Pretty places to holiday in France by train

[TwigTheWonderKid]

Can anyone please recommend anywhere lovely to have a short family ( teenagers) holiday in France that we can do by train?

A friend of mine used to take bikes on the ferry to Brittany. Very pretty, not a long journey and by the coast.
What kind of holiday? A city break would be easy. Rural less so.

Annecy

I actually went to Provence by train. It was about 5 hours from London but was amazing.

If you like cities then Nice and Marseilles are easy on the TGV from Paris.

We travelled to Frejus in the South of France by Eurostar, change at Lille, then Cannes and a local train to the La Baume camp site with Al Fresco Holidays

Mine were 10 at the time and loved the park.

That was 2016 and it was about £900 for a basic caravan and £900 on the train. We got the train from Ebbsfleet, so had to stay over the night before.
The site was a bus ride away from Frejus, with Cannes and Nice all very accessible.

We have also done coach trips to the Camping Les Pins in Argeles? which was a lovely site too.

Colmar, definitely. It’s under 3 hours by train from Paris.

What kind of holidays do you all like? City, countryside, beach, mountains? There are a huge number of options. Eurostar + TGV allow you to travel long distances very efficiently.

Shamelessly placemarking because I have been thinking of doing this.

We did Montpellier which was nice and hot. I'd also recommend the waterpark outside Carcassonne- lots of interesting history and a man made beach and inflatables park. It's a long train but a nice journey.

Eurostar used to go to Avignon pre covid

Had a quick google of the TGV network and Vannes looks a nice place ?

Another vote for Annecy!

A trip I’m very keen to do is London > Marseilles > Cassis.

This is helpful for planning journeys www.seat61.com/
Also interested in ideas near a beach with waterpark for teens.

Is cost a barrier? If so, have a look at OuiGo TGV. They're the budget high speed rail and massively cheaper than the normal one, but you're more limited to destination.

From Paris, we've done Vannes, Lyon, Montpellier, Avignon, Nîmes, Aix-le-Bains, Annecy, Dijon, Strasbourg and Geneva for long weekends. What do you fancy? Beach, city, mountains, countryside, hot, history, food, wine?

So many possibilities... Depends what you are after

Lots of places are a convenient TGV ride from Paris or Lille - seat61 as others have said tell you everything

I would recommend Montpelier or Aix en Provence in the South (both around 3.5 hours train from Paris) and both very pretty and quite lively with enough to keep teenagers amused.

Otherwise cities such as Boredeaux, Lyon or Strasbourg are all good

In the North the town of Rouen is interesting - you can get trains there from Paris or for a more leisurely trip get the ferry Dover Calais and then train from Calais.

Also you can a train to Rouen from Dieppe - this is an easy Newhaven Dieppe ferry ride (very cheap ferry crossing for foot passengers on this route). Dieppe itself is also worth a visit.

@Baggyeye that's a brilliant link

I've done Siblu La Carabasse on the Train. Short taxi ride from Adge. Everything is in walking distance so easy to manage without a car - beach, minigolf, funfair, shops etc.

Strasbourg/Colmar. South of France can be done by avoiding Paris. Seat61 as mentioned above, but also bahn.de can be useful for sorting out potential connections. If you come from UK on Eurostar it can be simpler to change at Marne La Vallee or Lille. Strasbourg / Marseille also have direct trains from Brussels.

We did Antibes in May from Brussels. Direct train to Marseille - 5.5 hours, then 2.5 hours along the Riveria. Coming back we went via Aix en Provence. In the south of France it's worth looking at ouigo.com - very cheap tickets. I use the SNCF Connect app as that gives more options normally than the Trainline.com site. The ticket prices are the same though.

Bordeaux perhaps?

Menton. You can take the sleeper from Paris to Nice and then it's less than an hour to Menton. Very pretty and much quieter than Nice or Monaco.

We did Portsmouth to St Malo on foot. Ferry Port is 15 mins walk from town. Took a trip to Mont St Michel, booked from tourist office. Also a local bus trip to Aquarium. There is a sandy beach at St Malo plus you can walk the city walls.

Eurostar direct to Avignon in the South of France. It's a pretty town. The Eurostar used to go to Avignon once per week (Saturdays) so it gets booked up quickly.