We are planning to take an overnight train from Nice to Paris Austerlitz Train Station. Is it safe there? Do they have showers at the train station? This will allow us to gain an extra half day at Paris.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
388 posts
The train from Nice to Paris takes only 5.75 hours direct with no changes. The night train takes about 11.5 hours. It would be easy enough to do it first thing in the morning and still have the rest of the day to see Paris. As for whether Austerlitz as has showers, I don't think they do. But, you can use the following link to confirm that.:
http://www.gares-connexions.com/en/services-aux-voyageurs/se-detendre
I hope this helps some.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10176 posts
Alex is absolutely correct, fly. If you can grab a window seat, you'll see all of France's geography from the air within one hour. You gain nothing by spending an awful night on the train as it stops and starts in every town that has a mail sack to throw into the mail car. We gave up those night trains as soon as the TGV hit the scene decades ago. If you still want the train, follow Ave's advice. Good luck.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32198 posts
Alex,
The first internet link you provided is in French, so the majority here won't be able to read it. Hopefully this machine translation is close to the original.....
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10176 posts
The translation is awkward but readable. It was New Year's Day, not Christmas. Truthfully, it was akin to running into a gang of soccer hooligans, something we've read about in US papers. Though I wouldn't have wanted to be on this train, do note that both military and police arrived right away.
You can run into gangs or small groups anywhere, and they are upsetting. Three local young men were harassing young female passengers on a train we were on two days ago between Montpellier and Narbonne. They didn't steal or grope, but noone knew how far out of line they were going to go. The young ladies reported it and were reassured when the controller (called a conductor in English) told them the boys had gotten off the train.