…So said Jimmy Saville in the 1980’s in a huge (although obviously low budget) TV ad campaign for British Rail.
But - unlike most of Britian’s current rail services - it seems Jimmy was early, by about 25 years. Only now are we really beginning to see some big, fast shiny developments in European rail travel that realy make it the smart alternative to air.
Even luckier for those of us who’ve had it up to here with with budget airlines and airport security, we now have the man in seat 61 on our side.
Mark Smith lives in Buckinghamshire and is the former Station Manager for Charing Cross, London Bridge and Cannon Street stations in London. So lets just say he knows a thing or two about locomotion.
His site - www.seat61.com - contains absolutely everything you will ever need about rail travel anywhere in the world.
This is what he has to say about travelling from London to the South of France:
“The most relaxing way to travel from London to the south of France is to take a Eurostar to Lille and make a simple same-station change of train onto a 186 mph high-speed TGV direct to Lyon, Avignon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nice, Toulouse, Angoulême, Nîmes, Montpellier, with no need to cross Paris.
South of Lyon, the TGV runs along the Rhône Valley, crossing and re-crossing the River Rhône, flying at ground level through the hills of Provence over some breathtaking viaducts to reach Marseille.
If you’re bound for Nice, the scenery along the Cote d’Azur between Marseille & Nice is wonderful. Take a bottle of wine with you (no rules against this on the rails), put your feet up and enjoy the ride… There’s also a wide choice of departures via Paris, by Eurostar to the Gare du Nord, changing trains and stations, then taking a TGV from the Gare de Lyon to the south of France.
Some trains from Lille to Marseille and many from Paris to Marseille are now operated by comfortable and impressive double-deck ‘TGV Duplex’. All these TGVs have 1st & 2nd class, with a buffet-bar car serving drinks & snacks. TGVs are completely non-smoking.”
I’ve always found that the real problem with rail travel is it’s quite hard for the non enthusiast to understand. It’s difficult to book exactly the journey you want if you don’t know all the wrinkles. So I can’t recommend his site enough. Seat 61 will give you all the answers to just about any question you could think of about running the rails across Europe before you go to buy your ticket.
And for those of you who don’t remember the Jimmy Saville ads from the 80’s - YouTube is your friend (but why didn’t they tell him to take his coat off..?)
