Marseille to Rennes by train

How to take the rail journey from Marseilles to Rennes

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Routes

From Marseille-Saint-Charles to Rennes

Travel Information

Final Destination: Rennes

These trains will also call at: Massy TGV and Le Mans

These trains usually depart from Marseille at:

  • 08:31 on Saturday and Sunday only
  • 14:36 daily

If the timings of these direct trains don't suit, there are multiple other daily journey options, but they all involve taking a train from Marseille to the Gare De Lyon, and then another TGV train from the Gare Montparnasse to Nantes.

The optimum route between the two Paris rail terminals is to Metro Line 14 (direction Olympiades) to Bercy and then transfer there to Metro line 6 (direction Charles de Gaulle Etoile).

There are several options for making the transfer from Gare De Lyon to Montparnasse, but this option has 3 advantages:

  • Line 14 has step free access at Gare De Lyon;
  • The interchange at Bercy is comparatively straightforward;
  • At Montparnasse, line 6 is located closest to the exit from the Metro station.

Monday to Friday: 1 x train per day
Sat/Sun: 2 x trains per day

Tickets

These trains usually depart from Marseille at:
08:36 on Saturdays and Sunday and 14:36 daily, so target these departure times when looking up this journey.

Book early and save: Yes

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

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:

  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.

Though if you are happy to travel via Paris and make the connection between the Gare De Lyon and the Gare Montparnasse, you can usually save money by taking that route.
So if you want to see those alternative options, leave the 'Direct Trains' box un-ticked.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
Trainline *

Trainline Guide

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

High Speed (partial journey)

Good to Know

The afternoon departure will be joined to another train heading to Nantes for the journey between Marseille and Le Mans.
Check the coach number on your ticket, your seat will be located in a coach that's heading to Rennes.

So when taking the afternoon train - at Marseille St Charles you will also on the departure screens a train heading to Nantes, leaving at the same time and departing from the same voie/track as this train heading for Rennes

The train will spend 90% of the journey on high speed lines - the only significant part of the journey that isn't high speed is the comparatively slow passage through the suburbs to the south of Paris.

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