Train travel
in Australasia

TGVs now run all over France, the smooth, relaxing & less-environmentally-damaging way to travel.

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A guide to travel by TGV

TGVs or Trains � Grande Vitesse are SNCF's (French Railways) premier high-speed trains, running at up to 320 km/h (199 mph) on a high-speed network linking towns & cities across France. Smooth & quiet even at high speed, it's a relaxing way to travel. Some TGVs are single-deck , many are double-deck TGV Duplex.

Since 2017 SNCF's TGVs have been marketed under the brand name InOui, French for unheard of or exceptional.

Fares & tickets

Seating

Luggage limits, WiFi, food & drink

TGV travel tips

Guide to single-deck TGVs

Guide to double-deck TGV Duplex

Example TGV cafe-bar menu

Fares & tickets

• Seat reservation is compulsory on TGVs, all tickets include a seat reservation on a specific train. TGV seat maps.
• Fares vary like air fares, with cheap Prems fares if you book in advance, much more expensive flexible fares if you buy close to departure date.
• Paris to Nice starts at �25, Paris to Bordeaux from �20, if you book a cheap Prems fare in advance. Booking opens up to 4 months ahead.
• Buy tickets at www.raileurope.com or www.thetrainline.com (both easy to use, in �, � or $, overseas credit cards no problem, small booking fee or at the French Railways website www.sncf-connect.com, same fares, no fee. You can select seats from a seat map when booking a 1st class ticket at www.thetrainline.com or www.sncf-connect.com.

• Click for table comparing the fees & features of the various sites selling TGV tickets

1st class seats

• 1st class on all TGVs has spacious seats with armrests and power-recline, arranged 2+1 across the car width. Each seat has a drop-down table big enough for a laptop (face-to-back seats) or a fixed table with table lamp (face-to-face seats).
• All 1st class seats have power-points for laptops & mobiles with European-style two-pin 230v sockets. There is a small bench seat outside each main seating saloon if you need to make a private mobile phone call.
• Two seats facing each other across a table are referred to as Club duo orDual face to face, four seats around a table in first class are Club Quatre or Club four. Two seats side by side facing seat backs in front are Duo, and single seats facing a seat back in front are Solo.
• For seating plans, see the seat maps page.

2nd class seats

• Second class on all TGVs has comfortable seats with armrests, arranged 2+2 across the car width. There are drop-down tables big enough for laptops (face-to-back seats) or fixed tables (face-to-face seats). There are two toilets for each pair of coaches.
• When booking, tables for 4 are usually shown as family or facing or sometimes in French as carr�.
• For seating plans, see the seat maps page.

Luggage & facilities on board

• Luggage You take your bags with you and put them on the luggage racks either above your head, between the seats or at the car ends. SNCF require you to label your bags with at least your name. More about luggage on trains.
• Luggage limits: Since February 2024 SNCF has had a more formal luggage policy for TGV InOui which will be enforced from September: There are no weight limits, but you must be able to carry it yourself in one go. You can carry either 1 hand luggage + 2 suitcases or 1 hand luggage + 1 suitcase + 1 specific item. Your hand luggage can measure up to 40 cm x 30 cm x 15 cm. Your suitcase(s) can measure up to 90 cm x 70 cm x 50 cm. Your specific item (musical instrument, pushchair, bike in cover, folded bike, scooter) can measure up to 130 cm x 90 cm. Bikes, musical instruments, snowboards, and skis must be under a labelled cover. You can travel with your pair of skis, without a maximum size, one pair per person. If you exceed these limits there's a �50 fee, but it's not yet clear how tough staff will be.

• Cafe-bar All TGVs (except a few short-distance ones such as Lille-Paris) have a caf�-bar serving hot & cold drinks, sandwiches, a few hot dishes such as quiche or lasagne, small bottles of wine & spirits - see sample menu. The caf�-bar is in the centre of the train between the 1st & 2nd class cars. The coffee is good, credit cards are accepted as well as cash. There is a standing area where you can eat & drink or you can take your purchases back to your seat. You can skip the queue by ordering on your phone for collection at the cafe-bar counter, see the travel tips section.

• WiFi & power sockets Most TGVs should now have free WiFi, although a few may still be unfitted. If you have a 3G or 4G mobile data package that normally works fine aboard the TGV for most of the routes. How to check if your TGV will have WiFi: Run an enquiry on www.thetrainline.com and select your train. If it says Options, WiFi, Free at lower right, your train is scheduled to be one with WiFi. All TGVs have power sockets in 1st class. Almost all have power sockets in 2nd class, a few early-generation TGVs don't.

• Toilets, smoking, wheelchairs, baby-changing All TGVs are entirely non-smoking. All TGVs have one or more wheelchairs spaces & wheelchair-accessible toilets in both classes. All TGVs have toilets and at least one baby-changing facility.

Travel tips

• Boarding There's no check-in, just walk into the station, look at the departure screens to find your train and get on any time before it leaves. At terminal stations, you may see the platform announced anything from 15 to 30 minutes before departure. Access to the platform may be stopped a minute or two before departure time to ensure an on-time departure.

• Automatic ticket gates There are automatic ticket gates at the entrance to the platforms at the main Paris termini and other major stations. You place the QR code on your ticket, printout or phone app against the scanner to open the gates. There's usually an extra-wide gate for large luggage or pushchairs.

• 1st or 2nd class? 2nd class is absolutely fine, no need to pay for 1st class unless you want to. 1st class simply means more leg & elbow room and a quieter environment with more laptops tapping and fewer families with kids. There is no difference in the on-board service, no food or drink is included in 1st class on most French domestic TGVs. 1st class just means more space and nicer seating, with the option of solo seats or a face to face table for two.

• Choosing your seat In first class, ask for Club Duo or Dual face to face if travelling as a couple for an intimate table-for-two, or Club Quatre (Club four) if three or four of you are travelling together so you can sit cosily around a table. If you're booking 1st class on a TGV on www.thetrainline.com or www.sncf-connect.com you can select your exact seat from a seat map.

• Ondouble-deck TGV Duplex, upper deck seats get the best views. Stairs to the upper deck are wide and easy, only choose the lower deck if you have serious mobility impairment. There are toilets & luggage racks both upstairs and downstairs, the bar car & access between cars are upstairs. You can select upper or lower deck if you book online at www.raileurope.com, www.thetrainline.com or www.sncf-connect.com. It is not usually possible to specify a forward-facing seat on a TGV Duplex, as the unit could be running either way round, you cant tell which way round it will be running.
• Forward-facing seats It's only possible to specify forward-facing seats on a handful of TGV routes which have the Christian Lacroix interiors which feature variable illuminated seat numbers - the correct set of seat numbers illuminate depending which way round the TGV unit enters service. Such routes include single-deck TGV services on TGV Est (Paris to Reims, Metz, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, but not trains operated by TGV Duplex). You'll only be given the option to specify forward facing seats if (a) you book using www.raileurope.com or www.thetrainline.com or www.sncf-connect.com and (b) the specific route and type of TGV supports this feature. Most routes & TGVs don't, it's only a few that do. TGV Duplex trains with the very latest Oc�ane interior have 1st class seats that rotate to face the direction of travel, see here.

• Order food & drink on your phone to skip the line at the cafe-bar The queue at the cafe-bar can be quite long, but you can skip the line by ordering on your phone. When on board the train, log on to the train's WiFi and open the SNCF intranet, you'll find a page for ordering food & drink. They'll give you a 15-minute time slot for picking it up from the cafe-bar counter, when the time comes you can go straight to the front of the queue to collect your food & drink, saving a lot of time waiting to be served! Or you can order online in advance, either on the day of travel or a day or two beforehand, at lebar.sncf-connect.com (please let me know if that link stops working). You enter the train number and date and it'll tell you whether this service is available on that train and open for booking. If it is, you can order any food & drink you like, and choose a time slot for collecting it from the cafe-bar counter on board.
• Or bring your own food & drink Alternatively, on all European trains you are free to bring your own food and drink (including beer or wine) on board if you like. Or, if you're changing trains in Paris and have time for a drink or meal whilst waiting at the Gare de Lyon, why not use the celebrated Train Bleu restaurant?

• Where on the platform to wait for your train? At most main stations, you can see where on the platform your carriage will stop by consulting a 'Composition des Trains' chart showing the train formation with coach numbers.

• Taking your bike:See the bikes by train page.
• Taking your dog:See the dogs by train page.

Single-deck TGVs

The Christian Lacroix interior

Most single-deck TGVs were refurbished with an interior by designer Christian Lacroix, including those on the TGV-Est route from Paris Est to Reims, Strasbourg, Metz, Luxembourg & some remaining single-deck TGVs on the TGV-Atlantique route from Paris Montparnasse to Tours, Bordeaux, Nantes, Lourdes, Rennes. Incidentally, SNCF's in-house designer still hasn't forgiven Christian Lacroix for breaking the long-standing unwritten 'rules' and using warm colours in 2nd class, cooler colours in 1st class, so see what you think. However, Lacroix's original patterned carpet and random lime green seats in 1st class have now been replaced by all-grey seats and all-grey carpet, watering down the design.

Seat maps: There are various types of TGV, you can find plans of the seating layouts on the train seat maps page.

A TGV at Paris Gare de l'Est, in the latest red, white and dark grey livery.

Other interiors

You'll also find interiors like this.

Video guide: Christian Lacroix TGV

The original patterned carpet and mixed lime green and grey seats in 1st class have now been replaced by all-grey seats & grey carpet, watering down the design.

Double-deck TGV Duplex

On what routes do they operate?

These impressive 320 km/h double-deck high-speed trains operate most Paris-Cannes-Nice trains, most Paris-Lyon trains, many Paris-Bordeaux-Biarritz-Hendaye/Lourdes trains, many Paris-Avignon-Marseille trains and even a few Lille-Lyon-Avignon Marseille trains. They also operate some or all services from Paris to Basel, Zurich, Geneva, Stuttgart, Munich & Frankfurt, and Frankfurt to Marseille. SNCF is no longer buying single-deck TGVs, all future TGV construction will be Duplex.

On board the train

You board the train through a wide sliding door into an entrance hall at one end of the lower deck. An internal door opens into the lower deck seating area, and a short & easy flight of 9 steps leads to a landing at one end of the upper deck. You walk along the train from car to car at the upper level, and the caf�-bar is also at the upper level. There are toilets upstairs & downstairs.

Upper or lower deck?

When reserving, you can usually choose a seat on upper or lower decks if you buy at www.raileurope.com or www.thetrainline.com. If you have major problems climbing stairs the lower deck might be best, but for anyone else the top deck is strongly recommended for the best views of the scenery, as you'll be able to see over the top of the occasional sound barrier along the high speed lines. For couples, an upper deck first class table for two (shown variously as Club duo or Dual face to face) is as good as it gets. Families can book a Club quatre (Club four) in first class or Carr� in 2nd class (also shown as Family or facing), both terms mean a table for four.

TGV Duplex seat map. Seat numbers 11-58 = lower deck. 61-128 = upper deck.

How to tell if your TGV will be a Duplex

Run an enquiry on www.thetrainline.com and find the train you're planning to travel on. Select any fare, click the Seating link and click the drop down box that says No preference. If the options include upstairs and downstairs, it's a Duplex! If you see an upstairs and downstairs option and also see a Forward facing seat option, it's scheduled to be a new TGV Duplex Oc�ane. And if the train is due to have WiFi, it'll say Free WiFi at lower right.

1st generation TGV Duplex

1st generation TGV Duplex operate on French domestic routes including Paris-Lyon, Paris-Marseille, Paris-Nice, where they work alongside newer 2nd & 3rd generation trains. There are power sockets at all 1st class seats, but usually not in 2nd class on these first-generation trains. The first-generation trains are not equipped to run on international routes.

2nd & 3rd generation TGV Duplex

TGV Duplex trainsets of the 2nd & 3rd generations (known technically as Dasye & Euroduplex) have blue & purple interiors with power sockets at all seats in both classes. TGV Duplexes of this type operate the international routes from Paris to Barcelona, Paris to Germany, and TGV-Lyria services from Paris to Switzerland. They also operate the Marseille-Frankfurt TGV service. 2nd & 3rd generation TGV Duplex work alongside 1st generation TGV Duplex on French domestic routes such as Paris to Lyon, Avignon, Marseille & Nice.

TGV Duplex Oc�ane

3rd generation trains with a completely redesigned interior known as TGV Oc�ane entered service in 2017, initially on the TGV Atlantique route from Paris Montparnasse to Brittany, Bordeaux, Biarritz, Lourdes & Hendaye on the Spanish border. Some now also operate from Paris to Lyon and the south of France. All seats in both classes have power sockets & free WiFi, 1st class seats also have USB ports. A major innovation is that 1st class seats rotate to face direction of travel. The seats at the very end of each car don't rotate. The new Oc�ane interior may be retrofitted to earlier TGV Duplex sets in due course.

A TGV Duplex Oc�ane from Paris arrived at Bordeaux St Jean. These TGV Duplex carry the latest grey, silver and red TGV colours and have an all-new interior.

TGV Oc�ane cafe-bar (above left) and 2nd class seats (above right).

TGV Oc�ane 1st class seats. All 1st class seats (except the end ones) rotate to face direction of travel. There are USB & 2-pin outlets above each drop-down table.

TGV Oc�ane stairs, just 9 easy shallow steps. There are toilets & luggage racks upstairs & downstairs. Above right, luggage racks upstairs.

Video guide: TGV Duplex

Sample TGV caf�-bar menu

This photo of a TGV bar menu gives you an idea of what's on offer in a typical TGV cafe-bar. Prices are from Autumn 2017.

Click the image to enlarge.