Train from Paris to Chartres

I had taken the “commuter” train to Chartres and we were able to walk up and buy a ticket in March. No need to buy ahead of time.

The train leaves from Montparnasse Station . Depending on which day of the week and time of day , ( not to mention a line at the ticket office ( if you are unfamiliar with using the kiosk machines ) buying a ticket a day or two in advance is not a bad idea . The station is huge , can be very busy , and navigating to the track could take a bit of time .

We've taken the TER train from Paris Gare Montparnasse to Chartres. We purchased the tickets the day we traveled.

We traveled from Paris to Chartres in October 2025. We bough our tickets at the train station.

No need to buy ahead, but do go early because I love trains and train stations and found Montparnasse a little confusing. I got my ticket at the kiosks near the trains, but had to go to 3 to find one that worked. I loved Chartres, btw.

No need too buy in advance, but give yourself time, the station is huge and ticket buying isn't as straightforward as I'd hoped. Here's an excerpt from a part I made a few years ago.

The train station in Paris-Gare Montparnasse is pretty intimidating for a first time Paris visitor. Luckily my wife and I are both the “if you’re not 10 minutes early, then you're 10 minutes late” type of people. In this case we got there about an hour early and spent about half an hour searching for the proper ticket machine to buy tickets and another 10 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,

We really didn't have difficulty navigating the station, but we tried several machines without luck, and ended up buying our ticket at the counter. When I use the ticket counter in a country where I don't speak the language I write the station name then an arrow and my destination, all in capital, block letters. PARIS ---> CHARTRES If I have specific train times, I'll include that using 24 hour clock.

Another option is to type your request into google translate and then greet the ticket person and show the iphone.

When are you going to Chartres? We stayed overnight. The cathedral is beyond amazing, but the town is worthy of some time, too. There is a light show on the cathedral and other buildings at certain times of the year. So fun!

Thank you to everyone who replied! This is such a great place to get good information. Very helpful. Thanks!