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Number 4 of 20 in Paris

Le Train Bleu

Up a double staircase from the platforms of the Gare de Lyon is a restaurant that looks like the foyer of an opera house. It was built to impress the visitors to the Exhibition of 1900.

A chandelier under the painted and gilded ceiling of Le Train Bleu.
Benoît Prieur, CC0
What it is
Brasserie
Opened
1901
Area
Gare de Lyon
Nearest museum
Sainte-Chapelle, 2.4 km

Paris this week

    What Le Train Bleu is known for

    1. The paintings

      Forty-one paintings cover the walls and the ceilings, each of a place on the line from Paris to the Mediterranean: Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Monaco, the Alps. The best known painters of the day made them.

    2. The gilding

      Every surface between the paintings is carved and gilded: garlands, figures, mouldings, under chandeliers and tall arched windows over the station.

    3. On film

      The room appears in Nikita, of 1990, and in Mr Bean's Holiday, of 2007, among many films.

    What to know

    • Built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900 as the station buffet
    • Named Le Train Bleu in 1963, after the night train to the Riviera
    • A listed historic monument since 1972

    Where Le Train Bleu is

    Address

    Gare de Lyon, place Louis-Armand
    75012 Paris, France

    Nearest station

    Gare de Lyon, on lines 1 and 14 and RER A and D

    Museums and sights nearby

    Distances are in a straight line from the restaurant.

    The buffet of the Gare de Lyon

    The railway company that ran the line to the south built a new station for the Universal Exhibition of 1900 and gave it the grandest buffet in France, which opened in 1901. Travellers to the Riviera ate here before boarding.

    It was renamed in 1963 after the Train Bleu, the luxury sleeper to the Côte d'Azur, and listed as a historic monument in 1972. It is a long way from the museums, and worth the journey.

    Le Train Bleu: common questions

    Where is Le Train Bleu?
    At Gare de Lyon, place Louis-Armand, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. The nearest station is Gare de Lyon, on lines 1 and 14 and RER A and D.
    Which museums and sights are near Le Train Bleu?
    Sainte-Chapelle is 2.4 km away, Louvre Museum is 3.1 km away, Musée d'Orsay is 3.8 km away. Distances are in a straight line from the restaurant.
    What is Le Train Bleu known for?
    The paintings, The gilding, On film. A railway station buffet decorated like a palace: gilding, chandeliers and forty-one paintings of the places the trains went. The most spectacular dining room in Paris.
    When did Le Train Bleu open?
    In 1901. Built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900 as the station buffet.

    What visitors say about Le Train Bleu

    Rating from Google

    4.4

    19,305 ratings on Google

    Google's figures as read on 5 October 2026.

    Read every review on Google

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