Hi-- Am wondering how difficult it is to buy a TGV ticket from Paris to Tours at the station?<BR><BR> We are arriving on a Tuesday in Paris via the Eurostar at 12:23 pm at Gare du Nord. I understand the TGV departs for Tours at the Montparnasse station at 13:55. Is this enough time to get to Montparnasse from Gare du Nord and purchase a ticket? Would it be easier to buy online at SNCF website and pick up at the station or have it mailed to us beforehand?<BR><BR>In a previous post, someone mentioned long lines to pick up a TGV ticket (taking up to an hour even with a reservation)<BR><BR>Thanks for any help!

Yeah, that should be okay, if you take a cab from Gare du Nord to Montparnasse (assuming you arrive on time), you should get there by 1 pm, I'd say. On a Tuesday afternoon, that should be enough time to pick up tickets. You never know about lines in the train stations to get tickets, etc, sometimes they can take quite a while depending on time, day of week, etc. I have spent that much time several times (close to an hour), but not usually. I may have been the one whose post you're quoting; it did take me that long last time, but that was in Aix which is a small train station with few clerks and it was tourist season. In Paris, it's taken more like 1/2 hr, if that.

Hi<BR>I want to do the same trip (London-Tours)in July but was worried about trying to do it all in one day. What is the cost of the TGV to Tours? Does it only leave from the station that you mentioned. Would there be any advantage of booking the TGV with a travel agent before going to France? <BR>Hope you don't mind me tacking on a couple more qestions, Val

Joyce, <BR>We decided to take the 8:30 am Eurostar from London into Paris and then hop the TGV (which is only an additional hour) to get to Tours for our stay in the Loire valley. According to the SNCF website, the TGV departs from Montparnasse Metro station several times throughout the day. I think there is also a train that leaves the airport. There are a few "slower" trains that leave a different station that cost a bit less, but take closer to 3 hours to arrive.<BR><BR>Tickets are $34 per person on the TGV. Am still trying to decide whether to take a chance and buy it there. I guess it depends on how busy it will be. Since we are traveling on a Tuesday afternoon, it might not be so bad. Plus I'd rather not be stuck with a pre-paid ticket in case we don't make the train on time. Not too bad to hang around Paris for an extra hour or two if need be...<BR>

Hi again! $34.oo is that US? (i am from New Zealand.

another add-on question!<BR><BR>Does anyone know if the car rental agents are located at the Tours rail station? I was trying to decide whether to pick up car at Orly or take TGV to Tors and pick up there&gt;

Hi-- I can't seem to verify the $34 US dollar price anymore (second class Paris to Tours), but I had found it directly from the SNCF website <BR>www.sncf.com/indexe.htm<BR>Raileurope's website quotes a much higher price of $53. <BR>Does anyone else know what the cost is? Also is price different if bought directly in Paris?<BR><BR>Also, we are picking up Hertz rental car directly at the train station St Pierre des Corps (which is apparently a suburb of Tours that the TGV stops at) I think Avis also has an office at the station.

Val, just a note about the car rental at St. Pierre de Corps which is not the main train station. We rented from there several years ago from Hertz and the office seemed to only be staffed when they had a car rental reservation. We were early for our reservation so there was no one in the office (this was during business hours). A very nice person called the number on the sign for us and the Hertz guy came pretty quick so it wasn't a big deal. But try to get the approximate time of arrival correct with the rental company just in case.<BR><BR>We didn't go into Tours so I don't know how easy/difficult it is to go on the road from the other train station. From St. Pierre de Corps it was easy to get on the road to see the chateaux.<BR><BR>

Val, if you order your ticket over 30 days ahead through SNCF, the cost for 2 is 42 Euros ($20/ea). Full fare is 67 Euros for 2 (not each). I have read that it's not that much trouble to get a ticket changed if you miss a train<BR><BR>You might try to order over the phone from SNCF, and they will mail the ticket to you. The reason I would consider that is that stopping to buy your ticket might be the difference in making your train or not. (Be sure to specify St. Pierre des Corps and not Tours.)<BR><BR>The hours are 7am to 10pm French time and the number is 011-33-892-35-35-39. Other numbers: 33 836 35 35 35 in Fench or 33 836 35 35 39 in English.<BR><BR>(I copied this from a post of someone who had done that; she received her tickets in 15 days.)<BR><BR>Good luck!

Val:<BR>Have you tried booking your ticket by phone through SNCF? I was just wondering what you had decided to do <BR>Joyce

I noticed that the original poster and one other were travelling from London. In this case, it would be much more hassle-free (and cheaper) to take the plane. Buzz, one of the British low cost airlines, and a subsidiary of KLM, has opened a host of new connections between London-Standsted and French provincial towns, including Tours (but also Dijon, Rouen, Bergerac, Brest, etc. )Mid-week one-way rates must start at about &pound; 40, and they are very flexible (you don't need to book a return flight, for instance). As a Frenchman living in London, I use Buzz on a regular basis, and have no complaint about it. Flights are easily bookable on www.buzzaway.com

Jody--In 1998 we rented cars from Avis in the Tours train station. We did have them (two cars for eight people) reserved ahead of time. We got lots of info from the Avis website. <BR><BR>Byrd

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions!<BR><BR>Since we already have Eurostar passage from London to Paris (as part of a package), we decided to travel to Tours via TGV. <BR>I just called the SNCF in France with the number from Sue above. At first had a difficult time getting through, but I believe it was busy commute hours in France (waited till after 7 pm france time and got through easily). Gave out my credit card number and arranged to have the tickets mailed to me in US (the woman said it would take about 15 days). She quoted me the fare of 21 Euros per person for 2 people traveling together. This is non-refundable. For one person, the fare is 33.50 Euros (2nd class, one way). <BR><BR>Am banking on the Eurostar getting in on time to allow us the time to get to Montparnasse station within 1 1/2 hours.<BR><BR>Will let you know if any problems arise with tickets!

Val, thanks for that last posting - let us know if the tickets arrive ok! Have a great trip<BR>Joyce

Just a note, I ordered my tickets over the phone on April 3rd and recieved them in the mail on April 8th to my home in the US. A welcome surprise!

Just a quick update -- Received my TGV tickets in the mail yesterday! It only took 1 week for them to arrive after I called SNCF in France. What a great surprise (and much sooner than the 15 days they anticipated from France to US- California) This is definitely the way to go if you want a TGV ticket in hand prior to arriving in France.<BR>

Hi<BR><BR>just a note about tgv tickets.<BR><BR>Never expect to buy them at the station for immediate departure.<BR><BR>They are like air tickets, reserved seats etc.<BR><BR>You MUST book in advance.<BR><BR>Peter<BR>

Glad to see this post about TGV tickets. I will be needing tickets from Lausanne to Paris in June and was looking at Rail Europe's site. I just looked at the SNCF site and my limited understanding of French looked like SNCF offered different price tickets for children under 12, those 12- 20 something and adults. The Rail Europ site was more expensive and offered only a reduced price for kids under 12. (I am traveling with an 11 year old and a 13 year old.)<BR><BR>Stupid question: does the SNCF site have an English version. I'm afraid I will order something wrong because I won't fully understand all the options in French? Also, I saw a phone number listed in English. Has anyone tried this? Can you make reservations either through the website or over the phone?<BR><BR>Thanks for the help.

yes, the SNCF site is in many languages, you click on the UK flag at the upper top left for English. That's very common on many web sites to use flags for different languages.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I only see 5 flags: one for french, one for spanish, one for italian, one for german, and one for dutch. (My Spanish, Italain, German, and Dutch aren't any better than my French!)