France by train, it’s the rail deal
Fast and cheap, it’s a great way to see the country
PUToff foreign travel by a fear of flying or you just don’t fancy having to battle through airports?
Well how about letting the train take the strain on a holiday escape to Europe?
That’s exactly what I did with my young family when I whisked them off for a rail adventure to France and the good news is that you can easily follow suit.
The idea came about because, as a travel writer, I spend so much of my life on planes.
My kids do, too – every school holiday we usually jet off somewhere.
My eldest, Tara, wasn’t convinced. “We’re going on holiday by train? That will take forever!” she protested as my wife retained a dignified, but doubting, silence. It didn’t take forever. In fact, we left Edinburgh Waverley at 8.30am and were in Paris in time for tea.
After breakfast flashing through southern Scotland and across England we’d grabbed more supplies at London’s gloriously revamped St Pancras Station and enjoyed lunch as we sped through the Channel Tunnel on Eurostar.
With a minimum of fuss and no delays on the way we were soon at Gare du Nord in the heart of Paris.
I’ve flown to Paris many times and this was definitely far more enjoyable and much less stressful.
When you add in getting to and from the airports, check in times and the flight duration, the train wasn’t that much slower, either.
We made good use of our time in Paris continuing our rail theme by buying a great value tickets to ride the city’s metro and suburban lines.
We swept around the Louvre and Musee D’Orsay (a grand former railway station) before spending an afternoon in the leafy delights of the Jardin des Tuileries.
I’ve been to Paris more than 20 times and it’s an impossible city to get bored of.
If you’ve been before how about a walk along the old elevated Planty railway line east from the Bastille, now a green walkway through the city?
Or instead of a boat trip on the busy River Seine, why not have a wee escape on the much less visited Canal Saint-Martin?
After a couple of days in the French capital it was time for us to seek out the Mediterranean sun. We zoomed south on the TGV (France’s very impressive high-speed train) to Marseille.
It took just a shade over
three hours to reach this Mediterranean port city, remarkable considering it’s 900km away!
In Marseille we explored the impressively revamped old port.
It’s spick and span streets, classy cafes and lovely restaurants are a far cry from the rundown affair I first came across here in the ’90s. I love the new tram, too.
Two days later we eschewed the fast trains for a wee local service amble just along the coast to Cassis.
We spent the morning enjoying a swim and took a boat trip out to the famous Calanques, a series of dramatic coves and bays.
Then we boarded a late afternoon train to Lyon, but not before we’d had a lovely, lazy lunch served with a glass of the crisp local white wine.
The owner’s brother was a fisherman and my girls’ loved the quality sea bass.
The trip to Lyon, France’s gastronomic heart, was only two hours.
We were into the swing of things now, zipping to another place by train and then heading out exploring.
It was like three or four holidays rolled into one.
We feasted like a royal family in the city’s superb restaurants and took it all in from the lofty vantage point of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.
All too soon, though, it was time to board our last French train for a final night in Paris.
If you fancy trying a rail escape to France there are loads of ticket options.
You can buy point-to-point tickets through Deutsche Bahn (bahn.com), but a rail pass may offer better value depending on how many days of your holiday you want to travel.
One idea for those who don’t mind flying is to take the train to the furthest point (say, Marseille) and then buy a one-way ticket back.
We took the train home and again enjoyed lunch aboard Eurostar, this time with a glorious picnic put together in the wee shops around our Parisian hotel.
After a seamless change of train in London we were back in Scotland.
We’d let the train take the strain and the success of the trip was confirmed at Edinburgh Waverley as Tara asked: “Can we go on holiday by train next time too, daddy?”