Lyon to Paris

Has anyone taken the high speed train from Lyon to Paris? How long does it take, what does it cost approximately and how far in advance can you reserve?

Is it a scenic ride?

It takes around 2hrs from Lyon to Paris. The cost is highly variable depending on the type of ticket (refundable or not, first or second class) and the date and even time of day. It can cost as low as 25€ if you book early a non-refundable, non-changeable ticket in second class, to 70 or even 100€ full price in second class, and around 50€ to 130€ in first class. The low prices are available on the internet website only (not in actual train stations).

The reasoning between high-speed train pricing remains a mystery even to seasoned French travelers, so the best advice is to book as early as possible (you can usually book the tickets three months in advance), and if you can have a little flexibility in your timetable you can get very reasonably priced tickets.

It could be a scenic ride (particularly leaving Lyon) but the downfall of going fast is that it is a bit difficult to fully enjoy the landscape.

Just a warning about booking SNCF trains from the US. Most of the links will try to take you to the Raileurope web site where you are going to pay a hefty premium for nearly any ticket. It is possible to book directly on the SNCF site, although you will redirected to the Raileurope site if you indicate that you want to pick up your ticket in the USA. Simply tell it you will pick-up in France (this will keep you on the SNCF web site) and then you can still get your ticket via the internet.

Hank

Not sure if its been mentioned but tickets are available to purchase 3 months out - we were taking the train Oct 4th and on-line tickets went on sale July 4th. Before that you can put in a "false" date (3 months from when you're looking) to get an idea of pricing.

But take heed of Hlitner's advice - I did last year and came out a hero for the $$ I saved!!! RailEurope's price for our 2nd class seats, Paris to Bordeaux, was $67 pp! On SCNF.com I got 4 2nd class seats for $16pp - printed out the ticket with the seat number for each person!! The earlier you buy tickets the lower the price. I have to add that the low price was also a special "multi" (3 or more) rate but one/two tickets would have been $19 still a big savings!!

Our train was not high speed but very enjoyable though not very scenic - but then we were spoiled by our ride through the Alps a few years ago.

And a thought - our trip was just over 3 hours and we found 2nd class more than adequate. Very comfortable seats with room at the doors to stack luggage and an overhead rack for smaller items. We has 4 seats facing one another with a table between us. I think those with just 2 seats also had some kind of table.

Haveva great trip!!!

Thanks for the advice.