I am traveling to France in March, 2003.<BR>I can't seem to decide if buying a railpass is an overall better decision than booking each leg of my journey.<BR><BR>There are 2 of us traveling and our route will be to travel from Paris to Zurich (rail travel day #1) then<BR>Zurich to Avignon (rail travel day #2)<BR>2 separate day trips by rail from Avignon (rail travel days #3 and #4)<BR>Avignon to Paris (rail travel day #5)<BR><BR>I have found the info on the Europe Rail SelectSaver Pass (I think that's what its called) where 2 people travelling together between 3 countries have 5 rail travel days max, on the pass. I priced this pass at about $650 included service charge and mail.<BR>To this amount though, TGV reservation fees must be added. I estimate this would be around an additional $60.<BR><BR>I used a pass like this in Germany, and it was easy, but they didn't require reservations for the ICE train.<BR><BR>I went to the SNCF website and found individual 1-way prices for the route mentioned above. I chose TGV (where possible) and specified 2nd Class and reservations. The total price was roughly $500 - without added the additional travels from Avignon. From what I can gather, a short trip from Avignon would be less than $10 per person, so all together, this other way would total around $550.<BR><BR>Also, I could pay and pick-up my rail tickets in France - once I get there, right?<BR><BR>My trouble in deciding really stems from my inexperience with SNCF. The Zurich to Avignon route is considered &quot;international&quot; and they want the traveler's ages, yet there is no box in which to enter the ages. Then, the website has always said the &quot;international&quot; booking piece of the site was down!<BR><BR>The other thing to is that when I get to France, I'm uncertain that my VISA or American Express card will be accepted. What if it isn't? Then what will I do?<BR><BR>Also, shouldn't I make TGV reservations before I get to France? I don't want to miss the train when I need it.<BR><BR>Can any travel agent help me make trip by trip SNCF reservations? Will they charge a service fee?<BR><BR>Any help you can give will be very appreciated.<BR>

In France, VISA is accepted everywhere. Do not even worry about that. American Express may be accepted by the SNCF but I'm less certain of that. But VISA DEFINITELY!!! I don't see the point of your making your train reservations through a travel agent in the USA other than for your peace of mind. Just making them once you're in France is not a problem -- the French are very trainsavy people; there won't be a problem. I think many American tourists are a bit daunted about being in France and having to deal with a possible language barrier, but all in all, there are special windows for international tickets and the personnel either speaks English or can at least understand what it is you need, have to change, etc. There are multilingual self service counters for all trains (TGV included). Whether a travel agent will charge you a service fee would depend on the agency itself, either here or in France. I have never used a travel agent for train tickets in France. Don't worry so much about reserving the tickets and purchasing them before you leave. In France is fine. Once you can compare shop as you have done, the answer of which ticket to get should be obvious. If you can reserve now online without paying a fee, then fine. Keep the reservation number handy and go to the station and purchase the ticket in France.

The website www.railsaver.com will help you make this decision in 5 minutes.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

I think I did make rail reservations many years ago pre-internet from a US agent and they did charge some fee. You can certainly do that by Raileurope and get the tickets you want, but they do have an add-on fee. They know what they are doing however (I did have trouble with a smaller local travel agent who did not know much).<BR><BR>It would be good if you are going on a day/route that might be booked up, otherwise, it's not necessary.<BR><BR>I have never had trouble with the SCNF site so don't know how to respond with that. I looked at the age thing and I think that is a bad translation between the French and English sides -- I don't think you need to enter birth dates, on the first page you selected a general age group (ie, adult 26-59) and then when the fare availabilities come up, I think they just want you to &quot;verify&quot; the age is correct that is posted by clicking on the &quot;valider&quot; button (or accept or whatever it is in Eng). It seems to work that way, in any case. <BR><BR>I don't believe you can reserve online without paying unless you do it within about a week before you intend to pick up the tickets, as there is a short timeframe for you to do that when you don't prepay. However, that might be a possibility to ease your mind -- reserve the tickets about a week before you will be there without prepaying (be sure to say you are in France). Or you can prepay by CC online.<BR><BR>They will take VISA unless there are problems. Maybe you are referring to some other post on here where a man had trouble with some CC at SNCF in France, I think the card didn't go through or something. Well, that can happen anywhere, and I never travel without several forms of &quot;money&quot; which are important for many cases. I have two different CCs (one VISA, one Mastercard), an ATM card, as well as some travelers checks (although probably not enough of those to make major layouts). This has come in handy when one CC's network was down for a day or so, which has happened.

If what you posted as the 5 day 2 person 3 country pass is true, the price has really jumped. I recall paying $185 per person for the same pass two summers ago. Not needing a reservation was a plus. It makes a car rental far more attractive.

Christina<BR><BR>The point was ......<BR><BR>you have to use the same card you booked with, or pay again, and wait for the refund. This is to confirm dentity. There is no facility to check other id, passports etc.<BR><BR>If their card reader , or your cc Co have problems, you will have to pay twice.<BR><BR>By the way, SNCF have still not refunded the original charge. <BR><BR>It can happen !<BR><BR>Peter<BR><BR><BR> <BR>

Les: It is almost certainly cheaper to purchase your tickets once you are in France,particularly as you may be able to take advantage of several discount schemes (such as puchasing tickets 8 days or more in advance, though that one may not work with your schedule). You can pay for tickets with either VISA or AMEX (I always use my AMEX).<BR><BR>If you want to make yout TGV reservations before arriving in France, that's easy enough on the SNCF site - just be sure to print out the receipt and take it with you and have the SAME credit card you used online with you to present to the ticket office.

Thanks for the advice, so here's my plan...<BR>I'm not doing the passes as they really are $300+ each for 3 country SelectSavers. I'm going to the SNCF website, making reservations, securing them with my credit card and upon arrival in Paris, I'll go to the SNCF office and pay for them there - with the same CC. This way, I should get the cheaper advance fares and save money over the passes. Does this sound right?

Need some informations regarding SNCF. To have special fares, for example children or over 60, do I need to have special cards..or the passport is sufficient to show our age...Thanks

Les,<BR>By Jove, I think you've got it! A couple more things to remember. Before boarding you have to stick your ticket in one of the orange machines that you will see all over for validation (don't try to understand this - just do it) Also when you are standing by the tracks waiting for the train to arrive, there will be a message board that will show you where to stand to board your car. If you stand there the train will stop at that spot and you get on and go right to your seat.<BR>JoeG

Les, just one point -- you will be paying in advance by credit card, not just &quot;securing&quot; with it. As I recall, when I did that, the charge went through on the date when I ordered the tickets online, not when I went to pick them up, which was a week or more later. I think they did want to see the credit card I had charged them to and ran it through something, but that is to verify the purchase or you in some way, but I believe they are completely prepaid at that point.<BR><BR>As for the other age questions, I don't know specifics because I never need special categories, but I am pretty sure the SNCF site explains all of that. There are some special fares you need to buy special fare cards for (which may cover a year and not be cost effective in all cases), and others you don't, as I recall. There are some called Carte Enfants, Senior cards, and 12-25, as well as age-related fares only. For example, I believe the Senior Card gets you 50 pct off on some trips but it costs to buy that; there are discount fares for those age 60+ outside having that card (Discovery Senior) and proof of age should be sufficient. I think this is pretty clear on the web site -- you can't get a special fare card rate without deliberately selecting a fare card type for it to price.

Merci bien pour votre informations Christina!!By the way, my sister also is called Christina, she is married to a frenchman and lives at Mejannes le Clap, close to Uzes...Ciao

Very interesting and helpful discussion, but I am concerned that when people say to wait until you arrive in France to make a reservation, it might not apply to my case. I will be arriving at CDG on Sept. 6, and immediately (as soon as possible!) catching a TGV to Lyon. If I'm in a rush to make a train, can I still make my reservation then? Or wouldn't it be better to do the whole thing with SNCF ahead of time???<BR><BR>Thanks,

SandyH,<BR>Yes, you can do the whole thing on sncf website. When we booked tickets last September, I mistakenly checked the box to send tickets by mail rather than collect them in France. Surprisingly they showed up in my mail box 5 days later via regular mail. They will send tickets all over the world but for some reason not to North America. I did feel more comfortable with the tickets in hand. Also at CDG the TGV station is right in Terminal 2. If you are arriving at that terminal or even if not, you should still have enough time to make your connection. I received so much good advise from this forum that we actually went right from the plane to our seats on the train without having to ask for assistance. Unbelievable!<BR>JoeG

kismetchimera<BR><BR><BR>The website says &quot;Fare reductions: passengers entitled to a fare reduction must have appropriate supporting documentation (senior citizen's reduction card, photo-ID, etc.) on their person at all times during travel.&quot;

Thank you Joe.

Sandyh, just a word of caution. If you're rushing to make your train after landing at CDG you may have pre-booked a train ticket too closely. What if your flight is delayed? What if it takes you two hours to clear passport control and customs? <BR><BR>You might want to book full priced, exchangeable tickets rather than discount ones if you are trying to make a close train connection. That way you can exchange them for the next available train.

The web site says that the discount tickets can be exchanged for 6 Euros plus any difference in the fare rates.<BR><BR> Keith