From the elaborately filled patisseries and shopping galleries, to the romantic
River Seine, Paris has long been the destination for city breaks, stopovers and business trips. Getting to the French capital is now easier than ever through a network of high-speed rail routes which directly link it with many other major Western European cities, airports and seaports.
Paris Transit
Public Transit inside Paris has developed extensively with over 250 RER (city rail) stations, 300 Metro (subway) stations, and 4 tram routes.
A carnet of 10 tickets costs €11,60 whilst other tickets include the zone-based Paris Visite pass. Using the Paris Visite pass there are 6 zones on the RATP with 1 day’s travel in zones 1-3 costing €90 and €18,90 for zones 1-6.
Shopping, Attractions, Museums & Galleries
A good range of links into the Metro, RER and street tram networks serve Paris’s tourist landmarks, shopping districts, hotels, hostels and national & international transport hubs.
Roll over locations with your mouse to find the nearest Paris transit stations and available routes:
Paris High-Speed Rail Links
Paris is the hub and meeting point for many high-speed rail routes which go well beyond the boundaries of France itself. Thanks to construction of inter-city high-speed rail routes international travel in Western Europe need no longer require so much highly polluting short-haul flights.
Gare de Lyon
This station is located on the north bank of the River Seine within the city centre and is home to the long established Le Train Bleu restaurant. The French TGV (train à grande vitesse) depart this station for a wide range of destinations throughout the south east of France including limited or in many cases non-stop trains to Lyon (2hrs), Marseille (3:05hrs), Cannes (5hrs), Nice (5:35hrs), Montpellier (3:30hrs) and Dijon (1:40hrs). International TGV services from Gare de Lyon include Lausanne (4hrs), Geneva (3:25hrs), Turin (5:55hrs) and Milan (7:30hrs).
Gare du Nord
This station is located in the northern area of the city centre and is within a short walk of Gare de l’Est. A few TGV depart this station for Arras (50mins), Valenciennes (1:45hrs) and limited-stop services to Boulogne (2hrs) via Lille (1hr) and Calais (1:30hrs). The Belgian TGV, known better as the Thalys, depart Gare du Nord for international destinations including Brussels (1:20hrs), Amsterdam (4:10hrs) Antwerp (2:05hrs) and Cologne (3:50hrs).
Eurostar depart from a segregated (passport controlled) part of Gare du Nord for non-stop services to London (2:15hrs), Ebsfleet (2:05hrs) and Ashford (2hrs) in the UK. It should be noted that person and baggage scanning is compulsory for anyone using Eurostar services and that any intermediate calling points within France are for boarding passengers only.
Gare de l’Est
This station is located in the northern area of the city centre and is within a short walk of Gare du Nord. The TGV depart this station for destinations throughout the east of France including Sedan (2hrs), Nancy (1:30hrs), Charleville-Mézières (1:35hrs), Reims (45min) and Strasbourg (2:25hrs).
A wide range of international TGV limited-stop services depart Gare de l’Est to European destinations including Luxembourg (2:05hrs), Basel (3:20hrs), Zurich (4:35hrs), Stuttgart (3:40hrs) and Munich (6:15hrs).
International TGV services to Mannheim (3:05hrs) and Frankfurt (3:50hrs) are operated by Deutsche Bahn’s Inter City Express (ICE) trains.
Gare Montparnasse
This station is located in the southern area of the city centre. The TGV depart this station for a wide range of destinations throughout the west and south west of France. Theses include limited-stop services to Tours (1:10hrs), Bordeaux (3hrs), Bayonne (4:45hrs), Rennes (2hrs), Toulouse (5:15hrs) and Nantes (2:05hrs).
Charles de Gaulle Airport train station
The largest airport in Paris is located at Terminal 2 besides the high-speed rail route which effectively by-passes the city. Aéroport Charles de Gaulle train station provides direct connections with TGV bound for destinations including Brussels (1:15hrs), Marne-la-Vallée for Disneyland (10mins), Lille (50mins), Strasbourg (2:20hrs), Lyon (2:05hrs), Rennes (2:50hrs), Le Mans (1:35hrs), Marseille (3:50hrs) Bordeaux (4:10hrs) and Avignon (2:55hrs).
The Paris RER route B links the airport and TGV station with central Paris stations including Gare du Nord (40mins), Châtelet (43mins) and St-Michel Notre-Dame (44mins).
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