TGV and other train tickets in France

Paco Rodriguez

Trying to go from Bordeaux to Cherbourg.
The site wont take my credit card, so does anyone know how quick do TGV tickets get sold off. Its at the end of July. I will be in Bordeaux 5 days before i leave to Cherbourg, so do you think I can buy one at the station when I arrive?

Also can I buy the one ticket from Bordeaux to Cherbourg, its TGV to Paris and from there normal train....

ClutchIt

I'm sorry I can't help but I would also be interested to hear the answer to this question. I'm going to Montpellier in June. I decided not to book the TGV ticks in advance and just hope there will be a free seat when I get there. I'd say 5 days would be enough time but you never know.

Berty

I bought my TGV tickets when I used to be in France for work from this UK site

http://www.raileurope.co.uk/tgv.aspx

P. Breathnach

In general, you get the best deals on TGV tickets if you buy well in advance.

It's a few years since I last bought tickets online, but I was able to use my credit card on the SNCF site. But I'm in Europe, and you seem to be in North America. That, I think, makes a difference. SNCF use raileurope as their agent for selling outside the EU, and I think the prices are higher.

schemingbohemia

I think you can only buy seats 60 days in advance so you may be just a little early in buying your tickets.

some good advice here
http://www.seat61.com/Europe-train-tickets.htm#Paris%20&%20France

and here

http://www.seat61.com/France-trains.htm#How to use voyages-sncf.com

if you can travel off-peak you can get great prices from bordeaux to paris, i think in order to get the best deal you'd be better off buying the tickets separately.

this site is very handy for timetable information

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?rt=1&

You can actually book on Eurostar.com and you can book them today,theres no 60 day rule that I can see.
I've actually booked the TGV this way at least 3 months in advance before.

I did a test booking there for the last week in july for you.
I'm pretty certain,the site will take an irish card,in fact I know it will

The cheapest 1 way non refundable fare is coming up at £52 stg

Hope that helps.

As for seat choice : http://www.seat61.com/France.htm

Paco Rodriguez

Deleted User wrote: »

You can actually book on Eurostar.com and you can book them today,theres no 60 day rule that I can see.
I've actually booked the TGV this way at least 3 months in advance before.

I did a test booking there for the last week in july for you.
I'm pretty certain,the site will take an irish card,in fact I know it will

The cheapest 1 way non refundable fare is coming up at £52 stg

Hope that helps.

As for seat choice : http://www.seat61.com/France.htm

Thanks for that info. I tried, but it said my basket was empty even though i had selected everything. Anyway Im going to book it over there, I shoud be ok with 5 days leeway

brownbinman

its been a good few years since I went on Erasmus to Marseille....but...as far as I can remember, I bought my TGV tickets in a place on Abbey Street in town (Dublin). I think it was an Irish Rail place which sold European rail tickets.

TGV is pricey though. Worth it but pricey

cson

Use the french site; sncf.com

It's generally cheaper than raileurope I tend to find.

BenShermin

I always use this site for French rail journeys:

http://www.tgv-europe.com/

babaduck

We've bought our train tickets online using www.voyages-sncf.com It is in French so if you're comfortable with it, it's by far the cheapest way to buy train tickets. You can also print them out yourself rather than having to pay for postage. It saved us a fortune booking in advance from La Baule to Paris - €55 return against €130 on the day :eek:

BenShermin

babaduck wrote: »

We've bought our train tickets online using www.voyages-sncf.com It is in French so if you're comfortable with it, it's by far the cheapest way to buy train tickets. You can also print them out yourself rather than having to pay for postage. It saved us a fortune booking in advance from La Baule to Paris - €55 return against €130 on the day :eek:

AFAIK, http://www.tgv-europe.com/ and www.voyages-sncf.com use the exact same booking system and both issue print your own tickets, the only difference is the former is in English.