What you need to know about taking a bike on trains to the Grand-Est region of France, which includes the Alsace and Champagne areas.
As the name suggests, Grand-Est is a large region in the east of France. It takes in the Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine areas. It takes in some of France's most famous wine routes but also, strangely, some of the less-cycled routes. Traditionally visiting cyclists have headed to Bordeaux, Burgundy or the Loire instead of Alsace and Champagne, but this is slowly starting to change.
So how do you access all this with your bike on a train from the ferry port or from Paris? We're glad you asked.
Grand-Est train map
You can click here or on the map for a higher quality downloadable PDF.
Local TER trains: The TER network in this region is called "TER Fluo".
Fully assembled bikes are allowed on all TER trains EXCEPT between Strasbourg, Mulhouse and Basel Monday-Friday during peak hours 6am-8.30am and 4pm-6.30pm.
TERs on the Paris-Troyes-Mulhouse line and the Paris-Châlons en Champagne-Strasbourg line require bicycle reservations, which are €3 per bike and you should buy these in advance using this website, which unfortunately at the time of writing required registration.
TGV/fast trains: See this page for more on TGV fast train services. Paris-Strasbourg TGV INOUI trains take bikes but only in second class and spaces are limited. You should book as far ahead as you can. The TGV INOUIs go from the Paris Est station to Strasbourg in 1hr 45 to 2 hours. You need to book the bike space at the time of buying your ticket by adding the bike option on the SNCF website.
If you can't find a bike space on your chosen day, you can also go by local TER train but this takes 4h 45min to 5 hours. If you choose to go via TER, it can help to break the journey down into stages to check tickets – this way you eliminate the TGVs from the search. Try the following (or in reverse if travelling from Strasbourg to Paris): Paris-Dole and then Dole-Strasbourg. Or Paris-Troyes-Mulhouse and then Strasbourg.
In short, if you have problems finding fast trains that take bikes, you should break your journey down into shorter, local hops. You should search TER legs separately on the TER website or via the SNCF booking system. It may just throw up the TGV/non-bike lines if you search, for example, try Colmar-Mulhouse-Belfort-Paris or Colmar-Strasbourg-Paris (or in reverse if going to Colmar). From Colmar you can also go Mulhouse-Belfort-Paris. These are all local TER services that take bikes. Again, it may be easier to research and book individual legs separately as online systems can't always handle so many changes. Use the 'via' tool or just search each 'change' separately. Again, check above to make sure your line does not need a bike reservation.
Trailers and tandems are not officially accepted, but that does not mean you won't be able to get them on if you are lucky/polite. Collapse trailers if you can and travel outside peak hours if you need to try.
More general bike-train guidance for France here + links to train travel in other regions.
Accommodation, bike hire and tours in Alsace and Grand-Est
If taking your own bike is just too much hassle, you can use our bespoke bike hire service to find bike hire in the region. Bike hire (especially road bikes) can be hard to find. Consider hiring in Paris if you are passing through and taking the bikes with you on the train.
You can find accommodation by searching here.
You can search self-guided and guided rides here. Let me know via here if you need help.
