How to take a train journey from Paris to Dijon

Note that these trains depart from the Gare De Lyon in Paris.

Final Destination: Dijon, Bescancon, Mulhouse, Zurich, Chalon sur Saone, Basel

The Lyria train services are those

Some trains also call at: Montbard

There is not a departure in every hour.

There are two train services between Paris and Dijon:
(1) these TGV / Lyria trains and (2) the alternative slower service by TER train.

If you're booking in advance, the cheapest 'Prems' tickets for these TGV or Lyria trains will be cheaper than those TER trains,
However, if you will be booking last minute at the station then the alternative TER trains are likely to be (much) cheaper.

Booking these TGV trains:

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date - but bookings can open sooner when SNCF is running a promotion.

The price is dictated by demand per departure, so book ahead and try and be flexible re: your departure and arrival times, as trains leaving earlier or later may be cheaper.

SNCF Connect, the French national railways website, will indicate the cheapest price per day, click on this and you will be shown the departures on which this price is available.

Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey when taking these TGV trains

Rail Pass Users:

If you will be travelling with a valid Eurail or InterRail pass, you can avoid the reservation fees on these TGV trains, by taking the alternative TER trains

Final Destination: Lyon or Dijon

Note that these trains do NOT depart from Paris Gare De Lyon/Paris Lyon - which is the station that the TGVs to Dijon depart from.

They depart from Paris Bercy which is a different station.

So why would you spend a minimum of an additional 1hr 20 mins on a train from Paris to Dijon, than you would if you took the alternative TGV services?

The simple answer is price - if you're not booking more than 10 days ahead, meaning that you can no longer booking the discounted 'Prems' tickets on those TGVs, you'll likely save money by taking these TER trains.

If you'll be travelling with a rail pass, you'll save at least €10; you can just hop on these trains if you have a valid Eurail or InterRail pass.

Book early and save: No

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

These TER trains will be only be cheaper than the much faster TGV / Lyria trains when the discounted tickets for the TGV have sold out.
If you'll be buying tickets at the station on the day of travel, it's likely that you can save around €25 by taking these trains.

Rail pass users can avoid the reservation fees on the TGVs by taking these trains.

Note that these trains depart from a different station in Paris, so if your journey will be commencing in the area in the around Austerlitz station factor this into the end-to-end journey time

On certain days there are additional trains, which can depart from Paris Bercy and Paris Gare De Lyon.

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

The journey by these trains are priced from €10

if you will be buying tickets on the day of travel, these trains tend to be around half the price of the TER trains.

What is particularly worth being aware of when booking tickets for journeys by Ouigo train services, is that:

• Premiere/1st class tickets are not available.
• Reservations are included when booking, as they are on the TGV InOui trains, but you can opt to pay an additional €3 to select a specific seat
• You cannot book or collect tickets for Ouigo trains at stations.

The two key T&Cs trains are:

1. The tickets are not refundable.
2. Exchanges to alternative departures are possible until 1 hour before the beginning of the boarding procedure, but they incur a fee of €10 per passenger, with any price difference between the old and new ticket(s) also added to this fee.