How to take a thrilling high speed rail journey from London to Nimes

Nîmes has two stations served by the high speed trains from Paris:

1: Nîmes Centre station, which has a very convenient city centre location.
2: Nîmes Pont Du Gard is located 14 km outside the city, as it is positioned on the new extension of the high-speed line, which is to the south of Nimes.
The best option for making a journey by public transport from Nimes Pont Du Gard to the city centre is to take one of the local TER trains, which call at both stations.
However, the trains from Paris Gare De Lyon to Nimes Pont Du Gard typically have connection times of around 45 mins into those trains to Nimes city centre.

Heading to Nîmes Centre station

If you will travelling by train from London to Nîmes city centre, the end-to-end journey will be much easier if you arrive at Nîmes Centre station.
But between around 09:45 (which is too soon for a connection from London) and around 16:55, all of the TGV InOui services from Paris to Montpellier will now arrive at Nîmes Pont Du Gard.

Though at around 14:40 a low-cost more basic Ouigo service departs from the Gare De Lyon to Nîmes Centre - see option 2.

So the journey options, that involve taking a TGV InOui service that arrives in Nîmes Centre, are typically those which involve departing London at around:

• 12:30 and 14:30 daily
• and at around 13:30 on Saturday
• and at around 15:30 on Sunday.

Departing London at 12:30 or 13:30 is recommended, because you won't then be depending on making the final connection of the day on to Nîmes.

Though when looking up this journey the ticket agents tend to include the journey options which call arrive at the edge of town station, Nîmes Pont Du Gard, even when Nîmes Centre has been specifically selected as the destination station.

At St Pancras:

Eurostar is currently suggesting that Standard Class And Standard Premier ticket holders should be at the Eurostar departure area in St Pancras International 90 mins before departure; and that Business Premier ticket holders should be there 45-60mins prior to departure.

The departure gates will close 30 mins prior to departure for Standard Class And Standard Premier ticket holders; and 15 mins prior to departure for Business Premier ticket holders.

Our guide to taking a Eurostar from London is here.

Note that London is in a different time zone to mainland Europe, it is one hour behind; hence what can seem like a discrepancy between the journey time and the interval between the departure and arrival times.

Departing from the Gare De Lyon

The Eurostar will arrive in Paris at the Gare Du Nord, but the TGV to Nîmes Centre station will depart from the Gare De Lyon.
This guide explains how to make the transfer between the two stations by RER train.

What's good to know is that the journey from stepping off the Eurostar to being on the concourse at Gare De Lyon will typically take 25-30min - depending on how long you will have to wait for an RER train.

Though the end-to-end journey options, with a total end-to-end travel time of around 6hr 40mins, will allow less than an hour between arrival at the Gare Du Nord and the departure on from the Gare De Lyon.

Something else to watch out for is that on departure from Paris, some of the trains heading to Nîmes Centre are typically joined to another train, which will be heading to Nîmes Pont Du Gard.
Hence a doubling of bookable journey options with the same departure time from London, so take care that you're booking the journey option that's heading to Nîmes Centre.

When looking up this journey the ticket agents tend to include the journey options that arrive at the edge of town station, Nîmes Pont Du Gard, even when Nîmes Centre has been specifically selected as the destination station.

Something else to watch out for is that on departure from Paris, some of the trains heading to Nîmes Centre are typically joined to another train, which will be heading to Nîmes Pont Du Gard.
Hence a doubling of bookable journey options with the same departure time from London, so take care that you're booking the journey option that's heading to Nîmes Centre.

Book Early And Save: Yes

Online bookings open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date
This booking period tends to be shorter when looking up journeys between mid August and mid October.

Seat reservations are automatically included when booking tickets for both trains.

Your ticket will not include the RER train across Paris from the Gare Du Nord to the Gare De Lyon.

The very cheapest tickets tend to sell out particularly quickly on this route; they're more likely to be available if you can travel on a Tuesday - Thursday, or are happy to set off from London early in the morning.

When booking on Eurostar it only gives the option to enter Nimes as a destination, you cannot look up a journey to either of the specific stations in the city.
Look out for the fact that its search results also won't distinguish between the stations.

Eurostar train's general ticket terms:

The only ticket type are the Flexible tickets, but it is the class of service you opt to travel by, which impacts on the terms and conditions of travel.

*Exchanges

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure to the same destination up to one hour* before departure time.

• If the cost of your new ticket is more than the cost of your original ticket, you will be required to pay the difference;
• If the cost of your new ticket is less than the cost of your original ticket, you will not receive a refund of the difference.

Book to travel in Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure up until the end of the previous day, without having to pay any price differences on any other charges.

The Eurostar ticket terms summary is here

Refunds

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:

• Up to seven days or more before the date of departure you will need to pay a fee of £25 per person for a one-way / single ticket and £50 per person for a two-way / return ticket - So you will only receive any sum you paid in excess of these sums.
• Less than seven days before the date of departure, tickets are non-refundable - Also applies if you exchanged a ticket to an alternative departure, under seven days ahead.

Book to travel in Premier class:
Up until the end of the day before departure date, tickets can be refunded at no additional cost

Seat Reservations on the Eurostar

Reservations are mandatory so seats are assigned when booking - But after a booking has been completed, you use the ‘Manage Your Booking’ facility, which can be easily found on the Eurostar website and select specific seats within the travel class you have chosen.

You will need to enter a Booking Reference number - but other booking agents such as Trainline, Rail Europe, SNCF Connect, B-Europe and NS International, will also include this number on the communication sent to you.

General ticket terms for TGV InOui trains

The terms on SNCF Connect state:
'Tickets can only be exchanged (adjustment to the current fare) and refunded prior to departure: 40% of the price 6 days prior to departure (€15 max fee). From 30 minutes prior to departure, tickets can be exchanged up to two times (for the same day and the same journey), and are non-refundable after the first exchange'.
Which could be clearer, but it seems as though the three key things to be aware of are:

1. Exchanges and refunds are free up to 7 days before departure.
2. If you are travelling on a TGV InOui train and want to amend your booking in the 6 days before departure, you must pay an amendment fee of €19 per person per person for an exchange or a refund.
3. In the 30 minutes before departure, refunds cannot be requested and exchanges are only allowed for the same journey later that day. The same amendment fees apply to the exchange.

Making the connection in Paris:

There is relatively new E.U. legislation which protects travellers against financial loss in the event of missed connections due to train delays, but it only applies to 'through tickets'.
The Eurostar terms and conditions specifically state that when booking journeys which combine Eurostar + Eurostar Thalys trains 'through tickets' will be issued.
'However, 'for all other journeys that combine a Eurostar Service and a service provided by another carrier (such as the TGV on from Paris) including when purchased in a single commercial transaction, those tickets will be separate contracts and issues regarding delays, missed connections, cancellations, compensation, and the management of aftersales will be handled accordingly'.

But SNCF, which operates the train on to Nimes has signed up to Agreement on Journey Continuation (AJC) policy for when a traveller holds separate transport 'contracts' for an end-to-end journey involving more than one train.
So this agreement applies both when 'a bundle' of tickets / contracts is issued as the result of a single transaction - and if travellers have bought several different tickets for their journey, even from different sales channels/ticket providers.
As long as the passenger had planned enough connecting time to change trains (called “reasonable connecting time”), the AJC will apply.

So in usual* circumstances, if a delay to a Eurostar has caused a booked connection on to Nimes to be missed, replacement tickets/reservations should be issued at the Gare De Lyon.
*= But that new E.U legislation specifically states that in exceptional circumstances, the train operators do not need to issue replacement tickets - and the terms and conditions on the SNCF Connect website reiterate this.
These exceptional circumstances specifically stated in Regulation (EU) 2021/782 of the European Parliament include:

• extraordinary circumstances not connected with the operation of the railway, such as extreme weather conditions, major natural disasters or major public health crises...
• ...the behaviour of a third party... such as persons on the track, cable theft, on-board emergencies, law enforcement activities or sabotage.

Using Rail Passes:

Rail pass users can now pay reservation fees to travel on Eurostar trains, in a similar manner to other international European high speed trains.

The new rail pass reservation fees are similar to the cheapest single journey ticket prices, but as those cheapest tickets can sell out quickly, it's likely that the rail pass reservation fees will save money.

You can purchase these online on B-Europe.
Booking in advance is recommended as it's not unknown for rail pass reservations on specific Eurostar services to sell out weeks in advance, there is evidently limited availability per departure.

The first journey option of the day which involves taking a TGV InOui train on from Paris, typically involves departing from London at around 12:30 and arriving in Nîmes Centre station at around 20:10.
But this journey option typically involves departing from London at around 09:30 with an arrival into Nîmes Centre two hours sooner at around 17:45.
Though it's worth taking a look at the Train Guide for the Ouigo service, as it has a more basic on board ambience, including no first class.

At St Pancras:

Eurostar is currently suggesting that Standard Class And Standard Premier ticket holders should be at the Eurostar departure area in St Pancras International 90 mins before departure; and that Business Premier ticket holders should be there 45-60mins prior to departure.

The departure gates will close 30 mins prior to departure for Standard Class And Standard Premier ticket holders; and 15 mins prior to departure for Business Premier ticket holders.

Our guide to taking a Eurostar from London is here.

Note that London is in a different time zone to mainland Europe, it is one hour behind; hence what can seem like a discrepancy between the journey time and the interval between the departure and arrival times.

Departing from the Gare De Lyon

The Eurostar will arrive in Paris at the Gare Du Nord, but the TGV to Nîmes Centre station will depart from the Gare De Lyon.

This guide explains how to make the transfer between the two stations by RER train.
What's good to know is that the journey from stepping off the Eurostar to being on the concourse at Gare De Lyon will typically take 25-30min - depending on how long you will have to wait for an RER train.

Though this end-to-end journey option allows around an easy 1hr 55min between arrival at the Gare Du Nord and the departure on from the Gare De Lyon.

There are different ticket types of available, which reflect the various options for how to travel on the Ouigo trains.
Click on the Ouigo Train Guide for further info re: the travel experiences.

Eurail and InterRail passes are not valid on Ouigo trains.

Book Early And Save: Yes

Online bookings open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date
This booking period tends to be shorter when looking up journeys between mid August and mid October.

Seat reservations are automatically included when booking tickets for both trains.

Your ticket will not include the RER train across Paris.

Eurostar does not sell tickets for the journey options which involve taking a Ouigo train on from Paris.

Eurostar train's general ticket terms:

The only ticket type are the Flexible tickets, but it is the class of service you opt to travel by, which impacts on the terms and conditions of travel.

*Exchanges

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure to the same destination up to one hour* before departure time.

• If the cost of your new ticket is more than the cost of your original ticket, you will be required to pay the difference;
• If the cost of your new ticket is less than the cost of your original ticket, you will not receive a refund of the difference.

Book to travel in Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure up until the end of the previous day, without having to pay any price differences on any other charges.

The Eurostar ticket terms summary is here

Refunds

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:

• Up to seven days or more before the date of departure you will need to pay a fee of £25 per person for a one-way / single ticket and £50 per person for a two-way / return ticket - So you will only receive any sum you paid in excess of these sums.
• Less than seven days before the date of departure, tickets are non-refundable - Also applies if you exchanged a ticket to an alternative departure, under seven days ahead.

Book to travel in Premier class:
Up until the end of the day before departure date, tickets can be refunded at no additional cost

Seat Reservations on the Eurostar

Reservations are mandatory so seats are assigned when booking - But after a booking has been completed, you use the ‘Manage Your Booking’ facility, which can be easily found on the Eurostar website and select specific seats within the travel class you have chosen.

You will need to enter a Booking Reference number - but other booking agents such as Trainline, Rail Europe, SNCF Connect, B-Europe and NS International, will also include this number on the communication sent to you.

General ticket terms for Ouigo trains

The terms on SNCF Connect state:
'Ticket not refundable.
Exchange possible under conditions for the same trip with a 10€ per passenger fee until 1 hour before the beginning of embarkment. Potential price difference between old and new ticket to be added to this fee'.

So if you're considering whether to book a 2nd class ticket on a TGV InOui service, or to save money by taking a Ouigo instead, something to factor into the decision is that if you subsequently need to abandon your trip, a ticket for the InOui service can be refunded, but a ticket for a Ouigo service can't!

Making the connection in Paris:

Both SNCF and Eurostar are members of The Railteam Alliance which offers a Hop on the next available train (HOTNAT) policy.
But SNCF excludes Ouigo services from Railteam, so SMTJ's understanding is that tickets for the Ouigo will need to be repurchased, if the Eurostar arrives in Paris too late to make the booked connection.

Making the connection between the Eurostar from London and the TGV to Nîmes Centre station at Lille Europe has the major advantage of avoiding the need to transfer between stations in Paris.

You'll have to make your own way across the French capital if you choose the alternative London to Nîmes train journey option via the French capital.

This guide explains how to make the connection in Lille.

This routing to Nîmes Centre station - and with only one connection in Lille, is now only typically available when departing London at around 13:00 daily
The connecting between trains in Lille will be more than 1hr 20mins, which allows for 75 minutes of contingency time in the unlikely event of a delay to the Eurostar.
The connecting between trains in Lille will be more than 1hr 20mins, which allows for 75 minutes of contingency time in the unlikely event of a delay to the Eurostar.

Though on Monday to Saturday the Eurostar, which typically departs at around 07:00, connects in Lille to TGV train which will typically arrive into Nîmes Pont Du Gard station, which is on the southern edge of the city, at around 15:50.

At St Pancras:

Eurostar is currently suggesting that Standard Class And Standard Premier ticket holders should be at the Eurostar departure area in St Pancras International 90 mins before departure; and that Business Premier ticket holders should be there 45-60mins prior to departure.

The departure gates will close 30 mins prior to departure for Standard Class And Standard Premier ticket holders; and 15 mins prior to departure for Business Premier ticket holders.

Our guide to taking a Eurostar from London is here.

Note that London is in a different time zone to mainland Europe, it is one hour behind; hence what can seem like a discrepancy between the journey time and the interval between the departure and arrival times.

The search results for the London to Nimes journeys on these ticket agents, combine this journey via Lille with the alternative connections via Paris.

Book Early And Save: Yes

Online bookings open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date
This booking period tends to be shorter when looking up journeys between mid August and mid October.

Seat reservations are automatically included when booking tickets for both trains.

Eurostar train's general ticket terms:

The only ticket type are the Flexible tickets, but it is the class of service you opt to travel by, which impacts on the terms and conditions of travel.

*Exchanges

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure to the same destination up to one hour* before departure time.

• If the cost of your new ticket is more than the cost of your original ticket, you will be required to pay the difference;
• If the cost of your new ticket is less than the cost of your original ticket, you will not receive a refund of the difference.

Book to travel in Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure up until the end of the previous day, without having to pay any price differences on any other charges.

The Eurostar ticket terms summary is here

Refunds

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:

• Up to seven days or more before the date of departure you will need to pay a fee of £25 per person for a one-way / single ticket and £50 per person for a two-way / return ticket - So you will only receive any sum you paid in excess of these sums.
• Less than seven days before the date of departure, tickets are non-refundable - Also applies if you exchanged a ticket to an alternative departure, under seven days ahead.

Book to travel in Premier class:
Up until the end of the day before departure date, tickets can be refunded at no additional cost

Seat Reservations on the Eurostar

Reservations are mandatory so seats are assigned when booking - But after a booking has been completed, you use the ‘Manage Your Booking’ facility, which can be easily found on the Eurostar website and select specific seats within the travel class you have chosen.

You will need to enter a Booking Reference number - but other booking agents such as Trainline, Rail Europe, SNCF Connect, B-Europe and NS International, will also include this number on the communication sent to you.
General ticket terms for TGV InOui trains

The terms on SNCF Connect state:
'Tickets can only be exchanged (adjustment to the current fare) and refunded prior to departure: 40% of the price 6 days prior to departure (€15 max fee). From 30 minutes prior to departure, tickets can be exchanged up to two times (for the same day and the same journey), and are non-refundable after the first exchange'.
Which could be clearer, but it seems as though the three key things to be aware of are:

1. Exchanges and refunds are free up to 7 days before departure.
2. If you are travelling on a TGV InOui train and want to amend your booking in the 6 days before departure, you must pay an amendment fee of €19 per person per person for an exchange or a refund.
3. In the 30 minutes before departure, refunds cannot be requested and exchanges are only allowed for the same journey later that day. The same amendment fees apply to the exchange.

Making the connection in Lille:

There is relatively new E.U. legislation which protects travellers against financial loss in the event of missed connections due to train delays, but it only applies to 'through tickets'.
The Eurostar terms and conditions specifically state that when booking journeys which combine Eurostar + Eurostar Thalys trains 'through tickets' will be issued.
'However, 'for all other journeys that combine a Eurostar Service and a service provided by another carrier (such as the TGV on from Lille) including when purchased in a single commercial transaction, those tickets will be separate contracts and issues regarding delays, missed connections, cancellations, compensation, and the management of aftersales will be handled accordingly'.

But SNCF, which operates the train on to Nimes, has signed up to Agreement on Journey Continuation (AJC) policy for when a traveller holds separate transport 'contracts' for an end-to-end journey involving more than one train.
So this agreement applies both when 'a bundle' of tickets / contracts is issued as the result of a single transaction - and if travellers have bought several different tickets for their journey, even from different sales channels/ticket providers.
As long as the passenger had planned enough connecting time to change trains (called “reasonable connecting time”), the AJC will apply.

So in usual* circumstances, if a delay to a Eurostar has caused a booked connection on to Nimes to be missed, replacement tickets/reservations will be issued in Lille Europe.
*= But that new E.U legislation specifically states that in exceptional circumstances, the train operators do not need to issue replacement tickets - and the terms and conditions on the SNCF Connect website reiterate this.
These exceptional circumstances specifically stated in Regulation (EU) 2021/782 of the European Parliament include:

• extraordinary circumstances not connected with the operation of the railway, such as extreme weather conditions, major natural disasters or major public health crises...
• ...the behaviour of a third party... such as persons on the track, cable theft, on-board emergencies, law enforcement activities or sabotage.

Using Rail Passes on Eurostar:

Rail pass users can now pay reservation fees to travel on Eurostar trains, in a similar manner to other international European high speed trains.

The new rail pass reservation fees are similar to the cheapest single journey ticket prices, but as those cheapest tickets can sell out quickly, it's likely that the rail pass reservation fees will save money.

You can purchase these online with no booking fees on B-Europe
Booking in advance is recommended as it's not unknown for rail pass reservations on specific Eurostar services to sell weeks in advance, there is evidently limited availability per departure.

If you are a UK resident, your rail pass + reservation is only valid if you take a train from the UK on the first day that your pass is valid for and return to the UK on the final day that you will be using a pass.