Train travel from Lyon or Marseille to CDG the day of flight

Last year I traveled thru France via train and on 5 different trips the trains were always on time. The TGV from Lyon to CDG is direct in a little over 2 hours - no changes. So if you're scheduled to arrive at CDG at 1, I don't think you'll have a problem. Buy your tickets as early as possible to get a good price; prices for the trip vary for different departure times based on passenger volume.

Worst idea ever. Yes, probably you make it, but if you don't you are buying 5 very expensive walk up one way fares home.

If you still have any room to make changes in your itinerary (I am going to assume it is too late to fly open jaw) then START your trip in Lyon and finish in Pars. Get Train tickets to Lyon for your day of arrival -- giving yourself about a 5 hour window on arrival at CDG. Then finish in Paris for your last 5 days and you are there for the flight home.

Always be in the city of high stakes departure flight the night before. To give you examples of why this is wise: I was once on a Thalys high speed train from Amsterdam to Paris scheduled to arrive at noon. The train was full of people with evening flights from CDG. We hit and killed someone near Rotterdam and the subsequent events including changing train crews and then electrical problems meant the train came in 5 hours late. A lot of missed flights. On another occasion, a flight we were on from the US to Amsterdam came in 5 hours late because we had to turn back to Gander mid flight to unload a deranged passenger.

Sure mostly trains are not this risky but your downside is very high if something goes awry. And nothing takes the edge off the mellow of a vacation like rushing back the last day for your flight.

If your arrangements are set in stone, I would head back for Paris instead of Lyon that last night and stay at an airport hotel at CDG.

I agree with Janet, but since your flight isn't until 5:45 p.m., you could stay in Paris rather than CDG. Things do happen to delay the TGVs.

Thanks very much for your replies. While looking at train tix yesterday, I was able to get such cheap ones returning from Marseille (short trip from Cassis) to Paris the day before our departure, I booked them, just to be extra cautious. We will arrive Paris at about 6pm, so still time for a nice dinner through lunchtime the next day for any last minute shopping and fun before we will head to the airport in the afternoon. There are several additional trains leaving Marseille that evening to Paris if there is a problem (I was reminded by these posts of the time I was on a train in the states where someone was killed on the tracks and yes, the one hour trip turned into 6 hours on the tracks). Thanks again!

The way the TGV is built it's unlikely there would be a death on the tracks, but once a week cable is stolen in the middle of the night from some TGV track somewhere for the metals inside the cable. It's on the French news once in a while, and SNCF said it happens once a week, throwing whichever line into delays and cancellations.

Truth be told, I missed a return flight when I mixed up the date but was accommodated for the price of changing a ticket. If it had been the outbound, I would have lost the whole thing. Glad you are going up the night before and enjoying Paris.

The last commenter hit on exactly what I was trying to determine, i.e. what's the likelihood of TGV train problems...while I'm a very frequent traveler in the states,I have been to only Europe 5 times. Thanks, that info is helpful. What I do find interesting is how many travel books and forums promote flying into one city and out of another in a country as small as France to minimize travel time. For us, we'd rather take a 3 hour train back to Paris to fly directly back to the west coast with no stops than fly out of another part of the country that requires a connecting flight (where, let's face it, you really need to plan a good 2-3 hour layover these days given how frequently flights are late, so not really saving in total travel time). I could be wrong, but it doesn't actually look very expensive or time consuming to take the RER to CDG from Gare du Nord (1/2 hr train); we took a taxi to CDG last time in Paris and it was under an hour. Maybe we are just accustomed to commutes:). Thanks again.

I probably also would opt to get back to Paris the night before a flight to play it safe but my daughter lived in Lyon for a few years and now Lille, she always takes the TVG to CDG the day of her flight to come home to visit. So far no problems.

I think you've done the right thing by booking a train from Marseille the night before. Yes, you would be unlikely to have a problem coming from Lyon on flight day, but the consequences of missing the flight are significant. Whereas once you're in Paris, you have numerous ways of getting to CDG if one of them is problematic. Many years ago we were staying in Paris the night before flying home, and there was a strike involving both buses and RER, which our hotel informed us about. They reserved a cab for us the night before; otherwise we had no way of getting to the airport.