Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [181]
In Paris there are six international rail stations: Gare du Nord (northern France, northern Europe, and England via Calais or Boulogne); Gare St-Lazare (Normandy and England via Dieppe); Gare de l’Est (Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Basel, and central Europe); Gare de Lyon (Lyon, Marseille, Provence, Geneva, and Italy); Gare d’Austerlitz (Loire Valley, southwest France, and Spain); and Gare Montparnasse for trains bound for southwest France.
BOOKING AND BUYING TICKETS
There are two classes of train service in France; first (première) or second (deuxième). First-class seats offer more legroom, plusher upholstery, private reading lamps, and computer plugs on the TGV, not to mention the hush-hush environment for those who want to sleep. The price is also nearly double.
It is best—and in many cases, essential—to prebook your train tickets. This requires making a reservation (which carries an additional charge of about 10 euros a person) online, by phone, or at the train station. Rail Europe does an excellent job providing train tickets to those in the US. They offer a service and their prices reflect that. There is nothing wrong with booking with them. However if you want to save money and don’t mind doing it yourself, booking with the SNCF is much cheaper.
Buying SNCF Tickets Online
Go to | www.voyages-sncf.com (and when you click on the U.K. flag you get to | www.tgv-europe.com). Find “advanced search,” and then you’ll be taken through a series of steps that will allow you to choose your outbound trip, followed by your inbound trip. Fares with the yellow background are the cheapest, a blue background is the mid price and gray is most expensive and tends to be flexible. Green background tends to be a class upgrade suggestion.
Whether you decide to print tickets yourself or pick them up at a station (do not have them sent by mail), select “France” as the country where you will collect your tickets. Do not select the U.S. or you will be redirected to the RailEurope Web site.
Know that certain fares or mix of fares may require you to pick up tickets at the station ticket window rather than print them yourself; make sure to factor in extra time as lines tend to be long throughout the day and be sure to bring ID and the credit card used to make the reservation. While there’s the option to pick them up from one of the automatic machines, they only work with French credit cards that contain a special chip. You may book 90 days in advance for the TGV.
Rail Passes to Choose From
There are two kinds of rail passes: those you must purchase at home before you leave for France, including the France Rail Pass, the Eurail Selectpass, and those available in France from SNCF. The SNCF passes are available at any train station in France. Your rail pass does not guarantee you a seat on the train you wish to ride, however. You need to book ahead even if you’re using a rail pass.
If you plan to travel outside of Paris, consider purchasing a France Rail Pass, which allows three days of unlimited train travel in a one-month period. If you travel solo, first class will run you $305, second class is $261: you can add up to six days on this pass for $46 (first class) or $39 (second class) a day. For two people traveling together on a Saver Pass, the cost in first class is $259, second class is $224; each additional day costs $40 (first class) or $33 (second class). Another option is the France Rail ‘n Drive Pass (combining rail and rental car).
France is one of 18 countries in which you can use EurailPasses, which provide unlimited first-class rail travel in all of the participating countries for the duration of the pass. If you plan to rack up the miles, get a Eurail Global Pass. These are available for various time periods from 15 days ($767 first class, $384 second class) up to three months ($2,151 first class, $1,150 second class). If your plans call for only