Planning next year's trip to France
 

Newby here. We're planning a trip to France in September 2014. Right now, we're in the initial stages, reading guidebooks and working on an itinerary. I've been reading through some of the threads here and am a bit confused about something. When is the best time (fare wise) to purchase airline tickets? Ditto for train tickets within France. Thanks!

No insight about airline tickets, but for train tickets within France, there are two things to consider. TGV tickets generally go on sale three months prior to the date of travel. iDTGV ticket sales are opened on a different schedule. If you know the dates you need to travel, you can enter them into the SNCF Alerte Résa system and they will notify you when ticket sales open for your date of travel. In my experience, the best fares are offered when ticket sales are opened. Here's the link for the Alerte Résa notification:

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/services...te-reservation

You're too early for plane tics but what I am doing for our trip to Europe in Oct 2014, is tracking what they are now as surprisingly there is considerable change. This way when your itinerary is a little firmer and you find a good price, buy it. Some sites recommend buying 3 months out, but I'm not that brave to wait till then.

Is't this a duplicate post?

<< Is't this a duplicate post? >>

Yes it is a duplicate post.

I don't think there is any best time for plane tickets. Get a base price now and keep looking at fares. You can set up an airfare alert on sites such as kayak and receive emails about fares. Also check travelzoo and similar sites.