Can one find bus and rail bargains in English on internet? We are trying to see if day trips from Paris are possible at a discount. Possibly to Bayeux, Dijon or Lyon. Thanks!

Hi TD,

Use www.voyages-sncf.com
Look for PREMS discount tickets.

Use http://www.freetranslation.com/
to help you navigate.

Use www.voyages-sncf.com

- - go into the url and change
LANG=FR to
LANG=UK
then you can work in English version.

The bus system is evidently very broken up regionally and probably not very user-friendly; I don't even know where to start.

Train tickets within France are not terribly expensive anyway. You can look for PREMs discount fares if you can book in advance and don't mind usage restrictions.

Thanks "guys". Unless I'm doing something wrong, SNCF doesn't help where busses are needed.
Am really just looking for a magical special site that can read my mind.

I wouldn't even bother looking for bus trips to destinations outside Paris. For the most part they don't exist - or they're geared to locals, not tourists, or they're private charters. Use the train system.

Ms. Bear and I took the TGV for a day-trip to Dijon and enjoyed it very much.

Thanks Monsieur Bear! Paris bus routes and trains to places like Dijon are not the problem. BTW, I actually found more info (including prems) using the French version of SNCF. Found info about local busses on Trip Advisor and Virtual Tourist. I agree with what you said St Cirq, but their are some small places accessible only by bus-those are what I am exploring. Welcome info about any other sites.

www.eurolines.fr for buses. International lines only -- there are no long distance domestic buses in France.

Thanks Mr. Bear!
No problem getting schedules for the larger towns like Dijon.
Have since found more about local busses in Rick Steves book.
TD

I found a good (I hope!) website with some local bus stuff, fyi. Hub and I want to look at scenery not drive if at all possible.

http://www.beyond.fr/travel/bus.html

Buses are managed by the Conseil Général of each Département.
To find bus timetables within a departement, google "horaires bus cg...." followed by the number of the département. CG stands for Conseil Général.
Example "horaires bus cg 14"

Re-reading this thread brought back some fun memories. Please see my TR, "Provence Sandwich," which was a trip to Provence sandwiched between stays in Paris.

Hope to try out your info Pvoyageuse.