Bikes, trains, France (again)

[martin113]

Can anyone tell me how you tell on a website whether a particular TGV train route will accept bikes wheeled on or not? Seems to be a baffling situation where some do accept bikes wheeled on, others want them packed up. I am trying to work out a train route from Luxembourg to Reims avoiding the kind of TGVs which you can't wheel the bike on to. Ideally I'd be happy to do the whole journey on local trains but the routefinders keep giving me TGVs. I don't want to book in advance as I have no idea when I will be there but I would like to have the info to hand before I go. Thanks in advance.

[robgul]

If you go to www.capitainetrain.com their booking system is very bike friendly - it's an official booking agency for SNCF, same prices but clear details on whether bikes are carried.

I assume you have looked at http://uk.voyages-sncf.com/en/ for trains. Reims town station isn't TGV - the TGV that serves the town is about 5 or 6 miles away.

Broadly - the TGVs in the eastern areas of France seem to be the ones where you can just wheel a, pre-booked, bike onto the train.

From research I've been doing for a trip this summer (we're starting at Metz) I think you might find Reims - Luxembourg isn't a mainstream TGV route and you would need a combination of local train, TGV and a Bus (which will not take bikes)

It's a jungle ... Capitaine Train is the best resource I've found

Rob