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Started By
Message
Trains in France
Posted on 7/30/23 at 5:45 pm
Posted on 7/30/23 at 5:45 pm
My son is going to Bordeaux starting in Paris in September. What is the best way to buy train tickets? Websites?
7
Posted on 7/30/23 at 5:59 pm to Nole Man
I would also like to know the answer to this question because we will be doing the reverse. We will be taking the train from Bordeaux to Paris on a Sunday. I am hoping that it would be easy just to buy the tickets at the station because it may be difficult to pinpoint the time that we will be able to get there. I would hate to buy a timed ticket in advance and miss the train. We will be disembarking from a river cruise that morning.
Posted on 7/30/23 at 6:33 pm to Nole Man
How many places is he going?
I toured France using a 1 City Interrail ticket. For non EU it is available on Eurail.com
You basically pay for how many days/trips you want to take in a month and then for the TGV there is usually a 5-10 Euro booking fee on top. Starts off at 1 day in a month around 80 but lots of options available.
It was brilliant, trains were pretty empty and spacious considering the time of year we went etc.
I toured France using a 1 City Interrail ticket. For non EU it is available on Eurail.com
You basically pay for how many days/trips you want to take in a month and then for the TGV there is usually a 5-10 Euro booking fee on top. Starts off at 1 day in a month around 80 but lots of options available.
It was brilliant, trains were pretty empty and spacious considering the time of year we went etc.
Posted on 7/30/23 at 6:39 pm to Nole Man
I used Trainline just a couple of weeks ago. There are some other websites that I compared prices to and they are all the same price. Raileurope is another good one
DB (German site) is good but less user friendly IMO
DB (German site) is good but less user friendly IMO
This post was edited on 7/30/23 at 6:45 pm
Posted on 7/30/23 at 7:04 pm to Joshjrn
quote:
but I got youth/student passes for a fricking song on Eurail back in law school: LINK
If you are doing a lot of train trips in a certain amount of time, such as over 1 month, the Eurail passes can be a money saver. But on a lot of trains you have to pay an additional reservation fee which isn't included in the price of the Eurail pass.
Posted on 7/30/23 at 7:10 pm to Zappas Stache
I didn’t do the calendar day thing, I did the “X days of travel” plan. Obviously no clue if that’s even still available. But I think I only had one ticket I had to pay a surcharge for.
But again, this was a long time ago
But again, this was a long time ago
Posted on 7/30/23 at 7:15 pm to Joshjrn
quote:
I did the “X days of travel” plan. Obviously no clue if that’s even still available.
It is still available and there are even more options than there used to be. I looked at passes for our trip this summer as adults can buy them too, just not as cheap as students. We had 4 train trips of about 2 -3 hours and 1 that was 8 hours. I think all of those trains had a reservation fee that varied between $10/ passenger to something like $60 for the long train ride as it involved 2 different trains. When I added it up the Eurail was slightly more than buying individual tix.
Posted on 7/30/23 at 11:23 pm to Nole Man
The Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV, high speed train) is operated by the Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF, French National Railway Company") and tickets can be purchased directly from the SNFC-connect.com website.
You can also use a third party website like Rail Ninja and compare pricing.
One recommendation is to just buy the cheapest ticket, don't pay for upgrades to First Class or Business, it's a racket.
You can also use a third party website like Rail Ninja and compare pricing.
One recommendation is to just buy the cheapest ticket, don't pay for upgrades to First Class or Business, it's a racket.
Posted on 7/31/23 at 9:00 am to Nole Man
Thank you all for some great advice!
He'd be flying into Paris and taking the train straight to Bordeaux FYI. No other side trips planned. Going to visit a friend with his girlfriend.
Quick question: Assuming he flies into Charles de Gaulle...
I recall trains going into the city and assume he could get that train there? Would he buy the ticket in advance of arriving? In the station? Other?
Thanks again!
He'd be flying into Paris and taking the train straight to Bordeaux FYI. No other side trips planned. Going to visit a friend with his girlfriend.
Quick question: Assuming he flies into Charles de Gaulle...
I recall trains going into the city and assume he could get that train there? Would he buy the ticket in advance of arriving? In the station? Other?
Thanks again!
Posted on 7/31/23 at 9:05 am to Nole Man
Trainline is a really good app. It's independent of the railroads and you pay a premium (small, maybe 5-10pct) but it takes US credit cards, no questions asked.
The national railways' websites are iffy. DB Germany and NS Netherlands are pretty good. SNCF France has issues. RENFE Spain and CP Portugal suck. Many of those carriers websites will interline with others. For example I buy a lot of European tickets with NS even in Germany and France before I started using Trainline. I found it was the most user-friendly and easily translated.
The national railways' websites are iffy. DB Germany and NS Netherlands are pretty good. SNCF France has issues. RENFE Spain and CP Portugal suck. Many of those carriers websites will interline with others. For example I buy a lot of European tickets with NS even in Germany and France before I started using Trainline. I found it was the most user-friendly and easily translated.
Posted on 7/31/23 at 10:57 am to Nole Man
quote:
I recall trains going into the city and assume he could get that train there?
You can get a train direct from CDG to Bordeaux but they don't run as often as from Gare de Nord in the city. I just plugged in CDG to Bordeaux on a wednesday in Sept and there is an 8 am and then nothing until 6pm, then a 7pm and an 8pm. So what time does his flight arrive? If those times dont work then take a local train to Gare de Nord (Terminal 2 in the airport is where trains run from) and there are hourly trains to Bordeaux from there.
quote:
Would he buy the ticket in advance of arriving?
I would buy it ahead of time. It will be a mobile e-ticket.
Posted on 7/31/23 at 12:13 pm to Nole Man
quote:
He'd be flying into Paris and taking the train straight to Bordeaux FYI
If you literally mean fly into paris and get on a train the same day, I'd highly recommend looking for a connection by air. He's already at the airport. Flights within Europe are pretty affordable and trains aren't as cheap as people make them out to be. In fact, a flight can be cheaper quite often.
But yes there's a multitude of websites to purchase tickets or you can do it at the station. You DON'T want to do it at the station though as said Paris has 4 train stations at least and they don't all go to Bourdeaux, another reason to fly direct. He likely would have to train into the city and then train to a station, that could take up to 2 hours but certainly an hour. Then wait for a train, then train to Bourdeaux. Would be more practical and likely considerably faster to just fly since he would be at the airport.
Trains do sell out, especially trains outside of the city at times like Friday afternoon when people are going out for a weekend vacation. So purchasing ahead of time 2-3 days does make sense if its around a busy time. If its just during the middle of the day on say a Tuesday you can just wait and buy when you are fairly certain you know your time better. There are probably trains to Bourdeax close to every hour from Paris.
ETA: I just looked and flights are anywhere from $57 to $200 one way and train tickets are $66 to $134 for random days in August.
This post was edited on 7/31/23 at 12:19 pm
Posted on 8/1/23 at 3:53 pm to baldona
quote:
If you literally mean fly into paris and get on a train the same day, I'd highly recommend looking for a connection by air.
If he's never been to Europe, I would still stick with the train. It's only two hours.
A suggestion is that he stay at an airport hotel upon arrival, depending on when lands, then he can shift to Gare Du Nord for the train.
Posted on 8/1/23 at 4:30 pm to geauxpurple
quote:
I am hoping that it would be easy just to buy the tickets at the station because it may be difficult to pinpoint the time that we will be able to get there. I would hate to buy a timed ticket in advance and miss the train. We will be disembarking from a river cruise that morning.
With how busy the trains will be, they may be sold out. Could be a long wait at the station.
Posted on 8/1/23 at 5:04 pm to H2O Tiger
It’s kind of shite show if you’ve never done this before. 100% purchase in advance. Get to the station a bit early, familiarize yourself with the area, system and digital read out schedule screens. Each rail company should have representatives working and walking around in different colored vests. Make sure you grab one of them for any questions. Most speak ok English.
Just took the train to Bordeaux from paris last week.
Just took the train to Bordeaux from paris last week.
Posted on 8/1/23 at 5:08 pm to PaBon
I have trained all over Europe and just did Paris-Brussels last month and doing Frankfurt-Freiburg-Bern-Lugano-Zurich in September and I have had my tickets booked for a while. Don't want to risk it
Posted on 8/1/23 at 5:22 pm to PaBon
If he's going directly to Gare du Nord from the airport, he'll avoid the one problem I had in Paris, which is how they color code the local trains. Light green, dark green, olive green, and kelly green train lines are all on the same route map . It is a vomit of rainbow.
Make sure he pays attention to the duration on the route. The same operator has both a 2h8m route, and a version that is 3h30m.
. It is a vomit of rainbow. Make sure he pays attention to the duration on the route. The same operator has both a 2h8m route, and a version that is 3h30m.
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