You're right, my time for Lille to Montpellier was by bus, by train it's closer to 24 hrs, I double checked. By TGV it's 6-8 hours.
SNCF lists Metz to Dijon as between 3 - 6 hours depending on route. But the quickest route (on TGV) still goes through Paris, which is nonsensical for two cities almost next to one another.
An analogy with the U.S. would be like going from San Francisco to L.A. via Denver or Kansas City.
> You're right, my time for Lille to Montpellier was by bus, by train it's closer to 24 hrs, I double checked. By TGV it's 6-8 hours.
Well no, it's really 5 hours.
And I don't understand how you can say "by train it's closer to 24 hrs" as TGV is a train. If you mean intercity, well... I'm not even sure how you could take intercity-only tickets and as far as I know there are no intercity trains going from Lille to the south. It would probably be around 10 hours even as the slower speed of such a train, never 24.
The point is that Metz->Dijon, two cities almost next to each other, takes as long as Lille to Montpellier, two cities on opposite ends of the country due to the centralization of the rail system.
So I'm checking the itinerary I received:
Take the Thalys -> Paris Nord ~ 2hr
Navigating around Paris to Gare Paris-Bercy ~ 20 min
Then actually, I can't find train service to Montpellier I just get the iDBUS
Towards Milano (stopping at Lyon-Perrache) ~ 6.5 hours
then Towards Barcelona (stopping at Monpellier) ~ 4.5 hours
That's the fastest route I can find. TGV doesn't even seem to be an option on the sites I'm checking.
Why wouldn't you just take the direct Lille-Montpellier train that leaves Lille at 09:00 and arrives in Montpellier at 14:01?
I don't understand your contorted itinerary. You start by taking a 2hr Thalys instead of the regular TGV that goes from Lille to Paris in 1 hour. One of these leaves Lille every 30 minutes or so.
Then somehow you go from Paris Nord to... Bercy instead of Paris Lyon? Bercy only serves regional trains, TGVs leave from gare de Lyon. Then you look for a train that goes to Barcelona instead of one that only goes to Montpellier?
Voyages-sncf.com, Capitaine Train and Bahn.de all show the direct 9812 TGV that I have already taken a few times to go to Lyon or Montpellier. It doesn't go through Paris, stops in a few places like Charles-de-Gaulle airport and Lyon. It actually departs from Brussels, not Lille. It's moderately expensive, at 144€.
SNCF lists Metz to Dijon as between 3 - 6 hours depending on route. But the quickest route (on TGV) still goes through Paris, which is nonsensical for two cities almost next to one another.
An analogy with the U.S. would be like going from San Francisco to L.A. via Denver or Kansas City.