Kinloch

Hello France Travelers, I seem to be having trouble booking train tickets in France. I have tried a lot of different routes and they all come up saying no tickets available. I don't know if all the routes I am picking are impossible or I am doing something else wrong. Do i need to be logged in some way? Ideally I am looking to travel from CDG to AIx then 10 days later back to Paris. Return trip I would like to stop overnight within an hour or so of the airport since I have an early afternoon departure. I have been thinking Aix to Sens then Sens to CDG but I am open to suggestions if there is another town easier to get to. Thanks for any help Kinloch

elberko

You don't say when you are traveling, and I suspect you are too early. Check Seat 61 for good train info:
https://www.seat61.com/France.htm

Dukey1

I believe the booking window is 90-120 days out max is it not? And then there are the summer timetable changes which take effect in what, June?

Seamus

As noted, it may be your dates that are the issue. When do you plan to travel? Availability is not posted much more than 90 days in advance so you may need to check closer to your travel dates. What site are you using to check for tickets?

Kinloch

Hi All, Thanks for quick replies. I will try that other website. I am traveling in May but I thought the date was the problem so I just randomly tried booking tickets for March just to see if the route was a possibility but that would not work either. Kinloch

Dukey1

Kinloch, seat61 is not a place you can book tickets but it might provide a link

have you looked at using www.loco2.com

Kinloch

Further update. I still can't get the trainline site to work but i did get to the loco site through the seat 61 site. That site was very helpful and informative. So I can book from CDG to Aix no problem. Coming back if i want to stop in Sens i pretty much have to go to Paris and then back out to Sens. Sens was randomly chosen as a nice looking town which i thought was on the way to Paris but relatively close for morning travel to airport. Since it is not really on the way i am looking for suggestions from more experienced travelers to France. I will be leaving Aix around lunch time. Looking for a town to arrive in at supper time, walk around evening and early morning and then get on train to airport. Does anyone have a favourite down within an hour of CDG? Kinloch

elberko

The TGV from Aix en Provence has a stop at CDG. In October, I opted to spend most of the day in Aix, then take a later train to the airport and stay at the Hilton that is in the airport, basically right above the TGV station. Very easy, in case it appeals.

Christina

The problem is those long distance fast trains do not stop in small towns. So you won't get a TGV that stops in Sens. No TGVs ever stop there not even an IC, only TERs (local trains).

I generally use the French SNCF website for French trains, I think it is the most accurate and often has stuff those resellers do not. I had no problem seeing numerous trains from Aix to CDG, for example, even in May. If you can't buy it yet, it tells you that but in fact you can buy Ouigo tickets for midMay now.

StCirq

You cannot take a high-speed, long-distance train to a small town. If you have your sights set on spending your last night in a small town not far from the airport, you're going to have to make some fancy arrangements. I would question whether it's worth it.

There is no problem booking trains for May now.

KayF

We had a month in France last year and I booked a lot of trains on www.thetrainline.com (follow the links on the Seat61 website which is FULL of good info). You can research to your heart's content but when you want to book, you need to login with all your details. If you book a TGV or IC train early you can save a lot. If you end up using a local TER train, no need to book early and they also don't have seat reservations, just sit where there is space. Something I read about Ouigo trains is they don't leave or arrive in a central station, they can be miles away from where you want to be.

Kay

elberko

I'm not familiar with every Ouigo (low cost TGV), but my Aix to CDG trip mentioned above was Ouigo, and left from the Aix TGV station as do other TGVs.

StCirq

We buy Ouigo fares a LOT, and it is not true that they are miles away from where we want to be. Maybe some are, but it's not a fair generalization and definitely not our experience. I mean, WHERE would they go that is so inconvenient? The French rail system isn't set up to leave people stranded in the middle of nowhere. We go to Bordeaux often on Ouigo train cars - they pull right up into the St-Jean station just like other trains.

tomboy

If you just want a French town to walk around in before flight out the next day, maybe Roissy itself, or another nearby village, would be adequate. We once drove thru such villages on the approach to CDG car rental return; nothing spectacular or scenic that I recall, but I'm sure there'd be restaurants for the locals.