London, the UK and Paris to Toulon on the French Riviera

Read more about Paris and Toulon.

Toulon is one of France’s most important naval base and the major naval port in the Mediterranean. Set on the French Riviera between Marseille and Hyeres, it was here that the whole of the French fleet was scuttled in 1942 to escape German forces. It is an important transport hub for southern France, with good train connections from northern to southern France, ferries to Corsica and an expanding international airport. There's a good photographic museum and a great weekend market. Shop there, then go for a drink or light lunch at the port.

TGV high speed express trains to Toulon leave from Paris Gare de Lyon (20 boulevard Diderot, Paris 12) throughout the day.

Metro lines to and from Gare de Lyon

• Ligne 1 – La Defence to Chateau de Vincennes
• Ligne 14 – Saint Lazare to Bibliotheque Francois Mitterand

For buses, see the Paris Bus map.

• Direct Direct TGV trains from Paris Gare de Lyon to Toulon train station take from 3hrs 51 mins
• Trains with changes from Paris to Toulon train station:
  TGV to Marseille then change onto the TER high speed express train to Toulon taking 4hr 56 mins.
  TGV to Avignon then change to the TGV for Marseille then the TER high speed express train to Toulon taking 4hr 56 mins.

• Direct TGV trains from Lille to Toulon train station make one stop at Aix-en-Provence and take from 5hs 44 mins.
• Trains with changes from Lille to Toulon train station:
  TGV from Lille to Marseille train station. Here you change either to the TGV or the TER high speed express train to Toulon. Both take 4 hrs 44 mins.

• Direct trains to Toulon train station take 4hr 34 mins.
• Trains with changes:
  TGV from Charles De Gaulle to Marseille train station; change to the TER high speed express train to Toulon. 4 hrs 56 mins.
  TGV from Charles de Gaulle to Aix-en-Provence train station; change to the TGV to Toulon. 4 hrs 42 mins.

• Popular direct TGV connections include Hyeres, Lille Marseille, Metz, Nice and Ventimille (for Italy).
• Toulon has good high speed express train links (non TGV) with major French cities such as Marseille, Bordeaux, Les Arcs
• See the major TER services on the TER website.

Toulon train station is on place de l’Europe, a few minutes walk into the center of town.
The bus station (gare routiere) is on place Albert 1er just opposite the train station.

• From the USA, book with Rail Europe
• From the UK, book with voyages-sncf (formerly Rail Europe UK)

Toulon-Hyeres Airport is 23 km (14 miles) east of Toulon. In the summer season there are regular international flights. All the following airlines offer cheapinternational flights.

• London City Airport taking 1hr 50 mins on CityJet.
• London Stansted taking 1 hr 50 mins on Ryanair.
• Oslo, Norway taking 2hrs 50 mins, on Ryanair.
• Rotterdam, Netherlands taking 1 hr 55 mins on Transavia.
• Tunisia taking 2 hrs on Nouvelair.
• Brussels (all year round with extra flights in the summer) taking 1 hr 50 mins on TUI Fly.

National flights within France include:

• Paris-Orly taking 1 hr on Air France.
• Nantes taking 1hr 35 mins on Volotea which offers cheap international flights on all its routes.
• Bordeaux taking 1hr 20 mins on Volotea.
• Strasbourg taking 1 hr 30 mins on Volotea.
• Brest taking 1hr 50 mins on TUI Fly which offers cheap international flights on all its routes.

From the Airport a regular airport shuttle bus runs both into Toulon train station, taking 30 minutes and into Hyeres to the port and the train station taking 10 minutes.

See more on local and airport routes

Paris to Toulon is 841 kms (522 miles) taking around 7 hrs 30 mins depending on your speed. There are tolls on the autoroutes. The autoroute A50 goes through the center of Toulon, connecting the city to the A57 which joins the A10, going all along the French Riviera to Italy to the east. To the west the A50 goes to Marseille, connecting to the A52 to Aix-en-Provence and the A54 to Nimes. There are excellent connections from Toulon to autoroutes all over France and to Paris.

There are regular ferries from Toulon to both Ajaccio and Bastia in Corsica with different ferry companies, taking from 6 hrs 30 mins to 10 hrs 30 mins. Check out the various options on Direct Ferries.

Toulon Tourist Office
12, place Louis Blanc
Tel.: 00 33 4 94 18 53 00
Website

For information on hiring a car under the lease-back scheme which is the most economical way of hiring a car if you’re in France for more than 17 days, try Renault Eurodrive Buy Back Lease.

• By train (Eurostar)
  Eurostar between London, Paris and Lille
• By bus/coach Eurolines offers a cheap service from London, Gillingham, Canterbury, Folkestone and Dover to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Paris Gallieni. Six coaches a day; 2 overnight; journey time is 7 hours. The Eurolines stop is at the Paris Gallieni Coach Station, 28 ave du General de Gaulle, just by the Gallieni metro station near the Porte de Bagnolet (Metro line 3, final stop).
  Eurolines website for French travel
• IDBus also operates between London and Lille and London and Paris. IDBus also goes from Lille to Amsterdam and Brussels.