My son and I are looking for information on taking a direct TGV train with no stops or changes from Paris Charles De Gaulle train station to Grenoble, France on May 29, 2013. It's hard to find info at the sites because they won't let you reserve anything farther out than 3 months. We would like to leave CDG train station in afternoon. Hopefully, the train will take no longer than 3 to 3 1/2 hours? What is the name of the train station in Grenoble where it arrives, and how far from center of Grenoble is that?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Wow! Quite a demand list. Direct train with no stops or changes, booking farther out than 3 months and a train run no longer than 3.5hrs. Unfortunately, you are out of luck on all three demands. 1) There are numerous train runs a day from CDG-TGV to Grenoble. All runs will have 1-3 transportation changes. I say "transportation changes as most runs will put you on a bus at Valence TGV for the 70-80min ride to Grenoble. 2) For the main French website www.tgv-europe.com, tickets are not for sale more than 90 days out. If you look now for 5/29, you will see "This Train is Full" for all runs. If you can wait 3 more days, you should be able to see the runs. 3) Journey travel times ranges from 4.5hrs-5.5hrs depending on the run you choose. You can best view the train schedules and information on the German rail website www.bahn.de. However, you buy the tickets on www.tgv-europe.com which is the French SNCF website. Big hint. Don't pick USA as your Ticket Collection Country. If you do, the website will switch you to RailEurope. Select Canada or Great Britain. This is just to keep you on the SNCF website.
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
One of my daughters went to school in Grenoble. The train station is simply called the Gare de Grenoble. Grenoble has a good tram system and you can hop on a tram at the train station to get around town. Distances aren't great. The TGV from Paris-CDG will take 3 1/2 - 4 hours. I don't think there are any non-stops; pretty much all the TGV's to Grenoble will stop in Lyon, a much larger city along the way. I think you'll have to switch trains in Lyon. The tgv-europe website will show your options.
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
I'm seeing several direct TGVs that take 3 hours. Not nonstop. I would expect these trains to be available in May though they are not scheduled yet.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Direct TGVs depart from Gare de Lyon in Paris, not from CDG. The timetables on bahn.de, which go through 8 June, say that those TGVs don't run beyond 12 May.
Posted by
OP
rochester, new york
2 posts
Thanks, Adam. Can you tell me the site I can go to and see my choices? I made an error when I said non-stop. What I meant was a tgv that goes directly to Grenoble without having to get off and change trains. Thanks!
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
Oops, I missed CDG, sorry! (Still the Roissybus goes straight to Gare Lyon).
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
It's the Air France bus (not just for Air France passengers, open to everyone) that goes to Gare de Lyon, the Roissybus goes to the Opera.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Kathryn, I have provided the two best websites to view your choices in the first message above. There are none better. You can see the runs on both websites except that you cannot see beyond 90 days out on www.tgv-europe.com. You should be able to see the runs you want on the French website tomorrow (5/29). I can see 5/28 today. Again, there are no direct trains from CDG to Grenoble. Most runs require a change to a bus. There are no direct trains from Paris Gare-de-Lyon either. I looked at all runs on www.bahn.de for 5/29 and there are no direct trains. Some runs change to another train and some runs change to a coach (bus). Most runs are over 4.0hrs. Plus, you have to get to Gare-de-Lyon from CDG. You are better off timewise by departing for Grenoble from CDG-TGV.