train from Paris to Ville d'Avray

The train to Ville d'Avray leaves from Gare St Lazare, not Montparnasse. But if Montparnasse is more convenient to you, you can take the train from there to Sèvres Rive Gauche. You will face a steep downhill then uphill walk though, not OK with any sort of luggage.

At both St Lazare and Montparnasse stations you will head to the "trains Île de France" area, check the station list on the departure board, and head for the train/platform listed next to the station you want to go to.

To check routes, Citymapper is a great app. If you don't have a smartphone, the "transilien" and "vianavigo" websites both have OK route planners.

For tickets, you just buy at the station as needed on the day. They're not timed tickets. And if you already have a valid Navigo or Navigo Découverte, no need to buy a ticket, it's covered.

Hope it helps!

It looks like you have two options on the Transilien (Paris regional trains) to the station Sèvres/ Ville d’Avray. These are normal commuter trains.

One is the Transilien Ligne L, which départs from Gare St Lazare in Paris. You would need to catch the branch that ends at Versailles Rice Droite. Your station is the one after St Cloud.

The other option is the Transilien Ligne U, which departs from La Défense-Grande Arche. It is just a straight line so you just take the outbound train.

As these are commuter trains, there is no price advantage to purchasing in advance. You can purchase at the station. It looks like a pretty quick ride, 30 minutes or less.

The ticket you buy at the station will be on stiff paper. It must be stamped in a machine at the entrance to the platform to your train. This is to prevent customers trying to use the same ticket more than once.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Can we really use our Navigo to get to Ville d'Avray? We had an experience before (long ago) where we used our Navigo for the RER to the end of the line, and we got temporarily stuck there (could not get out of the station) because our Navigo was only good for RER travel within Paris proper. But is transilien different? Thanks. Peter

Hi Peter — they have changed the ticketing a bit in the last few years. Navigo passes are now good for all five zones — so if indeed you buy a Navigo pass, you will be fine to travel to Sèvres/Ville d’Avray, which is in Zone 3 (remember you will need to tap your card to the reader both on entering AND exiting the system).

If you don’t end up with a Navigo pass, you can buy a three-zone Mobilis ticket for the day — it will be good not only for your journey to Sèvres/Ville d’Avray (and back), but also for any other metro, team, or bus journeys you make on that same calendar day).

Edit to add: a one-day Mobilis pass (it prints out like an individual Metro ticket but has different stuff written on the front) for zones 1 -3 costs 10€ — can be purchased at any RATP ticket machine.

You fill it in with a pen on the front:
Valable: (fill in the date you are using it)
Nom: (your family name)
Prénom: (your first name)

Each person needs their own ticket.

The fact of writing the date in means that you can purchase the Mobilis ahead of time and then only use/activate it on the day you use it.

Kim: thanks for all the specific information. We already have Navigo passes. We are going to Ville d'Avray for a medical appointment for my wife. Do you know of a nice restaurant (we do not need anything pricy) near the train station where we could have lunch? Thanks Peter

Excellent that you will be able to use your Navigo.

Unfortunately no I have never been there, so don’t know about any restaurants nearby!

Peter, i hope you see this. I think your trip to Avray is next week, but please note that last night (Tuesday 2/4) a big landslide occurred on the rails just after Sèvres/Ville d’Avray - they have had to close down both lines L and U at least through Friday 2/7 end of day. (They may end up being able to run trains on other parts of the route but where you need to go is literally ground zero for this incident).

Check the Transilien website for updates. Hopefully they will be able to repair the rail line before you need to travel that way.