Train Travel In France

Traveling to France? Trains in France are a great transportation choice!

When we plan trips overseas, there’s always a need to plan your transportation needs prior to leaving the States. You can arrange car rentals and train passage after you arrive, but it then becomes a far more expensive proposition. If you buy a transportation package in the U.S., you enjoy discounts of up to half the cost of buying as you go, within Europe.

This pre-arrangement does require that you carefully consider your itinerary and know just how many days you’ll spend traveling from one place to another. Plenty of first time visitors to France arrange for a car rental her in the States, believing it will allow them more freedom and spontaneity in terms of when and where they travel during their holiday.

What you may not be aware of is the absolute excellence of the trains in France. Unlike here in America, rail travel in France is ultra-fast, lavish in comfort and accessible to all major cities, as well as the vast majority of towns and villages. The network of trains in France is amazing, well organized such that you can reach almost any destination within France with, at worst, a single transfer. The French are very particular about train schedules and it’s rare that you’ll miss your connecting train. My own experience, in two months of extensive use of the trains in France, only once resulted in a train missing its scheduled arrival.

The specific circumstances should make it clear that such an occurrence is not the norm. Approaching Pau, a small town in the south of France, the train came to a rather sudden stop. Within a few minutes, the train conductor came to tell us that, unfortunately, a cow was resting on the tracks and that we would be unable to proceed until the cow was lured off the tracks. It turned out that this process took over two hours! By the time we reached our destination in Lourdes, it was after 9pm, the station was closed and all the taxi drivers had gone home. Fortunately, we were familiar with the layout of the town and just hoofed it through the quiet, winding streets, to a hotel. No harm done. In fact, I found it quite charming that the Frenchmen had such patience with getting this cow off the tracks.

When you ride trains in France, you are pampered in comfortable seating, with a large table and attractive lamp, allowing you to read, play board games, enjoy your lunch or dinner or just kick back and watch the scenery.

There is just one feature which may surprise you when riding trains in France. The French love their dogs and its de rigeur for your pet to accompany you on the train. So how does Fifi endure for several hours without a walk around the block to do her business? She uses the train’s doggie bathroom, of course!