roqueast
Traveller
6 comments
Posted 6 years ago
Hey everyone! Me and my friends are gonna start an interrail trip on August 15th. We have planned to stay in different hostels across the cities we are visiting, but we find it really hard to find affordable lodging for our first night, which will be spent at Paris. We arrive at Paris (Gare de Lyon) from Barcelona pretty late in the night, at around 11 pm, and we take another train the next day from Gare du Nord to Brussels, early in the morning, around 8-8:30.
We want to know if it would be safe for us to sleep in Gare de Lyon that night, or take the night RER to Gare Du Nord and sleep there, or sleep anywhere around the streets of Paris that is safe. We are fully aware of the potential risks, but we are going on a tight budget (please do not tell us to "not go Interrailing then") and would be willing to do it. I have heard from fellow travelers that they did this before in other cities and it was pretty safe to do for one night.
Any thoughts? Other ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
Hi and welcome to railcc!
I dont have any experience with sleeping at either Paris Gare de Lyon or Gare du Nord; but from my general experience of these stations I definitely wouldnt want to spend the night anywhere in the Gare du Nord area, which is among the seediest of Paris intramuros (eg actual city of Paris). However with the current high level of "Vigipirate", the French anti-terror plan there are many patrols of the armed forced at major stations so I think you would be safe - if they would let you stay in the area, that is.
At the moment there are not only many homeless people in Paris but also lots of refugees with no place to stay. Personally I would probably look for a place to stay in a small park somewhere along the Boulveards de Marechaux (the ring road on the city border just besides the Peripherique, the ring motorway around the city). There are some quite nice quarters in the east (around Bagnolet, Danube,...), maybe also around the Cite Universitaire in Montsouris in the south.
Anyway, from what I read you want to travel to Paris with the direct TGV from Barcelona and continue to Brussels with the Thalys?
Both trains require an expensive reservation (which will total about 50€ at least), so this money could be much better spent, including a good night\'s sleep and less troubles and hassle finding a place to stay overnight in Paris.
For instance, you could take the night train from Cerbere or Latour de Carol to Paris, then continue the following morning by Intercity and TER (regional) trains without extra reservations via Amiens and Lille to Brussels. The only reservation you would need would be for the night train (available from 10€); and you would also need an extra ticket from Barcelona to Cerbere or Latour de Carol, so that you only have to use one of your Interrail travel days.
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Flo
Flo