moish3553

I'm planning on being in Paris in August for 10 days, and then train to Nice for a few days. I'm also plannining a few day trips from Paris to Fountainbleau, Giverny, Versailles.
Does it make sense for me to buy an individual train ticket to Nice, or rather a Rail pass? Does the Rail pass cover the trains from Paris to these day trip locations?

tcreath

If you plan on using the trains often, as it sounds like you are, then I think a France rail pass would probably be the best option. You may want to add up the prices of the invididual trips you are planning to take and see if they equal to the cost of a rail pass or not. I personally would think that the rail pass would be easier, as there would be no standing in line to purchase tickets before you travel unless you were making reservations.

ira

Hi moish,

You will not want a railpass.

If you go to www.railsaver.com and enter your itinerary, you will see that it will cost under $80.

tcreath

If Ira is correct (and I'm sure he is) then definitely just by point-to-point. Rail passes are generally only a good idea if you are traveling longer distances or a great amount. We used a Selectpass on a recent trip to Italy, Germany and Austria and it really came in handy, but we used it almost daily.

Good luck and have a great trip!
Tracy

mclaurie

I too am sure Ira's correct, but also be aware there's TGV (high speed) service between Paris & Nice & regular service, the time (and I would imagine cost) being significantly different.

The was a recent (& quite confusing to me) thread on train travel in France. I'll see if I can find it for you

mclaurie

Here's 1 current Paris/Nice train thread (not the 1 I was talking about.) Hope it helps
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34496703

Maybe Ira needs to do a French train "101" thread.