One of the newer trains used on most TER services from/to Lyon

Lyon to Dijon by train

How to take the rail journey from Lyon to Dijon

Heading north Dijon is the closest city to Lyon, but the distance between them is more than 230 kilometers.
So if you can plan in advance and book ahead, taking a TGV can be a good option.
It'll be faster, despite spending most of its journey on conventional tracks, and can be cheaper too.
Though if you'd rather book last minute at the station, taking a slower TER train will be a money saver.

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Routes

Option 1: taking a TER train service

Travel Information

Final Destination: Dijon-Ville

All trains also call at: Macon-Ville

When taking a train from Lyon to Dijon you can choose between:

(1) These slower, TER trains.

(2) Alternative faster TGV trains, which take the high speed line from Lyon as far as Macon; and if you can book ahead tickets for those TGV trains are usually the cheapest option.

In contrast, if you want to buy tickets last minute at the station, you'll make a big saving by taking these TER trains.

Mon - Thursday = 10 x trains per day
Friday = 9 x trains
Sat/Sun = 1 x train every other hour

Tickets

Book early and save: No

Tickets will cost the same price if purchased at the station immediately before departure.

Tickets for these TER trains are sold at a flat rate, so cost the same price when purchased at the station on the day of travel, as they do online.

However, when the discounted 'Prems' tickets are still available for those TGV trains, they can be more than €10 cheaper, but when they are sold out, you can typically save a minimum of around €7 by taking these TER trains
So If you will be booking walk up tickets at the station, just prior to boarding, then the TER trains will be cheaper.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
SNCF Connect *

SNCF Connect Guide

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 on Google Play

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

On this journey

Journey Features

Not High Speed

Good to Know

Unusually for a TER service, these trains depart hourly on Mondays to Fridays, though as is typical, they're less frequent at weekends.

On Saturdays and Sundays, they only depart from Lyon in the odd hours.

Option 2: taking a TGV train service

Travel Information

Final Destination: Dijon or Metz or Luxembourg or Strasbourg

If you can book at least 10 days ahead, tickets for these TGV trains are usually the cheapest option for a Lyon to Dijon rail travel.

In contrast, if you want to buy tickets last minute at the station, you'll make a big saving by taking the alternative TER services.

4 x trains per day

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

**Online bookings open:**up to 6 months ahead of the travel date

The train service between Lyon and Dijon is split between these TGV trains and alternative TER trains

Discounted 'Prems' tickets are made available on these TGV trains and should be booked in advance online, as the cheapest prices will sell out.
Tickets for the alternative TER trains are sold at a flat rate, so cost the same price when purchased at the station on the day of travel, as they do online.

When the most heavily discounted, cheapest tickets are still available for these TGV trains, they can be more than €10 cheaper than the TER trains, but when they are sold out, taking these TGV trains is around €8 more expensive.

When booking 2nd class tickets for these InOui trains only one type of ticket will be available per departure, discounted advance '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:

  1. Up until two days prior to departure, these types of tickets can be refunded for no additional charge (big tick), but a €15 fee will be payable for making a refund in the two days prior to departure.
  2. It's also possible to exchange tickets to an alternative departure on the same journey, but you will have to pay any difference in price between the cost you paid and the cost at the time of the exchange.

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.

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 these TGV trains; and this fee can be avoided when taking the TER trains.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
SNCF Connect *

SNCF Connect Guide

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 on Google Play

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

Download the SNCF Connect App *
Rail Europe *
Save A Train *

Save A Train Guide

Happy rail

Happy rail Guide

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.

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