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By Train

Paris has five international train stations run by the SNCF: Gare du Nord (northern France, northern Europe, and England via Calais or the Channel Tunnel); Gare St-Lazare (Normandy and England via Dieppe); Gare de l'Est (Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Basel, and central Europe); Gare de Lyon (Lyon, TGV to Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, the Riviera, Geneva, Italy); and Gare d'Austerlitz (Loire Valley, southwest France, Spain). The Gare Montparnasse is used by the TGV Atlantique bound for Nantes or Bordeaux. Call 08-92-35-35-35 for information. Trains heading outside of Ile-de-France are usually referred to as Grandes Lignes, while regional train service is referred to as trains de banlieue, or Le Transilien.

RER trains travel between Paris and the suburbs and are operated by the RATP. When they go through Paris, they act as a sort of supersonic métro -- they connect with the métro network at several points -- and can be great time-savers. Access to RER platforms is through the same type of automatic ticket barrier (if you've started your journey on the métro, you can use the same ticket), but you'll need to have the same ticket handy to put through another barrier when you leave the system.

Train Information

SNCF/Transilien (08-91-36-20-20. www.sncf.fr). RER/RATP (08-92-68-77-14. www.ratp.fr). SNCF Nationale (36-35 (EUR .34 per minute). www.voyages-sncf.com). TGV (www.tgv.com).