PalenQ

Well at least before it was commonly said on old The domain www.voyges-sncf.com is registered by NetNames site it did many said shift you to RailEurope USA - largely owned by SNCF but yes not dealing the cheapest promo and discounted fares. Apparently now not as St-Cirq is an expert on that IMO.

KayF

Hi FoolforFrance, we paid 49 euro each for the train from Paris to Bordeaux, one way. It's a TGV in September. We couldn't use the 2for1 train ticket offer as the dates didn't work for us. There is also a Eurostar 2for1 offer you can use for entry to museums but you have to use it within 5 days of your Eurostar ticket date. We cannot use that either as we arrive in Paris but head straight out again. We are Australian and I used the website www.trainline.eu

If you are not familiar with using trains in Europe, this website has a huge amount of great information -
https://www.seat61.com/

Info on where to buy train tickets -
https://www.seat61.com/France-trains...tickets_online

I realise dates are written differently in the US and I'm sure you know to be careful when booking - 9/1 in Australia (and Europe as far as I know) is 9 January.

Kay

foolforfrance

Thank you KayF and StCirq. Good to know that I don't have to put another country in as my home. Great price you got! My email says the deal ends June 30. And thanks for the tip on typing in the dates correctly. Yesterday when I put information in my profile on SCNF, it did not put me in the over 60 age group and I was befuddled until I realized the problem was just what you said.

PalenQ

Again don't neglect checking first-class fares either if they apply to that special. And if can chose own seat selection then only in first class can you get neat solo seats - an aisle and window seat to boot- two of these can face each other with table in between - no hassling anyone to get out or by bothered by others - to me these one-seat rows are priceless.

KayF

I wanted to say a quick thank you to Greg who told me about the IC train at 9.57am, and to Cowboy who advised to book IC trains ahead of time.

I've been checking every few days and finally today have booked the IC train in September, at a cost of Euro10.00 each, for a 2.5 hour train journey. I've learnt a lot about French trains in the past few months!

Thanks everyone for your assistance.
Kay

foolforfrance

KayF: I have not done any IC or TER travel but have put in my file for future reference. Thank you for sharing your Paris-Bordeaux pricing.

Greg, Cowboy, Christina or PalenQ...could one of you please give me insights on why the big difference in pricing and also what I should expect our seating experience to be like in Family Area Bottom. I bought 4 tickets departing Sat Sept 1 at 9:48 for 256E in Coach 7/seats 21-22 and 26-27 Family Area Bottom. My 4 return tix at 124E on Sat Sept 8 at 15:04 in Coach 15/seats 91-92 and 95-96 window/aisle facing or family seating. All tix are second class.

I bought the outbound tix at 1PM CST on June 30 which was the last day of the 2/1 sale.

kerouac

Although TER trains have fixed fares since they are mostly just commuter trains in various regions, I would like to point out that if you take trains like that regularly (which I do understand is not the case of most casual visitors), you can still save on the fares if you have one of the SNCF cards (I have the Senior card, but you don't need to know why I qualify for such a thing.). Just as an example, for an 18 euro fare, with a card you might only be charged 15 euros. The discount cards are not free, but if you take a certain number of trains, they pay for themselves quickly, particularly if you also take long distance trains. Another advantage of having a card is that you are allowed many more options for refunds and exchanges than basic travellers.

PalenQ

Are there blackout periods on those Senior Cards - my French ex-wife has one and I think she gets 25%? Or is that some other card?

kerouac

Absolutely no blackout periods. When you are guaranteed a 25% discount, it applies every day of the year.

One good thing this year is the fact that even though the Senior card costs 60 euros a year, this year they only charged 29 euros due to the various strikes.

KayF

Thanks kerouac for the info on the SNCF card. We wouldn't normally use it but maybe once we are both retired we might be able to have longer in Europe and take advantage of it. (If it's available for people who are not French.)

FoolforFrance - I am certainly no expert on French trains, though a lot more knowledgeable after the last few months! The prices for TGV fares go up and up, from when they are first released until the day of travel. So if you buy early you can save a lot of money. Book on the day of travel and pay the maximum. IC (intercity) trains are similar, pricewise, I believe. With TER trains, the price always stays the same (regional/local trains).

I think your tickets are from Paris to Bordeaux - I just had a quick check and price for 4 adults was Euro264.00 total, and return Euro132.00 total, so it's gone up a little bit. I guess if you checked the day before your travel, the fares would be much more than you've paid. Different fares have different rules and restrictions, some are non-refundable etc. It's the same as the airlines, if you pay more, you can get a fully refundable ticket.

For pictures of the seats in the TGV, have a look at this page:

https://www.seat61.com/tgv.htm#seats

Kay

StCirq

<<The prices for TGV fares go up and up, from when they are first released until the day of travel.>>

That is not absolutely true, though it's a good generalization and useful for most people planning their train trips in France. There are sometimes last-minute discounts if seats haven't sold out.

kerouac

Yes, it's true that there are discounts for unsold seats in the last 48 hours, but not everybody has nerves of steel.