Paris Olympics 2024 before/after trip? Sleeper train?

[redfacebigdisgrace]

Hi
We have tickets to the Olympics in Paris next summer. I was thinking that it would be nice to tag on some kind of holiday afterwards or before. We’ve three days of events in Paris late July.

I’ve always wanted to do a sleeper train. Just wondering if anyone had any ideas? We will be travelling with our three boys who will be 17,19,22. Open minded on city/outdoors/beach - just fancy a bit of an adventure! Happy to rough it too.

Thanks !

Just bumping this to see if anyone had any ideas? I was thinking possibly train to south of France. But also open to other ideas! Thanks.

Seat61.com is your friend. Maybe see which sleeper train you like the look of and base your trip around that.
Both the ones I’ve been on have been discontinued.

Thanks! That’s a very cool site. I’ve always fancied interrailing and have never been on a sleeper train.

It’s addictive 😁.
We’re getting the train from Paris to Marseilles then east to a small holiday town tomorrow.
I’d recommend going on a TGV. The speed is amazing.

@MinnieMountain
Ooh whereabouts? I’m struggling to decide on towns in the south. Want enough for older teens but character for me and DH!

Saint Cyr Sur Mere. There’s a water park there (which sadly won’t be open when we go).

If you decide on a shorter trip, you could get to Nantes by TGV in a couple of hours, and there's loads to see there - including mad mechanical animals, art trails and festivals. And it's not far from the coast if you want to visit!

There's a sleeper train from Paris to Nice, which also stops at Marseille, Cannes and Antibes. It's cheap and cheerful and tickets sell out really fast- SNCF bookings for certain seasons tend to open on particular days, so the trick is to be calling customer services to book on That Particular Day. There's a Facebook group- Interrail and Eurrail Travellers- with some very knowledgeable people on- or you can call SNCF customer services for the lowdown- there is an option to talk to an English speaker.

There is also a sleeper train to I think Latour de Carol on the Spanish border.

Lots of new sleeper routes are starting up again- I've rather lost track of where and when, but second the Man in Seat 61 as the oracle on these things.

Also, regarding tickets: France has airline- style ticketing on the Grandes Lignes, just like we do, meaning that TGVs will probably be €€€€ over that period- probably even the cheaper Ouigo ones. You might find a 4 day Interrail pass to be better value at 200 odd quid (less for under 26s), but beware that you still have to pay supplements on Eurostars (30€pp), TGVs (10-20€pp), and the night train (20€pp for the Paris- Nice one). And that these "pass holder places" also sell out quite fast, especially for Eurostar!

I will also second Nantes though- great city. To me it was quite reminiscent of Bristol in size, vibe etc.

Oh- one last thing- there are various railcards you can get in France that make it significantly cheaper to travel with a group/ family, but I'll hold my hands up here and admit I've never got to the bottom of how they work!!

Thanks so much for all that info. I’m now thinking of somewhere where we can do boat trips, pretty French town/village, bit of razzmatazz for the boys (21,18,16) who
like a party! Any ideas? Thanks.