Paris to Lyon by bus

Typical ride 5h 00m over 465 km. Starting fares around €15 (€15–35). Compare operators - we don't sell tickets.

Route snapshot

Duration

5h 00m

Distance

465 km

Typical price

€15–35

Tip

Cheap rival to the TGV Lyon train. Frequent departures.

Over 465 km the starting fare works out at €3.23 per 100 km - cheaper per kilometre than 386 of the 396 €-priced routes we track. See the bus fare index. Fares are editorial starting prices, not live quotes.

Trip plannerEstimates

Paris to Lyon: bus, train, flight or drive?

We compared the ways to travel for Mon 2 Nov 2026 and 1 traveller. Bus figures come from our route data; train, flight and drive are our estimates, not live prices. We don’t sell tickets - the real fares are with the operators below.

Best overall

Train

Strong on time, comfort and CO2. Scores 76/100 on our weighted mix of time, cost, comfort and CO2.

Score weights: time 35% · cost 30% · comfort 20% · CO₂ 15%

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Door to door: 2h 50m2h on the move
Estimated fare: €25–130per person
Carbon: 7.0 kgCO₂e per traveller

Cheapest

Bus

€15–35

About 68% less than the next cheapest option (train), counting typical fares.

See live bus fares

Quickest

Train

2h 50m door to door

Door to door about 2h 50m - 1h 35m quicker than the next fastest (flight).

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Greenest

Train

7.0 kg CO₂e each

About 7.0 kg CO2e per traveller, roughly 92% less than flight.

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Door-to-door time

The real trip, not just the ride: getting to the station or airport, check-in and waiting all count.

Estimated cost

Typical cheap-to-flexible range. The dot marks the middle of the range. Not live prices.

Scorecard

Each way scored 0-100 on four things. A bigger shape means a better balance.

Bus 71 out of 100
Train 76 out of 100
Flight 44 out of 100
Drive 40 out of 100

Train: step by step

76/100

Leave your door for the station20 min
Security-free boarding buffer15 min
High-speed train2h
Station to your final stop15 min

Door to door2h 50m

Time weight 35%100 out of 100

Cost weight 30%32 out of 100

Comfort weight 20%88 out of 100

Green weight 15%94 out of 100

TGV between Gare de Lyon and Lyon Part-Dieu

Our estimate

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Split the cost

Per person, a shared car beats the typical bus fare once 4 people share it (✓).

Per-person figures use the middle of each estimate. The low end of the car range assumes your own car (fuel and tolls); the high end adds a one-day hire car.

See the numbers (table)

Estimated comparison of ways to travel from Paris to Lyon
Way	Door to door	On the move	Fare	CO₂e each	Score
Train*	2h 50m	2h	€25–130	7.0 kg	76/100
Bus	5h 55m	5h	€15–35	14 kg	71/100
Flight*	4h 25m	1h 10m	€80–210	86 kg	44/100
Drive*	6h 25m	6h	€35–120	79 kg	40/100

* Our estimate, not a quote. Bus: duration, distance and fare range from our route data.

How we estimate

Bus uses the duration, distance and typical fare range in our route data (editorial figures, not live quotes).
Train, flight and drive are estimated from the 465 km road distance (plus typical journey times and fare bands we know for this corridor). A straight-line distance of about 80% of the road distance is used for flights.
Door to door adds the time that is not travelling: about 55 min for a coach (to the station, boarding, onward), 50 min for a train, 195 min for a flight (to the airport, check-in and security, baggage, into town) and 25 min for a car (loading, parking).
Cost is a cheap-to-flexible range per person; flights include airport transfers; cars are priced per car (fuel and tolls at the low end, plus a one-day hire car at the high end) and split between up to four people.
CO₂e per traveller uses typical factors per passenger-km: coach 0.03 kg, train 0.04 kg (0.015 kg on electric high-speed lines), short-haul flight 0.14-0.23 kg without radiative forcing, car 0.17 kg per vehicle-km shared between the people in it.
Scores run 0-100: time (fastest door to door = 100), cost (cheapest typical total = 100), comfort (our editorial rating, lower for very long rides) and green (lower emissions per km = higher). Best overall weights them time 35%, cost 30%, comfort 20%, CO₂ 15%.
Not every corridor has a direct train or airport service, and car journeys may involve ferries or tolls we do not know about. Treat everything except the bus figures as a starting point and check the operators.

The cheapest way from Paris to Lyon is the bus (about €15–35 per person); the quickest is the train (about 2h 50m door to door); the best overall balance is the train; the lowest-carbon choice is the train (about 7.0 kg CO2e per traveller). The bus takes about 5h on the road over roughly 465 km. Bus figures come from our route data; train, flight and drive figures are our own estimates, not live prices.

Fares and times other than the bus figures are estimates for planning only - they are not offers or live prices. We don’t sell tickets; compare live prices with the providers further down this page.