We are looking at a trip in December with the time split between Paris and Lyon. Which would be the best way to go
1. Fly to Lyon then train to Paris and fly home from CDG
2. Fly to Paris then train to Lyon and fly home from Lyon

whatever is the cheapest as it takes only about 2 hours to go from Lyon to CDG Airport via TGV trains - right to the terminals. Trains very frequent. For deep discounted fares book in advance at www.voyages.snch.com, the official site of the French National Railways or the SNCG ss ot os called in France.

There's a typo in the previous poster's link to the French train system -- it's at www.voyages.sncf.com
English speakers will find it easier to use the system's English system at http://www.tgv-europe.com/
If you are new to SNCF, be sure to specify an English-speaking country other than the US, to avoid being shunted to the more expensive Rail Europe subsidiary. The country designation won't affect how you actually acquire your tickets.

Does the flight home from Lyon pass through CDG anyways, perhaps with a couple of hours layover?

I've taken TGV from Lyon to CDG on my flight home day and it worked out fine.

Hi sus,

What a quandry.

You could go to Lyon first and save the best for last, or you could go to Paris first and learn why Lyon is considered to have the best food in France.

Enjoy your visit.

I'd do 1 for a couple reasons. One is personal, I just like to end trips in Paris when I'm going multiple places, rather than start there. But I would assume your flight home from Lyon would involve a transfer somewhere and wouldn't that be Paris? Because you'll waste time that way and risk luggage transfer problems. I have done that but only when staying in places farther from Paris than Lyon (eg, Marseille or Nice).

But if you can't get nonstops home anyway, it really just boils down to your personal preference as it doesn't make any difference for any other reason. Or maybe based on things you want to do, if they have any date criteria. I have a preference of where I start trips based on city size and how familiar I am with it, etc., or sometimes rural vs. urban. This is just my preference as to how I want my trip to unfold, you should do the same.

Thanks to all for your responses. After reading the above comments, it will be to Lyon first and train to Paris. That gives us the flexibility of when we go to Paris if we run out of things to do in Lyon. The additional airfare to fly to Lyon is almost the same as the one-way train ticket. When it comes to ticketing time, we will recheck the fares.

The website http://www.tgv-europe.com/ gave me lower priced fares than I was getting on another website. One problem is it would not allow me to enter USA as my residence. After chatting on line with help, I was told to enter any country.

The above link takes you http://www.raileurope-world.com/?cmpid=PA020566 when you click on America. Somehow, it once landed at http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail . That website gives the price in US dollars but the conversion rate is much higher than the current rate. The website www.voyages.sncf.com takes you to http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail.

You might also check the iDTGV site for the Lyon-Paris tickets. All tickets purchased at that site are to be printed by the purchaser so there's no question about country of purchase. The English language version of their site is http://www.idtgv.com/en/ .

In September we took an iDTGV train from Paris to Lyon. The tickets were €19 in 2nd class or €26 in 1st class at that time, slightly less than the PREMS fares through the SNCF site. The iDTGV site is simple and easy to use.

Two factors should guide your desicion; time and cost. Your return home trip should minimize connections. Based on that return from Paris.

Thanks everyone for your input. We changed our thinking and booked a flight to London and return from Paris. The above information was useful in booking a Chunnel trip from London.