Short TGV ride from Toulouse to Carcassonne

After our flight to Toulouse and a visit to the Airbus factory, it was time for Valerie and me to head to Carcassonne, which was the main draw of the trip from a city viewing perspective.  Toulouse and Carcassonne are not very far apart but are very different cities.  Toulouse is a proper city, with a large train station and a large company based there (Airbus).

Carcassonne is a medieval walled city that mainly exists as a tourism destination, which is why we went there.  It also has a board game named after it, which Valerie taught me how to play while we were on the train from Toulouse to Carcassonne.

The easiest way to travel between cities in Europe is by train, and this was no exception.  The train with the best timing for when we wanted to leave was a French high-speed train (TGV; Train de Grande Vitesse).  I had never taken a TGV in France previously, but I have taken the same type of train in South Korea before.  Given the short duration of the train ride and minimal service features, this post is almost more of a diary entry than a review.  But either way, I think it might be helpful for someone wondering if Business Première is worth the upgrade or if they want to compare the TGV with a plane flight.

We began our short journey at the Toulouse train station, which is gorgeous and extremely central (especially compared to the airport). 

As a general rule, I don’t bother upgrading on train journeys because standard class on trains is usually perfectly comfortable and the premium class isn’t substantially better.  However, in this case, the upgrade was only $9 for the hour-long train ride, so I took it.  If this was going to be my first TGV ride, I figured I may as well do it in style. 

The TGV’s premium class is called Business Première and is arranged in a 2-1 configuration, whereas standard class is arranged in a 2-2 configuration, as is standard for trains on standard gauge track. In that respect, the train was comparable to the British Pendolino high speed trains.

The main advantages of the car Business Première was how quiet the cabin was and how comfortable the seats were.

Each seat of seats had 2x 240V European plugs, as well as an expandable table.  There was no meal service offered on the train, but there was an attendant for the car who seemed to also function (nominally) as a waiter if anyone wanted anything from the café car.

The seats also had the ability to recline in a sliding motion, which was a nice feature, but I’m not the biggest fan of sliding reclines (it feels a bit like a slouch to me). In general, I like winged headrests, but these were a bit excessive for me. Without anyone sitting beside me, I would’ve preferred an open headrest for better visibility around the cabin.

Overall, this short TGV service was exactly as expected.  The Business Première cabin was quiet, cozy, and comfortable.  The flat-rate upgrade for the short train trip was pretty reasonable for the (marginally) upgraded experience.  This train journey was way too short to properly compare to a plane flight, so I’ll just give it a solid 8/10. Since this train trip was entirely within France, there were no interesting points earning opportunities. I only earned credit card points off this purchase (2x points/$ on my Chase Sapphire Preferred).