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These are the French train lines that are likely to be busiest this summer

Every day, there are nearly 15,000 train departures in France, carrying an average of 10 million passengers, even more in the school holidays. But which are the busiest routes?

Published: 25 June 2023 17:31 CEST
Trains at Gare du Nord train station in Paris.
Trains at Gare du Nord train station in Paris. SNCF Connect data showed that Lyon-Paris is the most frequently booked route in France. Photo: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP

French daily Le Figaro asked train reservation site SNCF Connect to rank the most reserved journeys in 2022 on major national routes and regional lines. SNCF Connect calculated this based on tickets bought on their website and app.

Unsurprisingly, the ten most frequently booked national journeys all involve Paris, the centre of the French rail network.

Paris <> Lyon tops the national list, with the premium high-speed TGV inOui and more affordable Ouigo trains offering a total of 22 return journeys a day on that route.

READ ALSO: 8 French night trains to take this summer

Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa has also been running five return journeys a day on this line since December 2021. And Spain’s Renfe hopes to start serving Paris next year, with an extension of its new Lyon-Barcelona route.

In second place is Paris < > Lille, followed by Paris < > Bordeaux, Paris < > Nantes, Paris < > Marseille, Paris < > Rennes, Paris < > Strasbourg, Paris < > Toulouse, Paris < > Avignon, and, in tenth place, Paris < > Montpellier.

As for the regional TER trains, the Angers < > Nantes route is the most used, according to the SNCF Connect data. Every day around 50 regional trains make this 40-minute journey both ways.

Lyon also features again several times – it’s the departure and destination station for three particularly highly frequented routes, those from/to Saint-Etienne, Grenoble and Valence. Again, not surprising given that Lyon’s main station, Lyon Part-Dieu, is the busiest outside of Ile-de-France. 

READ ALSO: LATEST: The transport strikes that will hit passengers in Europe this summer

The rest of the routes in the regional top ten are as follows: in second place is Lyon < > Saint-Etienne, followed by Grenoble < > Lyon, Colmar < > Strasbourg, Montpellier < > Nimes, Lyon < > Valence, Mulhouse < > Strasbourg, Metz < > Nancy-Ville, Montauban Ville Bourbon < > Toulouse and, in tenth position, Nantes < > Saint-Nazaire. 

So if you’re looking to travel by train this summer, these are the routes to book in advance, if you want to make sure you get a seat or the ones to avoid if you don’t fancy being stuck on a busy train!

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FRANCE WEATHER

Thunderstorms, floods and traffic: France’s last holiday weekend in May 

The final holiday weekend of May in France is set to be marked by bad weather and difficult driving conditions on busy roads.

Published: 17 May 2024 15:44 CEST
Thunderstorms, floods and traffic: France’s last holiday weekend in May 

Monday, May 20th is a holiday for most of France, marking the Christian festival of Pentecost, which means that many people will enjoy a three-day weekend.

This is the last of four public holidays in France in May 2024, now we need to wait until August for another extra day off work (since the Fête National on July 14th falls on a Sunday this year).

So what can we expect for the long weekend? Well, bad weather and heavy traffic, unfortunately.

The Moselle département, in north-east France, was placed on red weather alert on Friday after hours of heavy rain caused flash flooding.

The red weather alert initially runs until 9pm on Friday, with between 80mm and 100mm of rain expected, while between 70mm and 90mm are predicted in the far north of the neighbouring Bas-Rhin, with up to 70mm expected further south – figures national forecaster Météo-France said approached records for daily rainfall figures in the region.

Orange alerts in the area remain in place on Saturday.

Image: Météo-France

Rain and occasional storms, some bringing hail, are expected to develop across large parts of the country throughout the weekend, with only the Mediterranean areas likely to remain dry on Saturday.

Showers and sunny spells will continue into Sunday and Monday, with occasional thunderstorms in the south-west. Temperatures throughout the weekend should rise to between 15C and 22C.

To make family getaways on the final long weekend of the month even more difficult, roads watchdog Bison Futé predicts ‘difficult’, or ‘very difficult’ travel conditions on key routes across the country. 

Image: Bison Fute

On Friday, traffic is expected to be heavy on routes heading away from major cities towards popular holiday destinations until well into the evening – especially on Paris’s Périphérique and the A86 and A6B, the A7, along the Mediterranean Arc and on the Atlantic seaboard (A11, N165 and A63). 

The A13 is likely to remain closed to traffic between Paris and Vaucresson across the holiday weekend, so drivers from the Paris region wishing to reach Normandy are advised to take the A14, A15 or N12

On Saturday, May 18th, conditions on the roads will be difficult nationwide, particularly on roads serving the Mediterranean arc (A7 and A9) and the Atlantic coast (A63 and N165). In the Île-de-France region, traffic will be heavy from early morning onwards on the A6 and A10. From mid-morning onwards, traffic is expected to intensify significantly. 

Image: Bison Fute

Routes converging on the A10 and A6 could also see traffic problems on Saturday, Bison Futé warned.

No major forecastable traffic problems are expected on Sunday – but, on Monday, May 20th, short breakers will be returning home, leading to heavy traffic across the country, notably on A7 and A9, in the Mediterranean region, and routes serving the west of the country.

Traffic will be heavy on the A10 and A6 in the Île-de-France region from late morning into the evening. The A13, which should be open, could also experience traffic problems from mid-afternoon onwards, and could continue to do so well into the evening.

Across the country banks and public administration offices will close. Some independent shops may close, while larger stores and chains are more likely to be open, but probably with altered opening hours.

Most bars, restaurants and cafés will remain open while public transport will run as normal. 

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