Planning a trip to France in May, 2013. Want to go to the Loire Valley on the way South. Can someone give me a good option for transportation? We want to use the train to Amboise and then south to Lyon to meet friends, but it seems very complicated and apparently we must go back to Paris to get to Lyon. Any help is appreciated!
Posted by
Adelaide, SA, Australia
977 posts
We ran into the same problem. Our plan was Paris/Tours/Avignon. Seemed to make perfect sense - just keep heading south. Unfortunately, unlike their efficient neighbours in Germany, the French have this need to route/backtrack many of their train journeys back through Paris. I would try contacting the Amboise Tourist Information Centre to see if you can take a bus, or a regional train. Good luck.
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
Your fastest route by train will be through Paris. Maybe your only route. Look on the bright side, it adds at most 2 hours to your trip. If these are the dots you want to connect, that's how to do it.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
France has a very centralised mindset, and there are very few good quality rail routes that don't run from Paris to somewhere. There also aren't many long-distance bus services.
Posted by
OP
St Augustine, FL, USA
4 posts
Thank you all for your responses. I guess we'll just go back to Paris. I was just trying to avoid traveling all day to get to Lyon.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
The fastest routes via Paris take 4 - 4 1/2 hours. IMO, that's not too bad.
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
High speed train networks operate, to an extent, like airline networks: often you have to "backtrack" or "travel on 2 vortexes of a triangle" to go from A to B.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
If you book well in advance (up to three months allowed) on voyages-sncf.com or tgv-europe.com, you can get a Prem's fare of €15 for Amboise to Gare d'Austerlitz in Paris on an Intercites train and a Prem's fare of €25 for Gare de Lyon in Paris to Lyon Part Dieu on a TGV. It's a short walk on a bridge over the Seine from Gare d'Austerlitz to Gare de Lyon. Leave Amboise at 06:38 and arrive at Gare d'Austerlitz at 08:22. Leave Gare de Lyon at 08:58 and arrive at Lyon Part Dieu at 10:56. You'll have the whole afternoon and evening in Lyon.
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4044 posts
Playing around on www.tgv-europe.com and other SNCF sites you can find a route from Amboise to Saint Pierre des Corps, outside Tours, connecting there to Lyon. The trip will take under four hours and cost about 36 euro on a Prem ticket.
But why worry about backtracking through Paris, other than seeing the same scenery twice? Compare the time elapsed, the price, the convenience and comfort, rather than a crow flying cross-country.