Train help - Paris to colmar

Bill,

That's a very easy trip. You'll be using a train that departs either from Paris Est or Paris Gare de Lyon, and there are numerous departures on that route. Some trains have one or two changes, but there is one direct high speed train that departs Paris Est at 07:20, arriving Colmar at 09:39 (time 2H:19M). If you're not used to changing trains, that would be the easiest one. I'd probably use a departure at 10:55, arriving at 13:21 (1 change in Strasbourg). I generally don't like arriving at a new hotel too early, as the room may not have been serviced yet.

If you want to buy advance tickets, you can either buy on the SNCF (French Rail) website, or at www.trainline.eu which sells tickets at the same price (I always prefer the Trainline site as it's very user friendly). One point to note is that travel on TGV (high speed) and Intercity trains comes with compulsory seat reservations, so you'll have assigned seating. If travelling on the slower TER trains, there's only open seating. If you buy TER tickets locally, you must validate them prior to boarding the train on the day of travel.

Thanks, Ken.
We will be picking up a car upon arriving in colmar as well. I assume (hope) car rental offices are near the colmar train station? Still need to book that as well...

We took the train from Paris to Colmar. It was super easy and it went through the Champagne region. I believe there was a stop in Strasbourg. I always use the SNCF website. We booked 3 months in advance to save a fair bit of money.
I do not believe there are any rental car places by the train station. We took the bus to the airport and the rental car establishment was across the street. Close to the replica statue of the liberty.

P.S. I'm not sure why, but on several occasions now, the train stations we've used in France have not had rental car companies close.

I think it depends on who you're renting your car from in Colmar. I don't remember car rentals near the train station but I wasn't really looking for one. I rented from Hertz and I picked it up at a small garage not near the train station. I stayed in Colmar for 2 nights without the car and picked up the car on the way out of town.

There is an Avis location inside Colmar station.

Thanks All for the great info. Since this post has turned into a car rental post:
Additional recommendations on securing a car in colmar after training from Paris? We will tour Alsace for 5 days then drive down to chamonix and hopefully be able to drop the car there. We then fly out of Geneva after chamonix but I understand it can be costly to drop a car in a different country.
Thanks,
Bill

If you're going to need to change trains in Strasbourg, perhaps there are more rental car companies in Strasbourg ?? Just a thought.

If you are flying out of Geneva, you should be able to drop a car on the French side of the airport. But careful about cutting through Switzerland. You'll need a Swiss vignette to drive on a motorway. Buy at the border (gas station or old customs posts). Big fine if you get caught without one.

Thanks all for the input!
So I think our plan will be to train to colmar, get a car there then dump car in chamonix. Looks like Europecar is best option (only agency with an office in chamonix).
Only challenges I see is getting from colmar train station to airport where car rental is and then getting from chamonix to Geneva at end of trip.
I’m sssuming these are easy bus rides in both cases?

Hi again,
Getting ready to book our train from Paris to colmar on 8/23 and see a super cheap option -ouigo? Direct train for only $64 for a family of four.
Any reason I should not choose this option and steer clear?
Thanks!
Bill

wow, that's an amazing price. I think I paid $40 a person the very day the tickets became available for a trip I took about 4 years ago. I believe the Ouigo is just the new SNCF website.

Ouigo trains are bare bones. No services or even water on board, so be sure to pack snacks and water. But it gets you where you want to go just as fast as fancier TGV trains. They are competing with Flixbus, which can't travel anywhere near as fast as the 300 kph of the Ouigo train.

Check to see if there is a punitive surcharge for leaving a rental car in Chamonix. You might want to leave the car somewhere down near the Rhône River and take a train to Chamonix. The United States based service AutoEurope has worked well for me for many European car rentals, but you must make all arrangements with them in advance, from the United States. In fact, AutoEurope rentals can be so inexpensive that rental car company personnel will go to extraordinary lengths to try to get you to agree to an upgrade of one sort or another, thereby increasing the cost of the rental to you by 50 to 100%. Just say no, and keep repeating that you want the car that you already reserved.