European Railroad Discussion > After Salzburg but Before Paris

We're starting a European trip in Austria..Vienna, Salzburg, possibly Innsbruck, then heading to Paris.  What's the most scenic way to reasonably get there by train?  We were thinking to pick up the TGV somewhere, but don't have a lot of ideas of which terminus to get to and how.  Thanks.

We've just done the trip in reverse. `It's great and easy!

Start at Vienna, and the Railjet train takes you all the way through Salzburg, Innsbruck and the Tyrol to Zurich.  From there you can get a TGV through to Paris.

Vienna to Zurich takes about 7 hours, while Zurich to Paris takes about 4 hours, but you would be well advised to stop off at some places that might appeal such as Salzburg or Innsbruck.

Good websites for booking are the Austrian one - http://www.oebb.at/en/, and the "Lyria" Swiss - French service - http://www.tgv-lyria.com/en. I would strongly recommend first class if you can afford it.

Happy travelling!

The Man in Seat Sixty-One website is a great resource for European train and ferry travel.

http://www.seat61.com

Thanks spflow. Did that route take you through Strasbourg where the TGV hits 320km/hr?

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Jimbo thank you

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teebone Wrote:
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> Thanks spflow. Did that route take you through
> Strasbourg where the TGV hits 320km/hr?
>
> Posted from Android

Yes, If you take the train from Zurich to Paris, most of the trip is over the new LGV at 320kph. I have to say that  riding on high sopeed lines is bit like "after you've seen one you've seen them all". The initial experience is very impressive and not to be missed, but it does get rather boring after a while with no regular wayside stations, freight depots, junctions, or signals etc. Similarly most western European passenger trains are now either multiple units, or push pull operations with a semi-permanently coupled locomotive at one end, and have been constructed by one of three or four multinational builders. There's little variety to be found, and the days of great shunting and re-sorting of trains at stations like Basel seem to be over.

Have a good trip!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/16 05:43 by spflow.

Just an afterthought to my last post.

One effect of globalisation is to make everything the same, whether it be motor car designs, coffee shops or hotel breakfasts. Flying anywhere in the world over the range of 400 to 2000 miles is usually indistiguishable in terms of the aircraft experience, and it is often impossible from the inside to tell the difference between an Airbus (320 series) and a Boeing (737 series). The same convergence seems to be happening with trains. What a shame!

I know I am a bit late to the party here, but here is my suggestion. Be forwarned it will take two days and in part might be expensive, but from experience is well worth it. From Innsbruck, take a train to Feldkirch over St. Anton pass. Then take a train from Feldkirch to Landquart, CH. At Landquart, change to a train or trains with connection to Celerina, CH. Stay overnight here, you could go the last few miles to St. Moritz but hotels are a lot more expensive. Then take the Glacier Express from Celerina or St. Moritz to Brig, change in Brig for Geneva, in Geneva catch a train to Lyon and change to a TGV to Paris. Not really reasonable perhaps, but you would hit some of the most scenic lines in Europe. 
Cheers,
Nick

spflow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just an afterthought to my last post.
>
> One effect of globalisation is to make everything
> the same, whether it be motor car designs, coffee
> shops or hotel breakfasts. Flying anywhere in the
> world over the range of 400 to 2000 miles is
> usually indistiguishable in terms of the aircraft
> experience, and it is often impossible from the
> inside to tell the difference between an Airbus
> (320 series) and a Boeing (737 series). The same
> convergence seems to be happening with trains.
> What a shame!
I hope this doesn't mean that the ICE cars have been changed to resemble the TGV and similar trains.  It's been some years since I've been there, but my recollection is that the ICE configuration is more customer-friendly, cramming fewer passengers into each car.  The ICE model is by far my favorite train in the world.