bogie3737

Will a Eurail France-Italy Pass - 4 days in two months - get me from Paris CDG to Beaune (stay 3 nights)then to Florence (stay 4 nights) then back to Beaune (stay 1 night) then to somewhere close to the Eiffel Tower. Will I need to make reservations on a TGV for Paris to Beaune leg and how much extra money will that be? Can I get train to Beaune from CDG?

Underhill

You can take the TGV from CDG to Dijon, and yes, you will need a reservation--it's not very expensive. From Dijon you would take a regular train to Beaune.

DalaiLlama

If you think that the pass will save you money, go for it. 4 days is what you pay for and 4 days is what you plan to use it for.

Before you use it for the first time, in Paris at the Gare de Lyon, you need to go present it with your passport to have it validated (initialized). That can take a bit of time. And you may not get a seat on the immediate next train to Dijon.

You will need to pay separately for seat reservation from Gare de Lyon to Dijon on the TGV, in Dijon you switch to a regional train for Beaune where seat reservation is not mandatory.

To get from the airport to the Gare de Lyon, you first take the RER (suburban train, buy a ticket, the Eurail pass is not valid) to Chatelet Les Halles where you switch to another RER train for Gare de Lyon where you exit the RER system (keep the ticket, you need it to exit) and walk to the SNCF portion of Gare de Lyon.

From Beaune you need to get back to Dijon, and - again - you need reservations for the train to Florence. You can save on a night in the hotel by taking the 21:05 regional from Beaune to Dijon, arrives 21:23, then take the nighttrain Palatino (EN227) that leaves Dijon Ville at 21:37 and at 07:16 the next morning gets into Firenze Campo di Marte, (which is not the usually considered main station of SMN but perfectly OK, with taxis and a bus outside).

You pay extra for the night train - only for the seat reservation on the Palatino if you choose to sit up all night (tough on your back), or you pay more for whichever sleeping accommodation you pick.
Google Palatino night train and read up on it. It has first and second class, couchettes and sleepers.

There is another night train combo: Beaune lvg 22:05 to Dijon Ville (arr. 22:23), then the EuroNight EN 221 lvg 22:37, arr. Milano Centrale at 5:38 AM, switch to the EuroStar Italia ES9427 lvg at 7.))AM arr in Firenze SMN at 9:44AM.

If you want to make the trip during the day, you would normally have several options, some of them very good connections going via Geneva and through Switzerland, but you can't do that since your pass is not valid in Switzerland.

So you have to be careful which train you pick - the best bet is one where you have to switch as follows: Beaune to Lyon-Part Dieu to Chambéry-Challes to Milano Centrale to Florence (Rifredi station). That takes almost 13 hours. There are a few variations on this, some with an additional switch of trains in Bolgna, others go not via Milan but via Torino and Pisa

On your way back to Beaune it will be the same deal - to Dijon on the major train, with seat reservation, then the regional to Beaune. Eventually you get back to Dijon or you go to Lyon and on the TGV into Paris where the Eurail pass is not valid on the Métro or on the RER.

The timetables are about to be adjusted all over Europe, so some of these times might change a bit, keep an eye on www.trenitalia.it and www.voyages-sncf.com and http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/quer...n?L=profi&

Also look at http://www.seat61.com/Sleepers.htm and - for travel in Paris - www.ratp.fr

Hope this helps.

DalaiLlama

I see that poster Underhill says that there is a TGV from the airport to Dijon. I hope that is so - it would save you a lot of hassle. But I can't verify it, the French SNCF site is currently down for maintenance, and none of my other sites show a CDG-Dijon direct TGV connection, they all bring up the trip into Paris to the Gare de Lyon.

Maybe another poster can give you specifics, or Underhill has details?

Keep looking.

DalaiLlama

I still see no direct TGV from CDG to Dijon, but there are some from CDG to Lyon Part-Dieu, about one every hour.

From Lyon to Beaune it's a regional, takes about 1:32 hrs, while Dijon-Beaune is only 18 min. or 27 min.

But if there really is no CDG-Dijon TGV, then the extra hour on the Lyon-Beaune train is worth avoiding having to go into Paris!

Check www.voyages-sncf.fr tomorrow morning when they should be back up and running.

ira

Hi B,

Yes it will, BUT

First check prices at
www.voyages-sncf.com for France and www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html for Italy.

You will need reservations for TGV and for ES* and AV trains.

RailEurope will charge you about $15.

Also check trenitalia for cheap tickets from Florence to Paris.

Why are you returning to Beaune from Florence?

StuDudley

There seems to be a direct TGV from CDG to Dijon that departs at 7:41PM. According to the German train site, it does not run every day, but I can't tell which days it does not run.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Stu Dudley

PalenQ

If you are planning to go right from CDG to Dijon on the TGV (if there is one and i thought there were a few) then i suggest when you buy your railpass you have the agent make seat reservations at the same time - simply because it is not always easy to get a passholder reservation on TGVs right before the train. And at CDG i have seen lines so so long to make the reservation (but you do need to activate the pass at the windows as well) - but there may be no pass holder reservations left (French rail has an allotment on how many pass holder reservations they have on TGVs it seems - IME they will at times so no to pass but offer to sell you a full price ticket on that same train. So that one i would book in advance and do so when you buy your pass to avoid an extra mailing fee.

But if you want to go to the gare de Lyon i think you would have little problems getting on a TGV simply because there are so many of them and you can also use your railpass on the RER into Paris' Gare du Nord - then pay for the REr portion to Gare de Lyon which is not covered by your pass, unfortunately.

A good thing about a pass in making reservations from CDG is that if you do miss that train then your pass will be valid on other trains - if you have discounted PREM tickets these cannot be changed. I'd also pay the relatively small amount extra for a first-class pass - much more chance of getting reservations here and in Italy in 1st class IME. Most agents these days do not make reservations but just sell the pass (they are a cumbersome no-commission proposal for them i think) - I always advise, if wanting a reservation CDG to Dijon calling budgeteuropetravel.com and Byron in specific there - he's an expert you can talk to - to talk to a RailEurope agent means +10% onto your total bill and then it's not always an expert talking IME. But i think your sure bet is planning to go to Gare de Lyon and i would think, but not sure, you would have little trouble getting a pass holder seat there simply because there are so many trains to Dijon, where you change for Beaune (regional train, no reservations) - I do think there is a morning train direct from Dijon to CDG (Beaune is a few minutes from Dijon by train) - but leave plenty of time between expected train arrival and plane as trains can always be late - esp when you do not want them to be. As you will need reservations Dijon to Italy make them when you are in Beaune or ahead of time as well if they are a lurchpin in your trip.

DalaiLlama

Okay, the SNCF site is up and running again, and the only direct TGV train from CDG 2 TGV to Dijon it shows, weekdays or weekends, is the 19:41 that gets to Dijon-Ville at 21:39. So now we know.

Heed all the advice about validating and reserving seats etc. - having a pass is not a sinecure for unlimited travel at your whim any more (used to be before trains became spiffy like planes...).

Besides - have you done the math - is the pass financially a good idea? It may not be. Also - why go back via Beaune? It complicates matters.