Day Trip Between Paris and Lyon

You can look at schedules without prices at www.bahn.com.
It is not recommended to buy nonrefundable train tickets for your day of arrival because you cannot guarantee that your inbound flight will arrive on time, or there could be some extraordinary problem delaying you getting through immigration. In that case, your cheap nonrefundable tickets will become worthless.
As such, your best bet is to get a room in Paris Sunday night, then buy cheap nonrefundable tickets to Lyon for Monday afternoon. Trains leave from, you guessed it, Gare de Lyon. You can get into Paris on the RER trains that leave every 7 or 8 minutes, or take a bus, or a taxi for a bit more. Then you can walk around, get the lay of the land, rest up and recover from jet lag, and be ready to go the next day with a morning of tour of Paris, then catch your train to Lyon.
As far as time in Paris, a week is not enough, but we make due with what we can get. Day trips to Versailles, Chartres will help fill the time.
Buy advance tickets at https://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/tgv
Lyon will also keep you occupied.

I have bought the cheapest non-refundable tickets without a problem but I usually allow for four hours between the time my flight arrives and the train leaves and I never buy them for more than what I am willing to lose if I miss my train because of delays or get done and can catch an earlier train. For me the amount per ticket that I am willing to risk is is 30€ person if it is just me and my husband and 20€ if it is our family of four. But it also depends on the price to purchase same day tickets; sometimes the price difference is not worth the risk and other times, it totally is. After several occasions in which I missed a train while waiting in an insane line to buy tickets, I now tend to buy tickets ahead of time.

That being said, I would probably stay in Paris on Sunday through Monday afternoon because I think that there is more to do in terms of places being open in Paris during that time period than there will be in the smaller towns on the way. Ironically, to get to many of the smaller towns on the way between Paris and Lyon by train directly from CDG as opposed to going into Paris to Gare de Lyon, you will probably have to take the southbound train to Lyon and then take a local train north to these towns. If you have an interest in wine, you could go to Beaune or Dijon on Sunday -- from CDG you would have to go to Lyon and then head north on the local train or go into Paris and catch the train from Gare de Lyon. I like Dijon better than Beaune but many people feel differently and for an overnight stay, it would not really matter which one you choose.

I would never consider shortening your already short time in Paris , you could stay there for a month and see a different site each day !!

Thanks, all, for the tips. Pat - if we shortend our time in Paris, where would you recommend that we visit instead?

I believe Pat inadvertently left the word "not" out of her reply.

I too think that Pat left out "not."

Generally, I think the direct-train-from-deGaulle idea is not practical. They don't run often enough and the uncertainties of arrival mean you can't count on making the one that looks like it might work, if any. Consequently to be safe you do have to "kill a whole lot of time hanging around the airport."

There is nothing wrong with the idea of staying in Paris, but I think you could have a fine time in Beaune, too. Depends what you are looking for.

Adam - Since we are going to be spending several days in Paris before departing, I'd rather spend Sunday and Monday in Beaune. How do you recommend getting there after landing at CDG?

Hannah, to get to Beaune I would take Le Bus Direct (formerly the Air France Bus) to Gare Lyon and then take a train. It looks as though the one to take leave a few minutes before noon; you would have a very high level of confidence to be able to make that train. There may be other options as June approaches.

There's a transfer in Dijon that is very easy; however your layover there is a full hour. To avoid that you could arrange to rent a car near the station and drive to Beaune.

A car in Burgundy has many advantages, though for such a short visit I think you could have a good time without one, especially if you rented bicycles to get into the countryside a little. You could also drive part or all of the way to Lyon, stopping in some of the small towns along the way.

I don't mean to go on at length about that except to say that if you are planning to rent a car for a day or two you might consider doing so in Dijon.

Other means of transport to Gare Lyon include a taxi and the RER; either might be a little quicker but not necessarily much. The pint is to arrive at the train station, ticket in hand, in time to buy a lunch to eat on the train.

The train to Dijon is a TGV; the train from there to Beaune is a TER and only takes 20 minutes. You'd arrive just before 3.

Here's a link to information about Le Bus Direct:
http://www.lebusdirect.com/en/

Since you want to take advantage of the time in Paris upon arrival, you've solved your own problem. you don't need or want a TGV ticket upon arrival. You want to go into town and spend Sunday, Sunday night, and part of Monday in Paris, and take a train to Lyon Monday afternoon.

Then you can indeed purchase your Monday afternoon train ahead of time without worrying whether your arrival flight is an hour or two late.

Fixed.. yes.. should have been "never"!

Fixed.. yes.. should have been "never"!