From the twinkling lights of Paris to the glittering French Riviera, a journey through France is a journey through art, history, and gastronomy. Knitting together this incredibly layered heritage is a world-class rail network, making France travel packages by train the ticket to experiencing the best of the country.
Graced with a remarkable variety of landscapes and cultural jewels, France’s appeal is measured by the millions who visit annually. More than any other country.
For some, the monuments and museums of Paris are the big draw. For others, it’s the elegant charm of the French Riviera or picturesque mountain resorts.
In between, trains connect a medley of vineyards and castles, historic cities and time capsule villages. Enriched by a mouthwatering culinary heritage, 45 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and a dazzling lineup of cultural attractions that make France rail travel packages uniquely immersive.
Rail Escape tailors France travel packages that explore every corner of l’hexagone at your own tempo. Speak with our travel planners to arrange your dream vacation. With premium hotels and carefully planned itineraries, you can relax and revel in a rail vacation exploring the France you want to experience on France travel packages by train.
France Rail Travel Packages: How Trains Optimize French Vacations
One of Europe’s most efficient rail networks whisks travelers in comfort between city and town, beach and mountain. Combined with regional trains, there are few limits on where France rail travel packages can take you.
Our destination guide to France reveals unhurried vacations that make the most of France’s TGV network. Perfect if you’re flying into Paris and planning France travel packages by train.
That’s not the only reason why trains are key to crafting France travel packages that go further.
The Comfort and Convenience of Exploring France by Train
High-speed trains drop you directly in the center of cities. Unlike the flight to Paris, you only need to board your next train a few minutes before departure. No waiting for luggage. That travels with you.
Stay in a hotel near the train station, a feature of our France rail travel packages, and you can park your luggage and drop straight into the action.
First-class carriages on many TGV high-speed trains immerse you in the vacation spirit from the start. And there are no limits on who can enjoy a French rail vacation. We explore accessibility in our post about European Train Tours for Seniors with Limited Mobility. France excels in this area, with trains and stations designed for ease of access.
France & Beyond: Trains Let You Explore More
Where flying limits the potential of France travel packages, trains offer the chance to carve your own path across France and Europe.
Direct high-speed trains cross borders into eight neighboring countries and beyond. It’s an intoxicating mix for a multi-country tour; Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Spain, the UK, and the Netherlands are just some of the possibilities.
Our growing collection of pre-crafted European rail tours includes France travel packages by train that pivot around Paris. Tours that can be customized to match your travel style as you unpeel France layer by layer or build a pan-European odyssey packed with cultural contrasts.
Compelling Itineraries for France Travel Packages by Train
A pick of our most popular France travel packages can be viewed in our destination guide to France. But with so many different directions to follow, we’ve gathered a few itineraries that reveal the full potential of customizing a French rail vacation exclusively for you.
French Riviera: The Mediterranean on Easy Mode
The French Riviera is a glittering coastline punctuated by timeless fishing villages, elegant resorts, and exuberant Mediterranean cities.
Ringing the coastline, the Côte d’Azur, are the lavender carpeted hills of Provence. A French region with an exquisite gastronomic pedigree and towns where history is baked into the sundrenched streets.
Direct high-speed trains zip from Paris to Nice, the French Riviera’s capital, in under six hours. A journey through the heart of France and a highlight of many France rail travel packages.
Once in Nice, the French Riviera can be explored at leisure on trains hugging the shore.
Journeys like our French Riviera Tour: Sun & Sea package. A tour that heads west out of Nice, stopping in glamorous Cannes en route to the architectural and culinary delights of Montpellier. Along the way, stopping in France’s cosmopolitan second city, Marseille.
Alternatively, head east from Nice on coastal trains that skirt around picturesque fishing villages en route to the millionaires’ playground, Monaco. Then continue into Italy, and the tiny station of Ventimiglia just across the French-Italian border.
Rail Escape tailors tours that reveal more of the French Riviera. It’s a region that connects with the Italian Riviera, where you can embark on dolce vita tours like those found in our collection of Italian rail tours.
France Rail Travel Packages Through Alsace and the Grand Est
Fusing Germanic and French culture, Alsace is an absorbing region for rail adventures. Beyond Alsace lies France’s Grand Est region, home to Champagne wineries and national parks.
Under two hours by TGV from Paris lands travelers in Strasbourg, capital of the Grand Est. A vibrant city on the German border, centered around an evocative old town of half-timbered houses, overlooked by a soaring Gothic cathedral.
Beyond Strasbourg lies the stunning Alsace Wine Route, which can be explored by bike or car. Dotted along regional train lines are photogenic towns and villages, like the canals and medieval streets of Colmar. Or Reims, gateway to the vineyards of Champagne and home to a UNESCO-designated cathedral where dozens of French kings were crowned.
December is a golden month to visit Alsace, with Strasbourg, Colmar, and other cities hosting Christmas markets that blend French and German traditions and are among the most vibrant in Europe. For more ideas for festive European and France travel packages, check out our guide to Christmas Markets by Rail – Experience Europe’s Most Enchanting Journeys.
Strasbourg is also a rail gateway to Rhine cities in Germany and Switzerland. Rail Escape organizes bespoke tours of the region, like our Swiss and French Delights from Paris to Basel. Tours that can be customized to see more of the countries bordering the Alps.
Mountain Adventures by Rail: Savoie and the Alps
You don’t have to leave France to enjoy an Alpine rail adventure. Nestled in the French Alps, Savoie is best explored by train.
Highlights include the tranquil canals of Annecy, frequently named among France’s best cities to live in. Or elegant Evian Les Bains, the spa town on the shores of Lake Geneva, where you can sample the town’s famous mineral water directly from the spring.
Savoie is home to a French icon, Mont Blanc. France’s tallest mountain looms over the upscale ski resort Chamonix, accessible on view-filled rail journeys through the Alps.
Trains let you build France travel packages by train around Alpine adventures. Offering opportunities to extend French rail travel packages into Switzerland and onto some of Europe’s most scenic rail journeys. Like those on our Scenery And Elegance Swiss Train Tour, which includes trips on both the Glacier Express and Bernina Express, panoramic train rides that rank amongst the world’s most scenic rail routes.
Rail Tours Through History: Paris to Normandy
Normandy is just a few high-speed hours from Paris. It’s an endlessly absorbing region to explore by train.
Normandy played an outsized role in European history. You can see that in Bayeux, home to the remarkable Bayeux Tapestry that vividly details William the Conqueror’s 1066 invasion, a moment that transformed England and the English language. Or in the Gothic churches of Rouen, the capital of Normandy, where Joan of Arc met her grisly end.
And you can see where modern history was re-written on the five D-Day landing beaches in Normandy, with cemeteries and landmarks across the region recalling this epochal event.
Normandy is also home to arguably France’s finest heritage sight, Mont Saint Michel. Not forgetting France’s most beloved artist, Claude Monet, whose home in Giverny inspired his most famous paintings of water lilies. In between are easy-on-the-eye coastal towns like Honfleur and Deauville.
There’s a lot to see in Normandy. Enjoy carefully planned rail tours of the region with Rail Escape, with France rail travel packages designed to the France you want to see, from the windswept northern shores of Normandy to the sun-drenched south.
Slow Travel in France: Sleeper Trains and Scenic Routes
Slow travel fans might want to enjoy a taste of a bygone era for rail travel on sleeper services that embrace going slow and savoring the moment.
Paris is where they begin and end, with up to eight INTERCITÉS sleeper services heading to destinations in southern France like Toulouse and Nice. Seats, bunks (first and second class), and individual compartments evoke a golden age of rail travel.
2026 sees the revival of sleeper trains linking Paris and Berlin. Berlin is a key rail hub for exploring Germany and Central Europe, like our Historic Heartland Berlin to Budapest Tour via Prague and Vienna.
Views of the French countryside abound when exploring by rail. Routes like Clermont-Ferrand to Nîmes, which follows one of France’s oldest rail lines, on a journey that skips through gorges and national parks in the Massif Central.
Scenic Rail Rides Through France
Some train rides are all about the journey. Highlights to consider when planning your ideal France travel packages by train include:
Nice to Ventimiglia, Italy – slow and steady regional TER trains trundle along the French Riviera, stopping in the Principality of Monaco and terminating in Ventimiglia, Italy. A 55-minute train ride of stunning views connecting two countries and one city-state.
Le Petit Train Jaune – The little yellow train is an iconic old locomotive that snakes 39 miles (63 km) through the Pyrenees mountain range from Villefranche-de-Conflent to Latour-de-Carol. Forest views, bridges, viaducts, and a leisurely ride high above sea level can be truly appreciated from a seat in the open-air carriage.
La Ligne des Hirondelles – more mountain high jinks by rail, this time on a slow train through the Jura Mountains bordering Switzerland. 76 miles (123 km) across 18 viaducts and through 36 tunnels on one of France’s prettiest train lines.
France Rail Travel Packages That Cross Borders
Bordered by eight countries connected by fast, direct rail links to Paris and other French cities, France slots neatly into European rail odysseys.
They include absorbing itineraries, like our Grand European Capitals Tour. A vacation linking Amsterdam with Paris, via Berlin, Munich, and Zurich.
Or our epic South West Europe Tour from London to Madrid, that stops in Paris before heading across the Spanish border to Barcelona and onto Spain’s capital.
With Paris a hub for international flights and European rail journeys, there are countless possibilities to fold cross-border adventures into Rail Escape’s customized France travel packages by train.
Customizing France Travel Packages with Rail Escape
Our travel team understands what makes a rail vacation work. We build itineraries around you, reserving seats on the fastest and most efficient routes for seamless connections in France and beyond.
Our France travel packages include first-class seats and premium hotels selected for their comfort and convenient proximity to stations and city centers. Let our travel team know where you want to go, and we’ll turn your dream vacation into a journey that reveals the best of France on France travel packages by train.
