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Best Way From Nice to Reims Sunday, Sept 11, 2022

Finishing the Loire to the South of France on Friday, Sept. 9. Starting Best of Eastern France in Reims on Sunday, Sept. 11. Would prefer to stay in Nice as long as possible and travel on Sunday to meet group at 5 pm. Any advice/experience with this trip?

Posted by
6783 posts

I would fly from Nice to Charles de Gaulle airport, and either:
- take one of the few direct trains between Charles de Gaulle railway station and Champagne-Ardenne station (3 miles from Reims and linked by streetcar), if the times work. It is too early to know, September schedule is not available.
- take the RER suburban train to Gare du Nord, walk 8-10 minutes to Gare de l'Est, and take a train to Reims from there (several daily departures). Or just take a cab to Gare de l'Est for 53€ (flat fare).

Option 1 is much smoother, but the times might not work at all. At present, the Sunday schedule has no direct trains between 9AM and 6PM, but not all trains are currently running.

Posted by
32519 posts

I'd agree with balso. Although it could be done by train from Nice to Paris gare de Lyon and transfer to gare de l'Est for the train to Reims, or by car (big tolls), neither are fast enough to get you from Nice after breakfast to Reims for 5pm on a Sunday.

Flying and then train is the only sane way. Don't get a cheapo flight to "Paris Beauvais" (the name used by Ryanair and co for the tiny former military airport Beauvais-Tillé) which is nowhere near Paris and would slow you down.

I hope that your connections work well for you...

Posted by
80 posts

You can take an 8 am train from Nice and arrive in Reims just after 4pm. The connection is at Gare de Lyon, have around two hours connection. Shorter connections would get you to Reims after 5. Cost is around 75 euros without discounts (48 with adult weekend card) when booked a couple months in advance. As others have noted, the schedules/booking for your time period are not yet available.

There is also a train that leaves around 6am that would get you to Reims at 3:20 pm with two connections.

Or you can fly in the morning from nice and then take the train midday in Paris. There is a train from CDG to Reims with 1 connection.