My husband and I (70 & 73) would like to do a vacation in France by train, starting in Paris and then go to Normandy area and then the Loire Valley area, Bordeaux, Avignon, French Riviera, Lyon area and then back to Paris. Since we have never done anything like this, I am looking for comments and suggestions.

Not sure what it is you are looking for by way of comments and suggestions. Could you please elaborate? Interested in specific routes? Point to point fares? Passes? Night trains vs. day trains vs. high speed trains? Specific towns to spend the night?

Generally speaking, great idea, I love taking the train in France. It gives you the opportunity to sit and relax and watch the country go past you. While driving takes you into little towns and villages you might not otherwise get to or see, the driver in the car doesn't get to see much other than the road. Which is why if you're more interested in getting to more populated destinations, the train would be ideal.

Hi
Start by looking at capitainetrain.com for schedule of trains (and booking) and there is a site where I've never been but which seems nice - seat61 - with Mr seat himself coming to this site regularly.

Basically you must know that there are 2 kind of trains in France : fast trains called TGV's, best booked up to 3 months in advance for best prices and normal trains (called TER or whatever). These require no reservation and can be booked on the same day.

You have TGV's from Paris to most cities but nont necesaarily from excentered cities. (pretty sure you ahve from PAris to Bordeaux but not necessarily from Bordeaux to Lyon, unless going back through Paris..).

mvg.

Mfg.

for train travel we have used railbookers.com. we like the fact that they do the bookings and the hotels but doesn't suit others.husband and I are a similar age and have done 2 trips with railbookers picking the places we want to see and using their expertise -one from Budapest to Dubrovnik and another from Paris to Bruges with lots of stays in between.

You seems to have traveled a lot by train in Germany. What part is what you "have never done anything like this?"

While the official train site for France is www.voyages-sncf.com, if you are from the U.S., www.capitainetrain.com is easier to actually buy tickets once you have decided which train to take. For finding out connections, www.bahn.com is easiest to use.

I am not sure how you have chosen your destinations. If you just chose well known places, you might look at each destination closely, before expending energy figuring how to connect them, to see what they offer at the time you are planning to visit.

As we get older, DH does not drive as much in Europe, so we do more train trips. It is much less tiring, IMO.

We pick a place to stay a few days and do short trips from there, sometimes by local train, sometimes by local bus. Sometimes we take a local tour. We also use taxis a bit more than we used to, saves pulling luggage and too many steps.

You are looking at a number of places. How much time do you have for the trip?
You said you have not done anything like this before, but have you traveled a lot of other ways? If so, it is just a matter of adjusting your means of travel.

We did a lot of train travel in Europe in June of this year and one point I can give you is that many stations take a bit of time to negotiate, (so this tip is only relevant to changing trains), but we cut it way too close several times and so I would allow an hour for the process of any change from one train to another.

Train tickets are generally cheaper when bought 90 days in advance. Sometimes point-to-point tickets will be less expensive than a pass, and will have fewer restrictions. Make sure to read the fine print about cancellations, exchanges, etc, before you purchase online. Generally speaking, first class tickets aren't worth paying for. If you wait to buy tickets when you arrive in France, you might not be able to travel when you wish, especially during school vacations and the annual holiday seasons - so check those calendars, first (you can find this on Google). Make sure to travel light, since you will have to handle your luggage yourselves on the train, and it's not always easy - especially if there are tight connections involved when changing trains.

If your main interest is looking at pretty scenery, you won't always have that opportunity in France. You might look at this website to what alternative routes are available to get you where you want to go. You also might decide to change your mind about where you think you want to go!
http://about-france.com/scenic-railways.htm

You are likely going to hit some snags if that is your definite routing. Going east>west and west>east by train in France isn't a piece of cake, so, for example, Bordeaux to Avignon could be a pain (I haven't looked it up, but I take trains all the time in France and those long cross-country trains can take forever or involve many changes).

The first thing you should do is get a map of all the train routes in France and see what's possible. Then read www.seat61.com and familiarize yourself with www.capitainetrain.com. Then study up on senior and other discounts and how to pre-purchase cheap train tickets.

Bordeaux to Avignon doesn't make sense, and the part right after that (going south then back north). A lot of people don't understand that there aren't rail routes between every combination of cities in the country, there is a system that is generally with Paris the hub and spokes out from it. So you don't have east-west lines all over the country. Only in the north.

You can get from Bordeaux to Toulouse by train fairly direct, then from there down to the coast and over to the Riviera. From there, back up to Avignon, Lyon, etc.

Streetwise maps sells a good version of the European rail system that shows you the major lines and help make more sense of this idea. SO you could see, no line between Bordeaux and Avignon.

How many weeks do you have for this trip? And what time of year? Both these will affect advise. It sounds like you will be staying in at least 7 different places, plus in Paris twice. If it were me I would reorganize the trip to start in paris and return from Nice - to avoid making a giant circle.

Also, a couple of the places you will be - esp Normandy and the Loire are hard to see by train or even bus - you will find it much easier by car - or may have to organize local tours to get you to many of the sights that ar off the beaten track.

I am guessing that OP is flying in and out of Paris, and if so, returning there would be a must….

They haven't said when they are going or where they are from, so whether they could do multi-destination tickets is not yet known.

Good point, Sassafrass…..I saw the screen name abram, who is from the US, but failed to notice the numbers following the name, so likely not the same poster.