We will arrive at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and then need to take a train to Caen. After 4 days in this area, we will need to take a train to Avignon. And after 5 days there we will take a train back to Charles de Gaulle for the flight back to the States. Can someone please ADVISE how to accomplish this? Should we buy a rail pass? And does it work on all trains, including TGV? We have car rentals arranged at the Caen rail station and also at the Avignon TGV station. I greatly appreciate the help you can provide!

Go to railsaver.com/railsaver.asp, enter your itinerary, and tick "Only if railpasses save me money" and press the calculator.

Whatever the answer - and especially if it says passes are cheaper- do some more research for special fares that aren't in Railsaver's database. For example, Voyages-SNCF.com offers PREM fares that are typically 1/3 or less of full fare.

Hi d,

You can buy all of your tickets at www.voyages-sncf.com up to 60 days out.

PREMS fares are much cheaper than regular fare.

For CDG to Caen, your departure station is Roissy (95), as is your destination from Avignon.

If you have a Railpass, you will still have to buy seat reservations on the TGV.

Can anyone tell me how the senior fares compare with PREM tickets generally. I do realise different days, times of the day impose varied rates but would hope for an overall view. Many thanks - Cheeers.
ps. Yes, visiting Paris and taking several day trips by train.

My limited experience looking at getting senior tickets showed me that we couldn't travel on the trains or at the times we wanted -- they severely limited our choices.

You can't go directly from CDG to Caen by train. You'd need to take the RER to the Gare du Nord and switch there to the Gare St-Lazare and get a train to Caen from there - or take a ataxi or shittle or something into Paris to the Gare St-Lazare.

Then you'd have to return to Paris and get yourself from the Gare St-Lazare to the Gare de Lyon for that train to Avignon. Or get yourself to Rennes and take the slow train from there to Avignon. Either way, it's an all-day train ride.

No, don't buy a railpass. Buy tickets online at the SNCF website or when you get there (but since you're going to Avignon and can buy a PREM fare most likely, it's almost surely a lot cheaper to buy PTP tickets).

From Avignon you can take the TGV straight back to the airport, though I never advise anyone to try to get halfway across France in time to catch a plane. I'd personally go back the night before.

Before you plunk your money down I would call BETS at 800-441-2387. Tell them what you plan on doing and ask about the France Flexipass. It might save you some money. Point to point train tickets in France are not cheap.

p.s. If the France Flexi works like a standard Eurailpass, it will cover your RATP tickets between Paris rail stations as well as the SNCF fares to Caen and Avignon. But you have to stand in line and present your pass at a ticket window to get the RER tickets required by the turnstiles.

The standard senior fares are 50 percent to 25 percent less than full fare, depending on time of departure if you purchase an annual senior pass, which costs 53 euros. I believe there also are one-time "decouverte" senior fares, but as a pass holder I'm not familiar with details. Prem fares vary but are likely to be at least as good as senior fares.

Of course, if you switched your timing, you could take a train directly from CDG airport to Avignon. Then you'd need to return from Avignon to Paris to take the train to Caen. This would delay the in-Paris shuffle to a time without jetlag.

dieeat,

It would be far easier to drive from CDG to Caen. I realize that this isn't ideal after a what I assume is a transatlantic redeye, but it would be

Pehaps you can flip your itinerary around and go to Avignon first by TGV from CDG, then Caen and drop your rental car at CDG.

To get between Caen and Avignon, it is probably easiest to fly between Caen and Lyon. There are 3 flights a day on Air France and one-way fares start at EUR 70 all in. From Lyon Airport you can either rent a car and drive or take a TGV to Avignon.

Sorry about that - here's the full post:

dieeat,

It would be far easier to drive from CDG to Caen. I realize that this isn't ideal after what I assume is a transatlantic redeye, but it would only be a drive of about 2.5 hours total, vs. a long odyssey on trains and subways.

Perhaps you can flip your itinerary around and go to Avignon first by TGV from CDG, then Caen and drop your rental car at CDG.

To get between Caen and Avignon, it is probably easiest to fly between Caen and Lyon. There are 3 flights a day on Air France and one-way fares start at EUR 70 all in. From Lyon Airport you can either rent a car and drive (again about 2.5 hours) or take a TGV to Avignon.

This thread has all the information you need for booking train tickets on the SNCF site:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34803732

Hope this helps,
Andre

Thanks to everyone! Is it going to be an incredible hassle to take the train to Caen? None of our group of 4 speak French and we are intimidated to start driving in Paris as soon as we arrive. Should we be, or is it no big deal to make the drive from Paris to Caen?

". . . is it no big deal to make the drive from Paris to Caen?"

That's right. Getting around Paris will be your only issue. Buy some detail Michelin maps when you arrive. 1:200,000 will do. Stay on the A13 expressway and head for Rouen. Stay on the expressway at Rouen and head for Caen. The French are good drivers. You don't need to speak French. Buy the AA book on driving in Europe so you'll know what all the signs mean. There are some good internet sites with this information also. The drive should take you about 3 hours.

You can also consider it a train trip with 2 changes:

Ride the RER B to Gare du Nord
Transfer to RER A to Gare St-Lazare
Change to SNCF to Caen

I don't see the big deal.

Robespierre: actually, the RER A doesn't go to St. Lazare, the nearest stop is Auber. Absolutely walkable if you take the right exit, but definitely not a connection I would recommend to 4 people with luggage who don't speak the language and are unfamiliar with Paris.

dieeat: I would still recommend renting a car directly at the airport. You can get a door-to-door itinerary at www.viamichelin.com For your point of departure, enter "airport" in the "address" field and "Roissy" in the "city" field.

If you are dead set on taking the train to Caen, I would strongly recommend taking a cab from CDG to St. Lazare station. With 4 passengers, it will hardly cost more than the RER/metro anyway.

Hope this helps,
Andre

I agree that a taxi from CDG would be about the same cost. But if time is a factor, the RER can't be beat. If OP would rather walk the least distance, the city bus N° 43 that stops directly in front of both stations is a viable alternative.

Robespierre: indeed, that would be the easiest route. However, RATP actively discourages people from taking luggage and large parcels on busses (see: http://www.ratp.info/informer/bagages.php in French only), so a group of 4 with suitcases would probably get quite a few dirty looks.

The best "all-rail" public transport route is RER B from CDG to Chatelet / Les Halles, then change to Metro 14 to St. Lazare. But the change at Chatelet is a hike.

BTW, transfer from RER A to B is at Les Halles, not Gare du Nord as mentioned in your first post.

Hope this helps,
Andre

Good catch.

You can also consider it a train trip with 2 changes:

Ride the RER B to Gare du Nord
Transfer to RER E to Gare St-Lazare
Change to SNCF to Caen

I don't see the big deal.

also try www.seat61.com its an amzing site for overland travel.

regards

nathan
ps. heres a link to my travel writing too
http://thewanderer.5gbfree.com/index.htm