When travelling between most cities by train there is only one logical option, though on other journeys there is a choice between different trains or alternative routes. If different options are available you can use the info to decide which is best for you.
5hr (approx)
Daily
To Montpellier-St Roch:
2 x trains per day
Is the journey from Lille to Montpellier direct?
Yes, there is no need to make a connection when taking this route.
Is the journey scenic?
Not particularly, though more than 90% of the journey is on a high speed line
When is the usual approximate earliest arrival at Montpellier-St Roch from Lille-Europe on this journey option?
Around 14:00 daily
Source = European Rail Timetable
How easy it to travel on from the the station in Montpellier?
Montpellier-St Roch is conveniently located in the city centre.
When is the usual approximate latest departure from Lille-Europe to Montpellier TGV on this journey option
Before 17:05 daily
Source = European Rail Timetable
How easy is it to get to the station in Lille?
Lille Europe station is within a 15 min walk from the heart of the city and it also served by both lines of the Lille Metro.
See the Station Guide above for more info, plus easy access to multiple options for booking somewhere to stay in its neighborhood.
Are tickets cheaper if booked in advance for these Lille to Montpellier trains?
Yes, and they can be purchased from a choice of booking agents - see below.
Click on the 'Good to know info' to access a guide to how rail tickets are managed in France, plus step-by-step guides on how to make a booking.
How soon ahead of travel are tickets typically placed on sale for these Lille to Montpellier trains?
Up to 4 months in advance, but it varies according to when / if SNCF has a promotion in place; see the Ticket Information.
What are the child ticket terms for these Lille to Montpellier trains?
The adult rate is charged for all travellers aged 12 and over.
Children aged 4-11 pay half fare
Does the ticket for these Lille to Montpellier trains include assigned seats?
Yes - See the Train Guide in the Journey Information for insights on how to board the train.
Do rail pass users need to book reservations for these Lille to Montpellier trains?
Yes - See the rail pass guide for France for info on the multiple booking options.
Is catering available on the Lille to Montpellier trains on this journey option?
Yes, there is a bar/bistro car.
See the Train Guide in the Journey Information.
What else is good to know about French rail travel?
Check out the guide to travelling by train in France.
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on SNCF Connect ticket sales. SNCF Connect doesn't charge booking fees and is the online booking service of the national rail operator in France. It also sells tickets for direct high speed trains between France and Belgium, Germany, Barcelona, London, Switzerland and The Netherlands.
SNCF is the national rail operator in France and not so long ago it recently simplified both the range of tickets and the term and conditions of using them.
Therefore the cheapest tickets also become more flexible too.
Other improvements included a simple integration of travelling with bicycles and rail pass users being able to book reservations for national journeys, without paying booking fees.
And it also recently launched SNCF Connect as replacement for its Oui.SNCF booking service.
You can set up a low price alert to let you know when the cheapest price is available for a future journey.
Something else to look out for is that simplest way of travelling with tickets is to use the SNCF Connect App, as booked tickets can therefore be stored on your mobile device, which can then be shown to the train conductors as proof of purchase.
SNCF Connect in the App (Apple) store
SNCF also operates RailEurope, which is in effect a dedicated online booking service for making bookings from outside of Europe.
If you reside outside of Europe you may discover that SNCF Connect rejects phone numbers or card numbers, but RailEurope won't do so.
Though RailEurope will add booking fees when making a purchase
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Trainline ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option for: Comparing different train services; Booking international journeys with connections; Travelling between the UK to destinations beyond Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris - and for international travellers who don't reside in western Europe.
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Rail Europe ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option when booking international journeys with connections and for travellers who don't reside in western Europe. Use the easy options on its home page if you will be booking tickets with a railcard: Or purchasing rail pass reservations.
Omio is an online ticket agency which offers tickets for rail journeys in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain.
The three key advantages of using Omio are
The disadvantage of booking with Omio is that it often adds a booking fee to the final price; therefore when it does so without offering a price advantage, SMTJ doesn't tend to offer Omio as a booking option.
Happy Rail is a Netherlands rail ticket agency which sells tickets for both national and international journeys within a range of countries including Belgium France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.
HappyRail doesn't charge booking fees in the conventional sense, but if you're not Dutch you can expect to pay additional transaction fees, which will be added to the total cost.
That's because the most common form of online payment used in The Netherlands is 'iDEAL' and HappyRail doesn't charge a transaction fee for 'iDEAL' payments, but only Dutch residents can sign up to 'iDEAL'.
Other forms of payment include Visa debit cards will incur a fee.
DB is the national railway operator in Germany, so its website can be used for booking journeys by German express trains; the ICE and IC trains and it doesn't charge booking fees.
It also sells tickets for journeys by direct trains on all international routes from Germany regardless of whether DB is operating the train service.
It also sells an extensive range of end-to-end journeys which involve making connections both within Germany and in neighboring countries, but journeys between Germany and Britain cannot be booked on DB.
On journeys within Germany and on most international journeys from and to Germany on trains operated by DB:
When booking both types of the discounted 'Sparpreis' tickets seat reservations are an optional extra, so need to be added when booking if you want an assigned seat(s).
Final Destination: Montpellier or (Perpignan)
On the current timetable the trains which typically depart daily at 11:03 and on Thursday, Friday and Sunday at 16:02 arrive at Montpellier Sud-de-France station and not at the main city center station, Montpellier-St Roch; though if you click on the station guide you can discover how to travel from Sud-de-France to St-Roch and on to the city center.
All trains also call at: Valence TGV and Nimes
Take care when comparing the journey by these TGV InOui services, with travelling by the lower cost, but more basic, Ouigo services.
The Ouigo services don't depart from a station in Lille, as their departure point is in Tourcoing, which is an entirely separate town.
It is a 24 stop ride on the Lille Metro from Grand Palais in central Lille to Sebastapol, which is the the closest Metro stop to the main rail station in Tourcoing.
Aside from the detour to serve Lyon station, these trains spend the part of the journey between Lille and Nimes travelling on a high speed line, but it is primarily the speed that gives this journey its wow factor.
It's not a particularly scenic train ride, so having something to watch or read with you is recommended.
These TGV InOui trains from Lille to the main city center station, Montpellier St. Roch, are usually scheduled to depart from Lille Europe daily at 09:03 and 17:03, so target these departure times when looking up this journey.
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings usually open: up to 4 months ahead of the travel date - see the ticket guide for more info.
When booking 2nd class tickets only one type of ticket will be available per departure, 'Seconde' tickets; though the price of Seconde tickets are also typically cheaper when they are first placed on sale.
When booking 1st class tickets there will be a choice of Premiere tickets and Flex tickets.
The key T&Cs of booking Seconde/2nd class, or Premiere/1st class tickets are:
Though if you book Flex tickets for travel in 1st class, the key T&Cs are that tickets can be exchanged and refunded free of charge up to 30 minutes after departure, so if you get to the station just too late to miss the train you were originally booked on to, you won't lose out financially.
Seat reservations:
Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey, but rail pass users will need to be pay a reservation fee prior to boarding.
5hr 30min - 6hr 30min
Daily
up to 3 x connections per day
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on SNCF Connect ticket sales. SNCF Connect doesn't charge booking fees and is the online booking service of the national rail operator in France. It also sells tickets for direct high speed trains between France and Belgium, Germany, Barcelona, London, Switzerland and The Netherlands.
SNCF is the national rail operator in France and not so long ago it recently simplified both the range of tickets and the term and conditions of using them.
Therefore the cheapest tickets also become more flexible too.
Other improvements included a simple integration of travelling with bicycles and rail pass users being able to book reservations for national journeys, without paying booking fees.
And it also recently launched SNCF Connect as replacement for its Oui.SNCF booking service.
You can set up a low price alert to let you know when the cheapest price is available for a future journey.
Something else to look out for is that simplest way of travelling with tickets is to use the SNCF Connect App, as booked tickets can therefore be stored on your mobile device, which can then be shown to the train conductors as proof of purchase.
SNCF Connect in the App (Apple) store
SNCF also operates RailEurope, which is in effect a dedicated online booking service for making bookings from outside of Europe.
If you reside outside of Europe you may discover that SNCF Connect rejects phone numbers or card numbers, but RailEurope won't do so.
Though RailEurope will add booking fees when making a purchase
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Trainline ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option for: Comparing different train services; Booking international journeys with connections; Travelling between the UK to destinations beyond Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris - and for international travellers who don't reside in western Europe.
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Rail Europe ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option when booking international journeys with connections and for travellers who don't reside in western Europe. Use the easy options on its home page if you will be booking tickets with a railcard: Or purchasing rail pass reservations.
Omio is an online ticket agency which offers tickets for rail journeys in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain.
The three key advantages of using Omio are
The disadvantage of booking with Omio is that it often adds a booking fee to the final price; therefore when it does so without offering a price advantage, SMTJ doesn't tend to offer Omio as a booking option.
The Lille to Montpellier journey via Paris is more frequent than the direct trains, so it can become the logical choice if you need to depart Lille at a time when no direct trains will be available for more than two hours.
Though this via Paris option is inevitably a slower end-to-end journey - and it involves having to make the transfer across the French capital from the Gare Du Nord to the Gare De Lyon.
Most of the TGV InOui services from Lille to Paris depart from Lille-Flandres station, but there are typically additional services from Lille-Europe station at around these times:
There are additional journey options via Paris arrive at Montpellier Sud-de-France station which has an out of town location.
For most of the train journey from Paris to Montpellier, the part of the trip between Paris and Nimes, you should be travelling at more than 270 km/h on the high speed lines.
This is not an outstandingly scenic journey, but the views from the windows pick up to the north of Nimes, as the train travels through Provence.
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings usually open: up to 4 months ahead of the travel date - see the ticket guide for more info.
When booking 2nd class tickets only one type of ticket will be available per departure, discounted 'Prems' tickets or 'Seconde' tickets; though the price of Seconde tickets are also typically cheaper when they are first placed on sale.
When booking 1st class tickets there will be a choice of Premiere tickets and Business Premiere tickets.
The two key T&Cs of booking Prems, Seconde, or Premiere tickets are:
Though if you book Business Premiere tickets, the key T&Cs are that tickets can be exchanged and refunded free of charge up to 30 minutes after departure, so if you get to the station just too late to miss the train you were originally booked on to, you won't lose out financially.
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