What is the main method of travel between major cities and smaller towns in France?

Question

I.E. can I take a train to a smaller town outside of Paris or would it be by bus or taxi? I know I can take the TGV trains between major cities but is it used for shorter routes as well? The TGV is the most popular and only train system I can find. Could someone point me in the right direction please?

Answer 1

France has a very well-developed rail system, and it's generally more practical than getting a bus.  The TGV is the fast, long-distance train, and runs on a seperate track to other trains.  There are plenty of regional (normal) trains throughout France, although a little slower.  Check out the French national railway site, http://www.voyages-sncf.com, for all train timetables and tickets.  The website is only in French, but if you know which towns you want to travel between you should be able to work it out.  Use the timetable on left hand side of homepage.

Answer 2

TGV is only on higher priority routes I think, I think it's a faster train.  The smaller towns still use the old rails but for full schedules check with SNCF.  http://www.sncf.com/en_EN/flash/

I don't know if bus is a very popular option, taxi definitely isn't.