Best route options for London -> Marseille

[Joseph T]

I'm travelling from London to Marseille on the 7th of August, leaving STP no earlier than 9am BST, and these are my most direct route choices. Please suggest classes in replies (ideally no more than £500).

 

[30907]

I'm travelling from London to Marseille on the 7th of August, leaving STP no earlier than 9am BST, and these are my most direct route choices. Please suggest classes in replies (ideally no more than £500).

For £350-odd, £400 return you can get a 4-day Interrail 1st class (adult) plus reservations valid on whichever SNCF route you prefer (I'd opt for Lille)

 

[bspahh]

I'm travelling from London to Marseille on the 7th of August, leaving STP no earlier than 9am BST, and these are my most direct route choices. Please suggest classes in replies (ideally no more than £500).

The 9.01 from St Pancras to Lilles Europe, have 90 minutes for the 500m walk to Lilles Flandres for the 13.00 Ouigo to get to Marseilles at 17.46. That costs £144.52 at www.thetrainline.com

If you have time, then you could travel to Avignon TGV on the 6th, stay in the hotelF1 and travel on to Marseilles on the 7th for the same money. The Mercure at Avignon TGV is a bit nicer and has a pool, but costs a bit more.

 

[stadler]

I'm travelling from London to Marseille on the 7th of August, leaving STP no earlier than 9am BST, and these are my most direct route choices. Please suggest classes in replies (ideally no more than £500).

If you want a cheaper and more interesting route you could use entirely local TER trains:

• London to Lewes (Southern)
• Lewes to Newhaven (Southern)
• Newhaven to Dieppe (DFDS Ferries)
• Dieppe to Rouen (TER)
• Rouen to Paris (TER)
• Paris to Dijon (TER)
• Dijon to Lyon (TER)
• Lyon to Avignon (TER)
• Avignon to Marseille (TER)

I did this route from London to Marseille last time. It is certainly a lot slower but worth it if you want to save money. Also the train rides are far more interesting than the high speed lines.

You can easily do Dieppe to Marseille on the same day. You could take the overnight ferry and then do all the French trains on one day. That saves a hotel stay. Or you could do London to Paris in one day via the day ferry and then do Paris to Marseille the following. But that would require paying for a hotel.

For one example you could easily do this which has comfortable connections:

19:54 London - Lewes 20:56
21:00 Lewes - Newhaven 21:11
23:00 Newhaven - Dieppe 05:00
06:17 Dieppe - Rouen 07:12
07:39 Rouen - Paris Lazare 09:17
11:35 Paris Bercy - Dijon 14:25
14:49 Dijon - Lyon 16:44
17:20 Lyon - Avignon 19:44
19:52 Avignon - Marseille 21:09

Or if you wanted more time to look around Paris you could do this instead:

19:54 London - Lewes 20:56
21:00 Lewes - Newhaven 21:11
23:00 Newhaven - Dieppe 05:00
06:17 Dieppe - Rouen 07:12
07:39 Rouen - Paris Lazare 09:17
13:33 Paris Bercy - Dijon 16:24
16:48 Dijon - Lyon 18:44
19:20 Lyon - Avignon 21:49
21:57 Avignon - Marseille 23:20

You could also easily leave London thirty minutes later but i just put the earlier time as its always good to leave extra time in case the trains are delayed.

 

[mad_rich]

Fourth option would be the Intercité de Nuit to Nice, which calls at Marseille at ~0630.

Which is best value depends on what prices you've found, coupled with considering Interrail as suggested above.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Changing stations in Lille is the cheapest option - all the TGVs from Flandres to Marseille are no-frills Ouigos.They quickly
get fully booked however. Going via Paris gives you more options - it is almost hourly to Marseille including some Ouigos.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Ryanair or Easyjet win hands down on price - returns starting from £51 for a couple of random dates in April/May.

 

[parkender102]

Ryanair or Easyjet win hands down on price - returns starting from £51 for a couple of random dates in April/May.

Yes sometimes it's a No-Brainer. Last year I returned from Rhodes (Greece) overland - the initial intention was to return all the way home to North Wales by Surface Transport. So it was Rhodes (Ferry) - Athens (Train) - Thessaloniki (Flixbus) - Sofia (Train) - Bucharest (Train) - Budapest (Train) - Vienna (Train) Brussels. 2-3 days each in Thessaloniki, Sofia and Bucharest and at least a half day in the other stops (I'd visited before a few times). Unfortunately Brussels - London (Eurostar) then London Euston - Chester was going to be around £200 and an all day journey (admittedly the Olympics were on at the time in Paris). It was 23 Euros Brussels to Manchester with Ryanair - 1 Hour Flight............No Contest!

Pricewise the airlines can't be beaten but as a lover of Train and overland travel in general I can still get my fix by reducing the cost of 1 or more legs by taking a Flight.

 

[BahrainLad]

Not sure an overnight ferry arriving in France at 4am UK time is the ideal start to a day of train travel (or even a holiday)…

 

[Steve4031]

If you want a cheaper and more interesting route you could use entirely local TER trains:

• London to Lewes (Southern)
• Lewes to Newhaven (Southern)
• Newhaven to Dieppe (DFDS Ferries)
• Dieppe to Rouen (TER)
• Rouen to Paris (TER)
• Paris to Dijon (TER)
• Dijon to Lyon (TER)
• Lyon to Avignon (TER)
• Avignon to Marseille (TER)

I did this route from London to Marseille last time. It is certainly a lot slower but worth it if you want to save money. Also the train rides are far more interesting than the high speed lines.

You can easily do Dieppe to Marseille on the same day. You could take the overnight ferry and then do all the French trains on one day. That saves a hotel stay. Or you could do London to Paris in one day via the day ferry and then do Paris to Marseille the following. But that would require paying for a hotel.

For one example you could easily do this which has comfortable connections:

19:54 London - Lewes 20:56
21:00 Lewes - Newhaven 21:11
23:00 Newhaven - Dieppe 05:00
06:17 Dieppe - Rouen 07:12
07:39 Rouen - Paris Lazare 09:17
11:35 Paris Bercy - Dijon 14:25
14:49 Dijon - Lyon 16:44
17:20 Lyon - Avignon 19:44
19:52 Avignon - Marseille 21:09

Or if you wanted more time to look around Paris you could do this instead:

19:54 London - Lewes 20:56
21:00 Lewes - Newhaven 21:11
23:00 Newhaven - Dieppe 05:00
06:17 Dieppe - Rouen 07:12
07:39 Rouen - Paris Lazare 09:17
13:33 Paris Bercy - Dijon 16:24
16:48 Dijon - Lyon 18:44
19:20 Lyon - Avignon 21:49
21:57 Avignon - Marseille 23:20

You could also easily leave London thirty minutes later but i just put the earlier time as its always good to leave extra time in case the trains are delayed.

I am intrigued by the TER trains following the classic line from Paris to Marseille. What kinds of rolling stock are used on these trains? The man in seat 61 described refurbished Corail cars, which would be excellent, in my opinion. How crowded are these trains in the fall or spring?

 

[Ken H]

I am intrigued by the TER trains following the classic line from Paris to Marseille. What kinds of rolling stock are used on these trains? The man in seat 61 described refurbished Corail cars, which would be excellent, in my opinion. How crowded are these trains in the fall or spring?

Is that the Cevanol. Alan Williams did an article about that in Modern Railways some years ago.

 

[30907]

Is that the Cevanol. Alan Williams did an article about that in Modern Railways some years ago.

No. The Cevenol runs/ran via Clermont-Ferrand and Nimes.

I am intrigued by the TER trains following the classic line from Paris to Marseille. What kinds of rolling stock are used on these trains? The man in seat 61 described refurbished Corail cars, which would be excellent, in my opinion. How crowded are these trains in the fall or spring?

More likely to be modern units now - Corail stock is on the way out, being pushing 50 years old.

 

[Re6/6]

Three years ago I decided to travel to Marseille via the traditional route changing at Dijon, Lyon and Avignon. It was a most enjoyable trip taken on a late spring day. The greatest joy was feeling the weather getting warmer as the journey progressed and noticing the scenery and buildings change. The journey was broken into three stages and changing trains at all the above stations. For the sections from Paris Bercy to Dijon and Dijon to Lyon the journey was in grubby and not well presented but comfortable Corail first class stock and from Lyon onwards in a very comfortable and clean modern EMU.

To get the real feeling of a journey to the Mediterranean best to travel the traditional route as it beats the TGV, while it is very good, is a means to an end it lacks the feeling of a traditional train journey.

 

[Steve4031]

I am also interested in the Cevenol route. When I start planning this trip, I should probably start my own thread.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Ryanair or Easyjet win hands down on price - returns starting from £51 for a couple of random dates in April/May.

I wouldn't recommend the low cost terminal at Marseille airport.
Standing in line for ages in the middle of a building site to board a late-running easyJet flight was not fun.
Mind you on one rail trip the SNCF signallers went on strike for exactly 2 hours over lunch time while we fretted on board a TGV at Toulon.

 

[TrainTraveler]

A while back I attempted the Lille route and I was on the Eurostar when the French railway went on strike. The plan was always to overnight at Lille so I spent a few days there instead.

My second (successful) attempt at getting to Marseille was Easyjet.

With both the return cost of travel was similar (booked some months out) and I think the train would have been nicer.

If Eurostar had been able to sell me a through ticket I think the second go would have been train but I was a bit nervous about “holding the risk”.

 

[rvdborgt]

If Eurostar had been able to sell me a through ticket I think the second go would have been train but I was a bit nervous about “holding the risk”.

Eurostar have been selling TGV destinations for some time now. On top of that, there's the AJC, so you'd be rebooked free of charge anyway.

 

[signed]

AJC

And HOTNAT at Paris

 

[TrainTraveler]

"Eurostar have been selling TGV destinations for some time now"

I just had a look at Eurostar. I suspect it was a "booking horizons" problem when I was looking perhaps 18 months ago.

Having said that, on my sample dates, a change at Lille as a through ticket is £262 (outward) whereas a Paris change is £100 - £150 depending on times.

My other wish for Eurostar would be the ability to "pad" the change times.

When I last did a change in Paris (unfortunately using Paris Gare de Bercy rather than Gare de Lyon), I had bought individual tickets and I was very pleased I had allowed 3 hours as the Eurostar was quite late and the leasurely lunch had turned into a "grab something from the shop at Gare de Bercy".

 

[ivanhoe]

Get an Interrail Pass and travel
11.04 to Lille Europe
14.01 Lille Europe to Marseille
Expected arrival time in Marseille 18.45. Done it twice now starting from Loughborough at 07.50.

 

[cambsy]

When i have done London-Marseille and beyond to Nice, have gone via Paris as prefer the less stops offered this way, and its still pretty quick, and perfectly doable in a day.