deals

Above all, I recommend everyone subscribe to the SCNF newsletter to be notified of the opening date when holiday tickets are available for booking, but also to be notified of 48-hou flash sales, and news about new lines and services. For Eurostar trains (London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne, etc), check the rate calendar for the lowest fares when booking ahead. You can also get notifications on promotions and dates when tickets go on sale for the holidays by signing up for the Eurostar newsletter.

Discount Cards

If you’re going to travel more than twice per year in France, there are several discount cards for SNCF, such as the Carte Avantage Adulte. For €49/year, it gives you up to 30% off your tickets for you and one companion and 60% off for up to three kids under age 12. It caps ticket prices at €49 for short trips (under 1.5 hours), €69 for trips 1.5 to 3 hours long, and €89 max for all trains over 3 hours, even if you purchase at the last minute. The only caveat? You have to travel or stay over at least one Saturday or Sunday. You can cancel or change tickets with no additional fees up until the day you travel, and you’ll receive exclusive offers (like the flash sale notices before everyone else). Depending on where you go and when you’re booking, it may even pay for itself on your first trip!

There’s a Carte Jeune for anyone 12-27 years old, and a Carte Senior for anyone 60+ years old, both which are the same price as the regular Carte Avantage Adulte (for 27-59 year olds), without the weekend restriction.

Hidden Website for Last-Minute Eurostar Deals

Good news in 2025, the Eurostar Snap last-minute Eurostar deals are back! The Snap tickets are perfect for those with a flexible schedule looking for tickets in the coming week from Paris to London, Amsterdam, Brussels or Cologne. Tickets only cost between €40 and €75, but have a few constraints:

• You can only choose from “morning” (7am-2pm) or “afternoon” (2-9pm), and are given the exact time 48 hours before your trip
• You cannot buy a round-trip in the same day (you need to stay at least one night)
• There are no child fares (but infants under 4 can sit on an adult’s lap for free).
• These are non-refundable, non-exchangeable, and non-transferable.
• If you purchase two tickets, you might not be seated together.  

Note that these deals are ONLY available on the Eurostar Snap website, not if you do a regular search on the Eurostar or SNCF Connect or other ticketing partner websites. For example, the Omio website is showing all tickets to London tomorrow (March 24^th) are €218, but on the SNAP website you can get an afternoon ticket for €75.

The Train Expert in Seat 61

If you want to take the deepest of the deep dives into all things related to train travel — not just in France, but all of Europe and beyond — I highly recommend The Man in Seat 61, the most up-to-date, thorough guide to taking trains written by Mark Smith, who worked for British Rail as London Station Manager and the British Department of Transport before devoting himself full-time to his website in 2007.