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Getting from Paris to Chartres for start of tour (updated)

Posted by (Edmonds, WA, United States) on

Hello!
My mom and I are booked on the Loire to the South of France tour that starts June 19. We arrive in Paris on June 18 at and we'd like to go directly to Chartres. (I should add that I'd love if we could arrive earlier, but I am limited by my schedule working in education).

From what I can find, it's typically a fairly short (1 hour to 1 hour 15) TER ride from Gare Montparnasse. However, when I plug in my exact date, I am finding very few options and they are taking much longer and include a stop in Le Mans, which is way past Chartres. (I am seeing this on Trainline.eu and the SNCF website). I should also add that bahn.com shows the shorter journey on TER. Am I just looking too far in advance? I'd like to get this sorted so that we can decide if it's best to stay in Paris for the night, especially if there is some sort of service disruption on that route. Thank you!

Update as of 6/15- we heard from the tour department at RS and there is in fact rail work on the way to Chartres this weekend. Looks like we will be looking in to a private transfer. I wanted to share in case anyone else was in the same boat.

Posted by
4585 posts

There are plenty of trains so you're not going to have a problem. We left Paris on the 2pm train on the same day that our tour started. A friendly warning though, Paris-Gare Montparnasse is a huge station. My wife and I arrived about an hour early and spent about half an hour searching for the proper ticket machine to buy tickets and another 10 minutes trying to find our train. We also had a heck of a time trying to find someone that spoke English. Most employees were friendly and tried, but we went through about 3 before we found someone that could help in English. But we made our train, got to Chartres, easily found our hotel and met our group that evening.

Posted by
7301 posts

If it is of any help, the trains to Chartres typically leave from the right-hand side as you face the platforms (northwest side, platform 20 or so), and the appropriate ticket machines are blue (unless one of SNCF's frequent rebrandings changed things).

Posted by
11879 posts

In the past when you get your info packet for the tour, there are suggestions/recommendations on how to get from the typical arrival airport to the start location for the Tour.

Have you received any of that yet?

Posted by
465 posts

Thank you for the feedback and input kerouac2, Allan, balso, diveloonie, and Joe32F. I looked at the tour information that I have so far and it was pretty general. I will keep an eye on the timetable for now to see if it gets updated. That's good information about Gare Montparnasse and locating tracks and ticket machines. I will download the SNCF app to see if that can help streamline things. My last trip went to small cities where train travel was a piece of cake, so I want to be prepared to navigate Paris.

Posted by
111 posts

When you get your tour packet with names of the people on your tour you will also get instructions on how to get to your hotel in Chartres. I think you will get this 30 days before the start of your tour. Maybe 60 days. I can't remember exactly.

Posted by
465 posts

Update as of 6/15- we heard from the tour department at RS and there is in fact rail work on the rail line to Chartres this weekend. Looks like we will be looking in to a private transfer. I wanted to share in case anyone else was in the same boat or taking this tour soon. Check your train connections. I used bahn.com and SNCF Connect.

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