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Travel to colmar

Posted by on

Hello
We are planning to visit Paris in April and had planned a one night stay in colmar.
Right now, we don’t know if there will be strike the day we go or return. The return especially worries us as we leave for US from Paris the following day
So our question is are trains to colmar typically cancelled on strike dates ? Is renting a car from colmar a possibility in case a return trip gets cancelled ? Or should we just cancel going to colmar if there is strike around our dates

Thanks

Posted by
13937 posts

How many nights are you in Paris? Wondering if you can move up your Colmar trip?

In general, however, strikes are announced in advance so you'd know if there were going to be strikes on either of the days so you could cancel and just stay in Paris.

Posted by
29 posts

Thanks
We are in Paris 5 days but the day our Airbnb is booked we can’t go in the middle of our stay

Yes if it’s a strike day we will likely cancel
Just wondering about alternatives as we wanted to fit it in a quiet town if possible

Posted by
32209 posts

A one night stay won't allow much time to see anything, but would allow a short look and perhaps a visit to the Unterlinden Museum.

Assuming there are no strikes, there's a TGV departure from Paris Est at 09:25, arriving Colmar at 11:44 (time 2H:19M, direct). On the return trip, there's a departure from Colmar at 14;16, arriving Paris Est at 16:38 (time 2H:22M, direct). Leaving in the afternoon will give you a bit more time for sightseeing. Of course there are numerous other train departures, many with one change.

I don't know about French train strikes but it's possible that a few trains might still be running, or possibly the strike won't be for the entire day.

If all trains are out of service on the day you want to return to Paris, it would be a good idea to have a "back-up plan". Rome2Rio lists some possibilities.....

  • Rideshare
  • Bus (FlixBus appears to have one departure per day at 22:20 but it doesn't arrive until the next morning). That would be a tiring journey!
  • Car rental - the drive is about 5.5 hours. It would be prudent for each driver to have an International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. IDP's are easily available at any AAA/CAA office for a small fee.
Posted by
6897 posts

When there is a strike:

  • not all trains are cancelled. Typically it's around 50%.
  • you are warned 1-2 days in advance: you can rebook a train that runs, or you can cancel altogether and find a place to stay in Paris for that night instead.

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