Hi, I will be traveling to France (first time anywhere in Europe!) for the first time in March for a conference. I was wondering how easy it is to travel on the train with a suitcase and a backpack? My train to the conference starts at CDG and is a 2 part trip with a changeover in Rennes. Is there an easy spot to store a suitcase on the train?
Any other tips are greatly appreciated too. Cheers.
Depending on the size of the suitcase, you could keep it with you at your seat, depriving yourself of foot room, or stuff it into an overhead space if it's small enough to fit, but the most common place to put it would be to stash it in one of the several small luggage storage racks scattered around amongst the rows of seats on the train.
If you're paranoid about theft, try to pick one within eyesight so you can keep an eye on your bag.
Each car will have a rack at one end for large suitcases and running the length of the car above the seats will be overhead storage that seems to larger than on an airplane, so smaller and some medium suitcases can go here. Depending on the train and the type of ticket you get you may be assigned a car and a seat. At the station look at the departure board and find your train. Sometimes the platform it arrives/departs from won't show up until 10 minutes beforehand, still plenty of time. Arrive at your platform and scan the cars for the number. When you board just past the entrance to the compartment you can deposit the larger suitcases and then find your seat.
Seat61.com is a great resource for pictures of trains, luggage racks, overhead storage space, etc.
Your backpack can go in the rack over your seat. A small carryon suitcase MAY fit in the rack above you. It depends on the size, and the train. Some overhead racks are not very tall. In that case you would put your bag on the luggage rack. When you reserve your train seats, you can see the luggage rack on the seating chart. Some are just inside the door, others are in the middle of the train car. If there is no room on the luggage rack, there is often a little space between the rack and the seat. Or between seats that are back to back. https://www.seat61.com/luggage-on-european-trains.htm
