What are the best means of transport to come to France?
Travel by train to come and travel in France
If you are from a European country, you should travel by train to France. The French railway network is well developed and allows you to easily reach the main cities where you can take French courses.
The French national company is called SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français) which covers almost the entire network in France. Some connections are privatized (Eurostar, Thello, Thalys, Lyria, etc.).
The map of the French network reflects its history: the main connections are concentrated in Paris. There are six major stations:
- Gare du Nord
- Gare de l’Est
- Gare de Lyon (south-east and south connections)
- Gare d’Austerlitz (south-west connections)
- Gare Montparnasse (west connections)
- Gare St-Lazare (north-west connections).
The trains are either TGV (Très Grande Vitesse) which provide major connections on special tracks or TER (regional trains) for all other connections.
https://www.sncf-connect.com/aide/le-reseau-sncf-en-france-et-en-europe
Large cities have a metro, a tram and/or connections specific to their urban area, for example, the RER (Réseau Express Régional) for the Paris region or TOTOOM for the Lyon region. In Paris, the RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens) manages all intra-urban connections (metro, bus, tram).
Locally, there are also many coach or bus companies.
Fares vary depending on the means of transport used, the region or the number of passengers. In the city, a bus or tram ticket costs on average €1.5 to €2.
Traveling by plane to reach France
There are 25 international airports in France but some only have limited or temporary connections (holiday periods). The most important are:
- Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, the largest of all, served by more than 100 airlines
- Paris-Orly, specialized in medium-haul flights
- Paris-Beauvais, specialized in low-cost flights (Ryanair, Wizz Air, Easyjet, Hi Sky and others)
- Nice-Côte d’Azur, for the south-east
- Marseille-Provence, for the south
- Lyon-St-Exupéry, for the center-east (also think of Geneva for Haute-Savoie)
- Bâle-Mulhouse, for the east
- Toulouse-Blagnac, for the south-west
- Bordeaux-Mérignac, for the south-west-Atlantic
- Nantes-Atlantique, for the west
Air France is the French national airline. It serves 20 domestic destinations and 150 international destinations in 83 countries on all continents.
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