TGV Train Service

by velopeloton on November 19, 2011 · 3 comments

Many of our guests here in La Lanterne Rouge Cycling Lodge arrive in France through CDG Airport in Paris. The options for onward travel are to transfer to Orly Airport to fly to Lourdes or Pau or into central Paris and take the train to Lourdes. Lourdes is served by the TGV (High Speed Train) service from Paris-Montparnasse train station (Gare Montparnasse). There is a large choice of hotels in Montparnasse. The journey from Paris is about 6 hours and gets up to speeds of 300kmh. I highly recommend you take the train, much more relaxed and comfortable and you can say you were on the fasted train in the world. By arrangement there is free transfer to La Lanterne Rouge Cycling Lodge in Saint Savin.

Gare de Lourdes

Gare de Lourdes

Click here for Rail Europe

Stations servied by the west coast TGV:
Paris-Montparnasse - Saint-Pierre-des-Corps - Poitiers - Angoulême - Libourne - Bordeaux-Saint-Jean - Dax - Orthez - Pau - Lourdes - Tarbes

The following services currently call at Lourdes:

  • Intercity (Intercités) Hendaye – Bayonne – Pau – Tarbes – Toulouse
  • local service (TER Midi-Pyrénées) Toulouse – Saint-Gaudens – Tarbes – Pau
  • Bayonne - Urt - Peyrehorade - Puyoô - Orthez - Artix - Pau - Assat - Coarraze-Nay - Montaut-Bétharram - Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre - Lourdes - Gare d’Ossun - Tarbes
  • Night Train (Corail Lunéa):
    Genève-Cornavin - Lyon-Part-Dieu - Valence - Toulouse-Matabiau - Saint-Gaudens - Lannemezan - Tarbes - Lourdes - Coarraze-Nay - Pau - Orthez - Bayonne -Biarritz - Saint-Jean-de-Luz – Ciboure - Hendaye - Irun
  • Night Train (Corail Lunéa):Paris Austerlitz - Les Aubrais-Orléans - Morcenx - Dax - Orthez - Pau - Lourdes - Tarbes
All the above services can be booked through Rail Europe. We recommend this as their website is much easier to use than the French Railway company site SNCF.
Gare de Lourdes

Gare de Lourdes

Gare de Lourdes, the website of Lourdes Train Station.

Hotel Best Western Beausejour is the closed hotel to the Lourdes  train station.

Gare Montparnasse, the website of Montparnasse Train Station.

There is a large choice of hotels in Montparnasse.

 

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Tagged as: Lourdes, TGV

  • Suze

    Hey Paddy,

    I used the TGV twice with my bike and it was not bike friendly. Bikes had to be in bags, not boxes. Perhaps they would take a bike carrying case, but they did not like my cardboard box, and the soft bag I bought for the return trip offered no protection , my bike was damaged en route home, perhaps on the airplane. The TGV is a very cool train, comfortable and fast, but for bike safety I like to fly to Toulouse (no need to transfer to Orly), throw out my cardboard box there, take the wheel-it-on bike friendly TER, and buy another inexpensive cardboard box from the airline for the return trip. Has the TGV gotten more cycle friendly since 2009? A rigid carrying case would work if they take it, but only if you start and stop in the same place … like at your very fabulous lodge!

  • http://www.velopeloton.com/blog/ Paddy sweeney

    You are right Suze. Bikes in hard cases are no problem on the TGV, an assembled bike wheeled up to the train is not possible. If going to Toulouse from CDG then flying would make more sense.

  • Bikerman

    One thing the French do very badly is websites. The SNCF site is terrible. I use the German site http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml is so much easier.

    Any TGV I have been on the bike had to be in a bag, I have heard that some of the new trains from Paris to Strasbourg have a bike rack. I have tried the SNCF website for info but it is no good. http://www.velo.sncf.com/

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All photos by Paddy Sweeney unless otherwise stated.