My husband and I are arriving at CDG about 9:30 AM in late April and want to take the TGV to Beaune. Where do we get the best connections CDG or Gard de Lyon? Best way to get to Gard de Lyon? Is that the best and fastest way to Dijon and then to Beaune. Or is there some other way to arrive in Beaune?

I would take the TGV directly from CDG to Lyon (the City - not the station - get a cheap PREM fare), then backtrack a bit to Beaune. There are trains that leave at 1:00 & arrive in Beaune at 5, and another that leaves at 2 & arrives at 6. Both have only 1 train change - in Lyon.

Going through Dijon requires a trip into Paris & multiuple train changes & it doesn't get you there any sooner.

Stu Dudley

Oops - when I checked schedules, I thought you were arriving at 11:30.

Best way to get to the Gare de Lyon would be by taxi - but that would probably cost more than a train ticket for 2 to Lyon (the City). Trying to get to the Gare de Lyon instead by RER, intercity taxi, another RER trip would be too much trouble for me on the first day of a trip.

If you get through immigration & get to the taxi stand at CDG by 11:00, you probably won't get inside the train station & ready to go much before 12:00. A TGV to Dijon then another train to Beaune leaves at 1 & arrives at 4 - which is a hour earlier than you would get there if you catch the TGV from CDG.

I would choose to relax at CDG, catch the 1pm TGV to Lyon (city) then back to Beaune.

Stu Dudley

t

Stu,
I have read that an Air France bus #4 stops at Gard de Lyon. Would that be a simple way to go from CDG to GDL? From the schedules at GDL it looks like there are more trains leaving from there to Dijon than CDG to Lyon.
Also connections to Beaune from Dijon and Lyon. Does one have more train connections?
Thanks
DLM4

I took Air France bus from CDG to Gare de Lyon last November, took less than an hour, depends on traffic, the bus stop right outside the train station.

I thinks it would be more convenient and time saving to take train to Dijon, then change train (around 20 minutes, frequent) or bus (bus terminal next door of Dijon Ville) to Beaune.

For train schedule, please check www.sncf.com, or www.bahn.de.

Advantages of Air France bus: Direct route and luggage is stored in a luggage bay. Disadvantages: More expensive than RER and subject to traffic delays.

If you take the RER, I suggest you transfer from the B line to the D line at Gare du Nord rather than at Chatelet Les Halles to get to Gare de Lyon. The Chatelet station is huge.

Go to www.ratp.fr to download and print a Metro/RER map for central Paris.

We were in Lyon, went to Beaune by train and stayed a couple of nights. They took the train to Dijon, changed, and went to Paris. It was a pain. Long lay over. I remembering discovering that there is a direct train to Paris from Beaune like once a day so you might search the schedule and see what you can find. Or ask Coco in Dijon.

What a shame the second TGV from CDG is scheduled for Dec 2008 only. It will more convenient not to have to wait until 19h40 to take it.(We don't know what time it will leave yet)

Until then I would go to Gare de Lyon and jump into the first TGV to Dijon. TimS has a good idea with changing platform RER at Gare du Nord.
http://www.ratp.info/picts/miniplan/metro120x84.pdf

Happy travels and please come and visit Dijon

I still like the idea of not leaving CDG at all, and getting into Beaune an hour later than you would have by going into Paris.

Like I stated earlier, if you arrive ON TIME (questionable) at CDG at 9:30, I would not plan on getting to the Air France bus stop till 11:00. If the Air France bus arrives EXACTLY (optmistic), at 11:00, you will get to the GDL around 12:00. It will take you 20 mins to figure out which track the train leaves from (I'm assuming that you already have tickets you printed from home - if not, add 30-45 mins to get tickets at GDL). Now it's either 12:20 or 12:50. The train leaves at 12:58 - so if everything goes perfect, you will have either 38 mins or 8 mins to spare - I would be quite nervous about that. On weekdays, there is another train that leaves 1 1/2 hr later, that gets in at 4:45 - only 15 mins before the train via Lyon from CGD gets in.

I would choose to relax at CG, pick up your trin tickets there with 2 hrs or so to do it, have a nice & relaxed lunch, and not hassle with the trip into Paris routine.

Personally, If I was trying to catch the 12:58 train from Paris GDL, I would purchase refundable & changeable tickets - which would cost a lot more than the PREM fare I would buy on the via Lyon TGV.

See schedules at
http://www.reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
note that dates are in dd/mm/yyyy format.

For me - this is a no-brainer - unless I'm reading a schedule incorrectly.

Stu Dudley