Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF) (tel: 0892 353 535; www.sncf.com) is the national railway service, which is fast, efficient and generally reliable. A state-of-the-art high speed railway network (the TGV) spreads out from Paris to most major French cities, including Lyon and Marseille. Paris has six major stations - Gare du Nord, rue Dunkerque, 10th, Gare de l'Est, Place du 8 Mai 1945, 10th, Gare St-Lazare, place du Havre, 8th, Gare de Lyon, place Louis-Armand, 12th, Gare Montparnasse, boulevard de Vaugirard, 15th, and Gare d'Austerlitz, boulevard de l'Hôpital, 13th. Each station has cafes, restaurants, tabacs, banks, bureaux de change, ATMs and car hire available on the premises or nearby. The Gare de Lyon also has a tourist office. Information on the French rail network is available directly from SNCF or from Rail Europe in the UK (tel: 08448 484 064; www.raileurope.co.uk).

Rail services: Gare du Nord is the French terminus of the international high-speed Eurostar (tel: (03) 2855 8212 or 08705 186 186 (in the UK); www.eurostar.com) train that runs from London Saint Pancras (journey time - 2 hours 20 minutes). Thalys' services from Brussels Bruxelles-Midi also terminate here (journey time - 1 hour 30 minutes). The train station also contains Eurostar's executive lounge. Eurostar also runs from London Saint Pancras to Disneyland Paris.

The Eurotunnel shuttle service is also available for drivers (see Getting There By Road).