Struggling to know what stations departing and arriving out of for trips.

​@JOYCEme2u 

You can search the timetables on official railway websites to find out where trains are living, in your example probably Gare de Lyon. In big cities you can take public transport (e.g. metro, trams, buses) to go to the station. Accommodation near train stations is usually more expensive than in the suburbs.

In many cities, there’s no choice.

For example from Paris to the South West of France and Spain, you’ll usually be leaving from Gare de Lyon. You’ll need to use local transport to get to / from your accommodation.

If you search on a planner such as Bahn.com, just look for the city name in capital letters - then it will automatically find the correct station for your route.

In other cities, maybe in Brussels or Germany for example, a train might stop at multiple stations in a city. There it’s worth looking on Google Maps to find which one is closest.