Paris to the Riviera by Train: A 10-Day France Route, and Staying Connected the Whole Way

France is built for train travel. The TGV runs from Paris to the Mediterranean in about five and a half hours, and you can break the journey at some of the best food and scenery in the country on the way.

Here is a ten-day route from Paris to the Riviera, and how to stay connected from the first station to the last.

The route

Days 1–3: Paris. Three days is the minimum for a first visit: one for the Louvre and the Seine, one for Montmartre and the Marais, and one for whatever you fell for on the first two. Paris is easy on a phone, with good coverage across the city and in the Métro, but you will use more data here than anywhere else on the trip: maps, museum tickets, restaurant bookings and the RATP app for the Métro.

Days 4–5: Lyon. Two hours south on the TGV. Lyon is France's food capital, so plan the days around meals: a bouchon for lunch, the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse for an afternoon, and the old town of Vieux Lyon with its hidden traboules, the covered passageways that cut between streets.

Days 6–8: Provence. Another hour or so to Avignon, which makes a good base. From there, Arles, Gordes and the Pont du Gard are all day trips. This is where the trains stop helping. The hill villages are best reached by car, and the roads through the Luberon are where coverage gets patchy, so download your maps before you set off.

Days 9–10: Nice. The TGV or a regional train runs along the coast to Nice. Walk the Promenade des Anglais, climb to the castle hill for the view, and take the coastal train to Villefranche-sur-Mer or Antibes for an afternoon by the water.

Why the train is where your phone matters most

• Your tickets are on your phone. SNCF Connect holds your TGV and TER tickets, and you will need to show them on board.
• Delays and platform changes are announced in the app as fast as on the boards.
• Train Wi-Fi is unreliable. The TGV has on-board Wi-Fi on many routes, but it slows down on busy trains and drops in tunnels. Your own data is far steadier.
• Arriving in a new city. The first twenty minutes off a train, finding the hotel, the taxi rank or the tram, are when you want a map that works.

One eSIM, one country, ten days

Every stop on this route is in France, so a single France plan covers the whole trip. Your eSIM connects to the major French networks:

Your phone uses whichever is strongest where you are, so if one network is weak in a Provence valley, it can pick up another.

Adding Italy? The coastal line carries on from Nice to Ventimiglia, just over the Italian border. If you are going further into Italy, choose France and Italy when you buy. The price is that of the more expensive of the two, not both added together.

How much data you need

Ten days with heavy map use in Paris, train apps, messaging and photo sharing is moderate use. A mid-sized plan suits most travellers. If you will work from your laptop over a hotspot, or post video every day, size up. You can always top up from your phone.

Practical tips

• Install the eSIM before you leave home, on Wi-Fi. The plan starts the first time you use it in France, not the day you install it.
• Download offline maps for Provence. Coverage in the hill villages and the countryside between them is not guaranteed on any network.
• Book TGV tickets early. Prices rise as the train fills, and summer weekends sell out.
• Keep your home SIM on for calls and texts, so bank codes still reach you, and use HOAM for data.
• Pack a power bank. A long train day of tickets, maps and photos drains a battery faster than you expect.

Your next trip is already set up

Your HOAM eSIM stays on your phone after you get home. Next time you travel, to France or anywhere else, you add a new plan to the same eSIM. There is nothing new to install.

Planning your France rail trip? Choose France on hoamesim.com to see plan sizes and prices.