french trains
 

hello all, can anyone tell me all about securing a seat on a train heading from paris south to carcassonne? i've never travelled in france before so i am pretty clueless. thanks in advance!

That's a very long trip (5-9 hours) and will involve at least one transfer. The French railway website is www.voyages-sncf.com or try www.tgv-europe.com . You can use Raileurope, also, a North American travel agent that sells their tickets but there will probably be a markup.

Generally you can get an excellent discount ("Prem's") by booking 2-3 months in advance on www.voyages-sncf.com

Often you can print the ticket yourself.

As I said on your other thread, I think you should take the train to Toulouse. Go to the website kerouac gave you above and look for PREM fares on the TGV (fast train).

there is no problem ever IME or rarely in 'securing a seat' on trains to Toulouse - seat reservations i think are required on all or nearly all trains there - definitely on TGV trains - the high-speed trains - even if you just show up and buy a ticket at full fare at the station. But take Christina's and kerouac sage advice about trying for a PREM fare - online discount that to secure you should book as early as possible as those seats are sold i think in limited numbers and can sell out early - and the discount can be immense. For lots on French trains and European trains in general i always highlight these fab sites: www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com.

An easy way for me to see if a French train has mandatory seat reservations requirements before boarding is to go to the German Railways web site - www.bahn.de, the easiest i've seen to use for train schedules and details all over Europe - and when you click on 'details for the above' it will not whether a certain train is subject to mandatory reservations or not - if it says nothing about that then it is not - sometimes it may say 'Reserve please' which really means seat reservations are possible but not mandatory.