How to transfer between Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse

Paris has several main train stations, all serving national and international trains to different parts of the country. When travelling through Paris by train it is almost always necessary to change from one station to another.

Between Gare de Lyon and gare Montparnasse

There are two ways to travel between these two stations: by bus or by metro, both of which depart every 5 minutes. No need to take an expensive taxi!

Option 1: by metro line 6. From Montparnasse station, walk about 7-8 minutes to the station's metro stop, and take Metro 6 to Bercy. From there it's a 10-minute walk to gare de Lyon. The whole journey taks about 35 minutes.

Option 2: by bus line 91. Take bus line 91 directly frm the station concourse to directly in front of Gare de Lyon, and vice versa. The bus departs every 5 minutes and involves a lot less walking than metro line 6, but the travel time depends heavily on the time of day, road traffic, and the direction of travel. It varies between 35 and 50 minutes. Check your Google Maps/Apple Maps/RATP application to see whether bus 91 or metro 6 is quicker.

We generally recommend planning at least 75 to 90 minutes to transfer in Paris, to allow time for delays, finding the right metro line and platform, buying tickets if necessary, and boarding the next train.

How to buy tickets

Parisian public transport is run by RATP. For tickets download the RATP and SNCF apps to buy tickets on your phone with your credit card.
Use your phone's NFC function to use the tickets at the metro stations.
If you don't have a smartphone with NFC, a paper NAVIGO pass can be bought from ticket machines at every train station or metro stop, which can be topped up with money as you travel.
A single ticket between any two train stations as described above usually costs €2.50.

Single use metro tickets are being phased out, with the top-up Navigo pass being the best alternative if you have no phone with internet and NFC functions. It used to be possible to buy single tickets on board of TGV and Eurostar trains, but this is slowly being phased out.