French Railroad (SNCF) Money Saving Tip

[Hlitner]

Hank ~ thank you SO, SO much for this site!!! We'll be traveling from Paris to Bordeaux on October 4th - to board a Viking cruise. I checked on RailEurope and one-way tickets were $68 each. I went on sncf.com and found 4 tickets (we're traveling with friends and I offered to get their tickets also) as a multi special for a total of 48euro!!! What a Bargin!!! I was able to pay for them with AmEx as paypal never came up plus I printed them - so now have our tickets with our reserved seat number on each for a bargin - HURRAY!!!!

 

Thank You again!!!!!

 

And a thank you for posting. It makes all the time on CC worthwhile when we hear such stories. The Raileurope site built a pretty good reputation (many years ago) when it was the main seller of Eurorail Passes which used to be amazing bargains (they still have some good deals). But some of us discovered that Raileurope is often not a very good site for those wanting to purchase specific rail tickets in Europe. One problem is that some of the European national railroads (like the French SNCF) apparently have contracts with Raileurope and allow them to be their agent in the USA. Tell the SNCF site that you want to pick up your tickets (or live ) in the USA and it automatically redirects you to the Raileurope site where you pay much higher prices.

 

We continue to advise fellow Americans to try looking for booking options other then Raileurope.

 

Hank

Edited July 6, 2014 by Hlitner

[Bet & Peg]

Hank ~ even if people, myself included, forget to stop back to say "thanks" or "it worked" don't ever think your advice, suggestions, comments, etc. are not being used!!!

 

I was first introduced to CC back in 2008 as we were planning our Med cruise. I was naturally a do-it-yourself traveler and when I'd put "how to" question into Google (usually about getting from port to a place, i.e. Pompeii) answers on CC would usually come up - often from Hank!!! I didn't even know what a "roll call" was until a asked a question and "junglejane" answered it and sent the link to our cruise RC and invited me to join - God Bless her, she opened a whole new world to me!!!

 

Soooo.... you've probably helped almost as many travelers as Rick Steves - only with free advice!!! None of us can ever repay you!! We can only try and follow your example as we use our own experiences and pass along our advice, suggestions, comments to others!!!

 

OK - back to planning Paris/Bordeaux 2014!!!!!

[Hlitner]

We also learn from others on the internet so its a two way street. So here is a new tale that happened yesterday. We were trying to purchase tickets for the TranzAlpine train that runs between Christchurch and Greymouth (New Zealand) and the prices that came up on the Kiwi Rail site were absurd. So using Google we quickly found that Kiwi Rail has two sets of prices, one for those of us not inside NZ, and other much higher prices for anyone connecting from outside NZ. We further discovered a way to disguise our internet IP address to fool their computer into thinking we were located inside NZ. And Voila, we suddenly see the lower prices (for exactly the same thing) which were then easy to book. Ain't the internet great? :)

 

Hank

Edited July 9, 2014 by Hlitner

[cruisintwinsmom]

Thank you for the wonderful information - it is exactly what I was looking for!

 

I went to Capitaine Train to check it out because I liked that it would be easy to get back to my train ticket online just in case something happened to my hard copy. The problem I'm encountering is that I can only get the month of August to load when looking September tickets. What am I missing? :o

 

Thank you in advance!

[Hlitner]

Have no clue about "Capitaine" but just checked the SNCF web site and they are taking reservations/selling tickets through the end of September.

 

Hank

[cruisintwinsmom]

Thanks, Hank. I have been looking at SNCF, but thought if Capitaine was easier to manuever, easier to use US cc's, and kept my tickets where I could easily find them, then I would use them. Wasn't sure if I was just missing a click somewhere on the page.:o But I'm afraid to wait much longer so will probably try SNCF.

[CintiPam]

Just booked day-trip tickets to Rouen from Paris in late October on the SNCF website. Incredible deals 90 days out (just over 1/3 of normal price) and a very easy website to manuver. It was happy to accept my AMEX card for payment. Senior prices available for those over 60.

Edited August 10, 2014 by CintiPam

[Bet & Peg]

Just want to "report" that the 12euro pp tickets I bought for our Paris to Bordeaux trip worked perfectly!!! The prince on RailEurope was something like $57 - a BIG difference! We had the printed tickets with our seat #s on them but still I was a bit nervous - seemed too good to be true!!

 

But NO problem - and our seats were even facing each other - perfect for conversation! I became the hero of the trip!!!

 

So Hank - Thank You again and again!! Tickets were a big savings and we rented an apartment through VRBO and had a great time in Paris!! Your advice and hints are always "right-on"!!!!

[itsanita]

Hi Hank, hope your having a nice holiday!!

 

Quick question for you.

 

We will be traveling from Paris to London this summer on Wednesday, June 24th. I just went on the SNCF.com site, changed to English, choose over 60 yrs and choose 'France' where I was buying the tickets. The price is 82 euros. Should I book? good price? Or should i keep checking as the price may get lower?

 

(and how do I make the euro and pounds symbol on the computer?)

 

Thanks for all your help in planning our trips!!

[Hlitner]

Can't help you with the symbols since it can vary depending on your computer, software, and whether you are replying with a Word Processing program (like Word) or typing on a HTML interface such as exists when responding directly on many web sites :). I have sometimes just done things like typed "50 Euros" :).

 

As to the price, we are not expert on the current pricing of the Eurostar and hopefully some of the Europeans (like John Bull) that lurk on these boards will jump-in. We know that prices can sometimes be in the 50-60 Euro range, but these are not always easy to get and can often depend on the time of day, day of week, etc. So I am thinking that 82 Euros sounds reasonable, but there might be a way to save a few more Euros (maybe not worth the hassle).

 

Regarding the Eurostar, the last time we did this (from London to Paris) it was around breakfast time so we paid extra for first class (it included breakfast). Not sure the seating is worth much extra money, but a meal and expedited check-in can make it a viable option.

 

Hank

[itsanita]

Thanks Hank,

I went on this website, http://www.eurostar.com/us-en

the ticket for the same train was 56.00 US dollars... big difference.

 

I'll keep looking for a bit...then will just bite the bullet and book!!

[pbo258]

Looking to see if anyone here has taken a train from Nice France to Barcelona Spain? If so I have a few questions.

 

1) Is there a direct train? If we need to change trains would this train change be at the same station or do we need to go to a different station to catch a different train?

 

2) What is the best web site to obtain tickets?

[Hlitner]

Are you aware that a train will take you at least 8 hours and involve one or two changes (Montpellier and possibly also Marseille)? And the train fare will probably be in the $100-$155 price range (depending on day of the week, how far you book in advance, booking site, etc). You might want to consider flying since some discount airlines such as Vueling do this route in about an hour at a cost that is usually lower then the train fare.

 

But if you really want to take the train the easiest would be the 10:24 our of Nice that involves only a single change (in Montpellier). The journey takes about 9 hours and you can buy a ticket on the SNCF site for as little as 89 Euros. But to use the SNCF site you need to follow my instructions (which I mentioned in a prior post) or you will be redirected to the Raileurope site and pay more money.

 

Hank

Edited March 11, 2015 by Hlitner

[pbo258]

Thank you

[tommyjean]

This is so helpful! Thank you for your tips!! I will be booking a train from Paris to Barcelona on June 5. I checked out the SNCF website and was curious what 1st class gives you? Is it worth the upgrade? We've never been to Europe and I'm not sure when we'll be able to visit again. I'm not sure if the "splurge" is worth it or not. Any advise or input is greatly appreciated!

[Chairsin]

I booked first Paris to BCN and will travel April 2 -- will report back my findings.

[Hlitner]

First vs Second really depends on the type train. You will usually get a more spacious seat (and more leg room) in first but some first class cars are better then others. And then there are a few trains (such as the Eurostar) that include a meal in First Class that is not provided in standard. On a long train ride (such as 8 hours) DW and I might opt for First Class to simply have a more comfy seat. But on a short ride (such as we recently did from Le Havre to Paris) we do not usually think first class is worth the extra money.

 

Hank