1st time taking the train in France....Nice - Paris. How long before departure time should we show up at the train station...we will have luggage to check, but will already have our tickets.
Appreciate the help!

I'm not sure what you mean by "luggage to check." IME, you carry your own luggage onto the train.
I plan to arrive about 1/2 hour ahead of time, just to allow plenty of time to find the correct track. And sometimes they change that before departure, so keep an eye on the posted schedule.

Have fun!

The Nice station is small, so you'll have no trouble finding your track. There is no checked luggage. You will load it onto the train yourself.

The great advantage of train travel is you don't have to arrive hours in advance!!! The other advantage is that the train stations (in Europe anyway) are usually centrally located in the cities and are easy to get to. LOVE train travel!

&quot;<i>we will have luggage to check</i>&quot; - - nope, you have it, you carry it yourself. Are you able to carry your bags up on to and down off the train plus lift into the overhead racks or on to the luggage racks at the end of the car?

Has anyone used France Railpass to train between the cities below? Would you recommend reserving online before I go? I've read it's best to buy the pass only in-country. But wouldn't this mean having to delay the reservation request? Thanks!

Paris-Bergerac (Mon 10/12)
Bergerac-Arles (Thur 11/15)
Arles-Paris (Sun 11/18)

I would definitely NOT buy a Railpass for those trips, just point-to-point tickets.

aquarell - the France Railpass cannot be bought at any SNCF station in France to my knowledge - only for freign residents.

And i would certainly not automatically dismiss it out of hand for several reasons.

Bought some tickets on their website recently. I remember seeing an important notice - telling passengers to get to the train 2 minutes before departure!

Apparently, a lot of people get there with less than 2 minutes to spare.

Hi A,

&gt;I've read it's best to buy the pass only in-country.&lt;

In general, you **can't** buy the railpass in-country.

You can get the the prices of point-to-point tickets at www.voyages-sncf.com.

Why are you going to Bergerac?

Oops-thanks Ira, my mistake on that. Just got off the site you suggested and priced these trips and they COULD total less than $278 for France Railpass. But tiptoe-ing through the cost data is tricky, because the PREM price I think says non-refundable &amp; non-exchangeable. And then I tried to compare with schedule &amp; pricing info on RailEurope site (btw is this same/different/or connected to &quot;Eurail&quot; site??) and some Arles-Paris trains are already showing SOLD OUT. I'll need a day off to read ALL train treads I guess (quite &quot;lively&quot; as they say in lingo of Paris apartment advertising), but still... Getting correct and current data is my challenge right now.

Why Bergerac? My French teacher said her favorite wine comes from there, and it's a la campagne. Felt like disappearing into the heartland of English B&amp;Bs.

Oops2 - my Paris-Bergerac trip is Mon NOV 12

Ira - I see you're a most prolific threadhead, something like 30/day? Would you know if this Europe-France topic itself breaks down into subcategories, e.g., paris, transportation, money, hotels. Sorry if my question only indicates I don't know how to use the forum very well yet.

Well, it's true that Bergerac wines are tasty (though they are hardly great vintages), but Bergerac itself is pretty boring and nondescript. If you're going to investigate that part of France, you'd be better off continuing to the P&eacute;rigueux or Sarlat area, which is so much more beautiful and interesting (and you can buy those Bergerac wines in the supermarket for about 4 euros).

I would highly doubt that the Arles-Paris trains are sold out. Check the SNCF site for accurate data.

aquarelle: No - the forum isn't divided that way. In fact, it isn't even divided into countries. All threads are lumped together under &quot;Europe&quot;. Clicking France is a way to search for some threads about France. It will find only those threads where the original poster remembered to click France before entering their thread.