Travelling by plane
The five closest airports to Besançon are:
Paris Charles de Gaulle airport
Orly airport
Euroairport Basel-Mulhouse
Lyon Saint Exupery airport
Geneva airportThe following paragraphs provide all the details to get to Besançon from these airports. To rent a car, please refer to the “Travelling by car” paragraph.
Coming to Besançon city center from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport:
From the arrival terminal follow the “Paris by train” or “RER” signs to reach the train station of the airport.
At the station take “RER B” destination “Robinson”, “Saint-Rémy lès – Chevreuse” or “Massy-Palaiseau”. Stop at “Châtelet les Halles”. From “Châtelet les Halles” take “RER A” destination “Marne-la-Vallée Chessy” or “Boissy-Saint-Léger”. Stop at Paris Gare de Lyon railway station. You can get the timetable and fare on the RATP website. The trip is around 1h.
Form Paris Gare de Lyon railway station take a high speed train (TGV) to Besançon city center. Please notice that there are two railway stations in Besançon. The name of the station that is located downtown is “Besançon Viotte”. You can buy tickets and get the timetable on the SNCF website. The trip is approximately 2h30.There is also a direct high speed train (TGV) from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to Besançon. This direct train runs in the evening and several days during the week. All information about schedules and ticket buying via internet can be found at the SNCF (french railway company) website: SNCF website.
Coming to Besançon city center from Orly airport:
From the arrival terminal follow the “Orlyval” signs to reach the train station of the airport.
At the station take “Orlyval” destination “Antony”. Stop at “Antony”. From “Antony” take “RER B” destination “Mitry-Claye” or “Aéroport Charles de Gaulle”. Stop at “Châtelet les Halles”. From “Châtelet les Halles” take “RER A” destination “Marne-la-Vallée Chessy” or “Boissy-Saint-Léger”. Stop at Paris Gare de Lyon railway station. You can get the timetable and fare on the RATP website. The trip is around 1h.
Form Paris Gare de Lyon railway station take a high speed train (TGV) to Besançon city center (please note that there are two railway station in Besançon. The name of the station that is located downtown is “Besançon Viotte”). You can buy tickets and get the timetable on the SNCF website. The trip is approximately 2h30.Coming to Besançon city center from Euroairport Basel-Mulhouse:
Take the shuttle to St. Louis, then the train to Besançon.Coming to Besançon city center from Lyon Saint Exupery airport:
You can take the train. First go to the “Part Dieu” train station in Lyon using the tramway (destination Lyon Part Dieu, stop at Lyon Part Dieu). You can buy tickets and get the timetable on the Rhonexpress web site. The trip is less than 30 minutes.
Then take the train from “Lyon Part Dieu” railway station to Besançon city center (please note that there are two railway station in Besançon. The name of the station that is located downtown is “Besançon Viotte”). You can buy tickets and get the timetable on the SNCF website. The trip is approximately 3h.Alternatively you can drive to Besançon. The trip is about 2h30.
Coming to Besançon city center from Geneva airport:
You need to drive to Besançon. The trip is about 2h30. Note that in that case you might need to buy the Swiss vignette.Travelling by train
Besançon can be accessed by train from all the major French railway stations and some of the European ones (in particular from Switzerland, Italy, Belgium …).
To book a journey, go to the SNCF website.
Some examples of classical trips and durations are given below:
| Name of the city | Location and name of the railway station | Approximate duration of the trip |
| Paris | Downtown Paris at the “Gare de Lyon” railway station | about 2h30 |
| Lyon | Downtown Lyon at the “Lyon Part Dieu” railway station | about 3h |
| Strasbourg | Downtown Strasbourg at the “Strasbourg gare” station | about 2h30 |
| Lausanne (Switzerland) | Dowtown Lausanne at the “Lausanne gare” station | about 2h20 |
| Zurich (Switzerland) | Downtown Zurich at the “Zurich HB” station | about 3h30 |
Please note : The railway station close to the city center is “Besançon Viotte”. There is another railway station in Besançon called “Besançon TGV-Franche-Comté station” but it is located at 15 km from downtown Besançon. You will need to use a local train or a cab to go to Besançon city center.
Travelling by car
You can rent a car in all the airports, major cities and major train stations. Please refer to the websites of the usual car rental companies such as Hertz, Europcar, Avis for availability and fares. You can plan your trip using Google Map or any other map.
If you have any questions about Transportation, please contact: aim2014@femto-st.fr (use “about Travel information” as subject).