Paris to Lyon by train

Note that these trains depart from the Gare De Lyon in Paris.

Final Destination: Lyon-Perrache and/or St. Etienne

Arriving in Lyon

Check the location of your final destination in Lyon.

The TGVs from Paris first call at Lyon Part-Dieu station, before going on to complete their journey at Lyon Perrache station.

Lyon-Perrache is closest to the city centre, but Part Dieu, which is to the east of the city centre, has easier public transport links to other parts of the city.

The TGVs from Paris will arrive at Perrache around 13 mins after they arrive at Part Dieu, so the quickest option to access many parts of the city, can be to make public transport connections from Part Dieu station.

Part Dieu is on line B of the Lyon Metro and Perrache is the terminus of Line A.

The alternative journey option:

These TGVs aren't the only option for a train journey from Paris to Lyon.

There are also less frequent TER trains, which are also much slower because they avoid the high speed line, which the TGVs use.

If you will be buying tickets lass minute at the station*, they will be a cheaper alternative to these TGVs, but this a route on which it pays to plan ahead, as the journey by the TER trains is more than twice as long!

*Those TER trains also depart from a different station in Paris to the TGVs.

There are three train services between Paris and Lyon:

(1) these TGV Inoui trains, (2) more basic Ouigo services and (3) the alternative slower service by TER train..

If you're booking in advance, the cheapest 'Prems' tickets for these TGV trains will be cheaper than the TER trains, but the Ouigo services will be cheapest of all.

However, if you will be booking last minute (at the station*) then the TER trains are likely to be (much) cheaper.

Booking these TGV InOui trains:

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: 4 months ahead of the travel date - but bookings can open sooner when SNCF is running a promotion.

The TGVs will call at two stations in Lyon - they stop at Lyon Part-Dieu before going on to terminate at Lyon-Perrache.

It's a good idea to work out which of these stations will suit you better, before making a booking.
If you do conclude that you should arrive at Lyon-Perrache, then select that station when buying tickets online, or specify to the ticket agent that you want to leave the train there.

When looking for tickets on Oui.SNCF tick the 'direct trains' box, on Trainline tick the 'fastest journeys' box

The price is dictated by demand per departure, so book ahead and try and be flexible re: your departure and arrival times, as trains leaving earlier or later may be cheaper.

The Oui.SNCF (French national railways website) will indicate the cheapest price per day, click on this and you will be shown the departures on which this price is available.
If tickets aren't on sale yet for your travel date, you can sign up to the ticket availability notification service on Oui.SNCF.

Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey.

Note that cheaper, but more basic Ouigo trains now operate on this route from Paris Gare De Lyon to Lyon.

Rail Pass Users:

If you will be travelling with a valid Eurail or InterRail pass, you can avoid the reservation fees on these TGV trains, by taking the alternative TER trains.

Final Destination: Lyon

Note that these trains do NOT depart from Paris Gare De Lyon/Paris Lyon.

They depart from Paris Bercy which is a different station, which is connected to the Gare De Lyon by Line 14 of the Paris Metro

These TER trains are much slower alternative to taking a TGV from Paris to Lyon, the journey time is more than twice as long.

So why would you consider spending an additional three hours on a train journey from Paris to Lyon?

Two possible reasons:

(1) Once the discounted tickets for the TGVs have sold out, these TER trains are cheaper.
So they'll be cheaper if you want to buy tickets last minute at the station.

(2) If you will be travelling with an InterRail or Eurail pass, you can save a minimum of €10 by not taking the TG

Book early and save: No

Tickets will cost the same price if purchased at the station immediately before departure.

These trains will be only be cheaper than the much faster TGV trains, when the discounted tickets for the TGVs have sold out, or when they have been taken off sale, which will happen 10 days of the travel date.

So if you'll be buying tickets at the station on the day of travel, it's likely that you can save around €25 by taking these trains.

Rail pass users can avoid the reservation fees on the TGVs by taking these trains.

Final Destination: **Lyon-Perrache

When making a train journey from central Paris to Lyon, you now have a choice of travelling by standard TGV InOui trains or by these Ougio services.
So you can now opt to save money, but have a much more basic on board experience, and travel on a Ouigo.

Note that there are now Ouigo trains which depart from the Gare De Lyon in Paris, but when looking up this journey on national booking service OuiSNCF look out for the fact you will see other options of trains which arrive at the out-of-city station, Lyon St. Exupery - though express trams link that station to Part-Dieu.

These Ouigo services are typically scheduled to depart from Paris at 12:30 and 18:30

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 6 months ahead* of the travel date, usually

*Tickets for the alternative service of TGV InOui trains are usually made available 4 months ahead, so if you look up this journey more than 4 months ahead on Oui.SNCF, you will only see these Ouigo services; but they are not the only option on this route.

How tickets can be booked and used for a journey by a Ouigo train, differs from booking tickets on a TGV (InOui) service.

What is particularly worth being aware of when booking tickets for journeys by Ouigo train services, is that:

(1) 1st class/Premiere tickets are not available.

(2) Reservations are included when booking, as they are on TGV InOui trains, but you can opt to pay a surcharge to select a specific seat (more info is available on the Ouigo 'Train Guide').

(3) You cannot book or collect tickets for Ouigo trains at stations.

(4) Additional fees apply if you want access to a power socket, or to travel with additional luggage; click the Ouigo 'Train Guide' to access more info on the luggage allowances on Ouigo trains; they're more restrictive than on TGV InOui trains.

Though these factors, and more, are why you can make big savings by opting to travel by these Ouigo trains and not on the standard TGV InOui trains.

Eurail and InterRail Pass Users:

Rail passes cannot be used on Ouigo trains, but if you will be travelling with a 2nd class pass, our guide to using rail passes in France, explains why taking a Ouigo train can be worth considering.