Train Rides from Paris
 

My gf and I plan to spend a few days in Paris May 2012 (First Timers!!) but, wish to do a bit of country hopping. We enjoy new experiences, sight seeing, beaches, spas, nightlife, music, etc. So many destination options when I visit RailEurope.com, etc. but, I would like to hear from you...which destinations are worth seeing via train? Is there a such thing as an overnight train ride to possibly save money on lodging? Any help would be appreciated.

Your question is so broad it can't be answered. There are literally thousands of places in France that are "worth" visiting by train. And yes, there are overnight trains to many places as well.

Instead of looking at the RailEurope website, which isn't likely to be of any use to you for a trip just to France, I would suggest you get a guidebook or two and surf the web for information on the bazillion places in France that might interest you. When you have selected a few possible destinations and have a more refined plan, there are countless people here who can help you winnow down the choices and design an itinerary.

Ugh..I can imagine. It's just so hard to decide on which country to visit...thank you for your suggestion to get a guidebook. This is my first trip to Europe and I hope to see as much as I can.

I also think this question is just too big to answer with anything meaningful. YOu want to know if there is anywhere you can go by train from Paris that would be interesting, including overnight? All of Europe is possible pretty much, trains go everywhere. Now if you wanted to know of some place worth seeing within an hour from Paris for a day trip, that could be answered. But just anywhere at all?

YOu can take an overnight train to Italy from Paris. I'm not sure where, I know you can to Venice. The train leaves at 7:45 pm and arrives aroudn 9:30 am. Whether that saves money might be debatable, as overnight trains aren't cheap and you can always sleep in a cheap hotel. YOu'd have to compare figures. Alsoo, it would depend on your tolerance for different sleeping conditions on a train. It is cheaper to be in group quarters with other people you don't know sleeping in the same room (bunks). Some cars have 4-6 bunks and those are the cheapest sleeping situations for overnight. I don't think there is anywhere you can go in France overnight nowadays, but I might be wrong. The reason is that the trains go so fast now (and they run the high speed trains for the longest distances), so there isn't really enough time to have an overnight train make sense. YOu can get from Paris all the way down to Marseille on the coast in only a few hours, for example. If there were any overnight train within France, it might be some slow train from Paris to Nice.

Oh, now I see that you're contemplating other countries besides France. That makes it even more impossible to make recommendations. If you're planning on lots of countries (in which case you're going to need lots of time), actually a rail pass might be advisable, but you won't know that until you have an itinerary roughed out and can compare pass prices with point-to-point ticket prices.

How much time are we talking about?

What you need to understand about overnight trains is that rail passes don;t cover sleeping compartments. They may cover a seat (if the train has seats - some re compartments only) and they are often not any less expensive than a hotel would be. And if you don't sleep well on the train - perhaps another day lost to exhaustion.

Some people love it. I wouldn;t if you paid me,

If you're planning on going to a few countries, "hit the highlights" go to a tour company website and see what they do. For instance you may want to go to London, Paris and Rome.
You may want to consider just staying in one country, France and explore that country.

How long do you have to do this? 2 weeks? If I only had 2 weeks I'd either go to Paris and Normandy or Paris and London.

If you have particular interests then let's talk about those.

Just a word of warning.

Tickets within, and international tickets starting in, France are best booked direct with French Railways on their English language site www.tgv-europe.com not raileurope.com, unless you want to pay significantly more than the official price.

One minor thing when using tgv-europe.com - if you're from the USA you need to select 'Antarctic' as your country, otherwise results open on their US subsidiary, RailEurope.com. Even if you're from a non-US country, watch out for pop ups threatening to redirect you to their 'local' website (meaning Rail Europe) and click the link to 'Continue on to tgv-europe.com'.

Why tgv-europe.com not raileurope.com?

Rail Europe's Inc and 4A (but not the UK Rail Europe) suppress the cheapest price levels for the overseas market.

In other words, on a given date and departure from Paris to Marseille the price might be $130 on Rail Europe but only the equivalent of $45 on tgv-europe.com, and in a global economy on the World Wide Web anyone can buy from any website, so why pay $130 when you can pay $45?

seat61.com/france
www.chartres-tourisme.com or Fountainbleau closest.
Provins nice Hotel des Rampartes
A little further for overnite www.beaune.com best Burgundy/food or Arles www.lecalendal.com cute
for that Provence roman catalan vibe.See where
Vincent painted Starry Night... pretty cool.

Personally just hop regional trains like a local cheaper.

Happy Travels!

www.eurocheapo.com cheap hotels training like a local
always saves over sleepers for me and way less "train
lag"

Hey C,

>My gf and I plan to spend a few days in Paris May 2012 (First Timers!!) but, wish to do a bit of country hopping. <

This is your first time to Paris and you are planning to go somewhere else before you even get to see the city?

Don't bother with RailEurope.

The French railroad site is www.voyages-sncf.com.
You will get schedules for all of the trains and lower prices (usually).

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

bookmarking

HOW long?

Well, since you've gotten so much help I'll try to add a bit.

If you are interested in seeing spectacular mountains you might try a 5 hour train ride to Interlaken in Switzerland.

If you want to see one of the most beautiful small cities take a 3 hour train ride to Brugge in Belgium.