Toulouse to Paris in three hours by TGV

Theatre du Capitole, Toulouse

After years of planning and negotiation, the French government has finally approved the extension of the high speed TGV service between Toulouse, Bordeaux and Paris. This will reduce the journey time between Toulouse and Paris significantly, putting Toulouse within three hours of the capital.

The plan, as it stands at the moment, is for the high speed line to be operational by 2020 with the ultimate aim of linking the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean with a high speed rail system and also to create a high speed line to Madrid and Lisbon. You can find further information and detailed plans of the route on the Grands Projets du Sud-Ouest website:  http://www.gpso.fr/cartes.html

I for one am certainly looking forward to a few long weekends in Paris – although I am hoping that I won’t have to wait ten years until my next visit. In the meantime, there are over 30 flights per day from Toulouse to Paris operated by Air France or Easyjet to both Orly and Charles de Gaulle taking around one hour. The Capital is not so far from the foothills as it may seem.