Eurostar & TGV Stations in Paris

Posted by Henk Bekker Aug 2, 2008

Any major German city has a Hauptbahnhof (Main or Central Station) from where railway passengers can take trains in any direction. Travelers to Paris are less fortunate – all mainline train stations in Paris serve as an end terminus (terminal) on opposite ends of the city center. French TGV and SNCF long-distance trains do not cross the French capital. This is no real problem when Paris is the destination but traveling from say the north of France to the south or east usually require train passengers to connect from one main-line station in Paris to another by bus, metro, or suburban RER train.

Paris has the following mainline SNCF stations:

• Gare du Nord – Eurostar trains to London, TGV Thalys trains to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Cologne (Köln), TGV trains to Northern France, and RER trains to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG).
• Gare de l’Est – TGV trains to Alsace, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Germany (Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Munich), and Switzerland (Basel, Zurich).
• Gare de Lyon – TGV trains to Southeastern France (Lyon, Provence, French Alps), Italy, and Switzerland (Geneva, Lausanne, and Bern).
• Gare de Montparnasse – TGV trains to Southwestern France (Tours, Nantes, St Malo, and Bordeaux).
• Gare de Bercy – night trains to Italy and non-TGV trains to Burgundy.
• Gare d’Austerlitz – non-TGV trains to the Loire Valley, Southwestern France, and Spain
• Gare St Lazare – non-TGV long-distance trains to Normandy and Brittany.

Transfers between Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est are easiest on foot. Gare de Lyon (adjacent to Gare de Bercy) and Gare d’Austerlitz are also close to each other but on different banks of the Seine. Transfers between other stations are best done by metro, RER trains, or bus.