Dear Community,
I'm wanting to save my Eurail flexipass days by taking a night train from Madrid to Paris, then, about 1.5 hours later, take a Paris-Zurich train. This entails taking the Metro from Gare de Montparnasse to Gard de l'est. Is this enough time? Or plan on taking later train?
Many thanks, Mark : )
From what I see on www.voyages-sncf.com, you're looking at a 13.5hr train journey from Madrid to Paris-Gare d' Austerllitz which is near Gare de Lyon. Looks like 140Euro for this leg but I can see a promo fare of 69Euro but the details are in French and I don't understand French. From Paris to Zurich, you'll need to change to the Paris de l' Est station to get the TGV to Zurich. Not sure how to transition between train stations. Travel time is about 5.0hrs-6.0hrs. and fare is close to 100 Euro unless you can get a promo fare of some type.
You might consider flying from Madrid to Zurich for about 200 Euro. A lot faster and a bit less expensive unless you can get train promo fares. Not sure on which airlines fly this route. EasyJet does have a flight from Madrid to Basel. Zurich is a one hour train ride from Basel.
EN 407 departs Madrid Chamartin at 19:00 and arrives at Gare d'Austerlitz (not Gare Montparnasse) at 08:27. Is that the train you wish to take? If so, the next Paris-Zuerich TGV departs Gare de l'Est at 12:24. You would have four hours between trains, not 1.5 hours.
Gare d'Austerlitz - Gare de l'Est on Metro line 5: 12 minutes.
Gare Montparnasse - Gare de l'Est on Metro line 4: 15 minutes.
Dear Community Responders,
Many thanks for your suggestions. I will have a Eurail selectpass to use; hence my thought of using on Eurail day. But that won't work since I have to get from Seville to Madrid BEFORE 19:00 (and that EN train). I've checked out Skyscanner and they have great deals, so flying may be a better choice for me.
In appreciation, Mark N. : )
