TGV + Railpass Reservations Help please
 

I have priced the railpass (select saver) and I have looked at the SNCF website to try to book a TGV from Paris to Berne.
Questions:
1. If I buy a railpass, how do I use it to book the TGV?
2. Can I reserve seats on the TGV online or do I have to wait until I get to Paris in July?
3. If I'm waiting till I'm in Paris, can I do it the day before at any train station? (I'll be in Montmatre near the station)
4. I'm also having trouble figuring out from which train station the TGV leaves for Berne, and when I put in for an early morning departure, it says there aren't any (which I know is wrong!)

Should I give up and ask the travel agent to do it?

Thanks for any help on these.

oops, Montparnasse not Montmatre

Hi il,

Before you buy a railpass enter your itinerary at www.railsaver.com and click "only if it saves money".

((I))

First of all, you usually cannot make reservations of any sort more than 60 days out.

Trains for Bern usually leave from Paris-Lyon. Earliest <b>TGV direct</b> departure I could find is at 7:44 AM

I cannot answer your question as to how you book a TGV ticket on the SNCF site using the particular pass you'll have but it may only require you to have a seat reservation.

I don't think you can just book reservations on sncf.com. Railpasses are really a private agency's product, I think, although they certainly cooperate and participate in them. So, I don't think you can reserve on their website with your railpass.

I use www.raileurope.com for convenience in checking schedules, times, and simple things. That should work for you. They show those trains leaving from Gare de Lyon in the morning. They have at least one from Gare de l'Est, but that takes a lot longer, so maybe isn't a TGV. (I think the name is Bern, not Berne, on there).

Anyway, I think you can use raileurope to just make a reservation, they have a place to check about that, and plenty of FAQs. they aren't cheap due to some handling and mailing fees, but I don't know what they charge. YOu could ask.

YOu can make any train reservations on a French railroad from any station. I think that is true for any rail company in all countries, you don't have to go to one station where a train leaves from (which would be a nightmare if you wanted to reserve for another city).

I don't know the odds of open seats the day before, probably that would be okay, but I don't know. There isn't any train station in Montmartre, though.

No like Christina says i believe not possible to reserve with a railpass except for going to the ticket window in France. Or paying more and going thru RailEurope in US. Usually you can reserve TGVs without any problem for a 3 euro fee in France - however there have been reports on some lines, namely Paris-Nice trains that railpass seats are doled out in an allotment - several folks have told me that when they asked in Nice for example about railpass and TGV reservations they said there were none available for the train but that they could buy a full fare ticket for that same train. Thus on this line in peak periods i'd reserve as early as you could. But generally on other lines i've never had problems. If you want to reserve in US i always advise BETS (www.budgeteuropetravel.com) for their expertise and though a RailEurope agent, don't charge some of their fees i believe. Fridays and Sundays are busy days on the Paris-Avignon-Nice TGV lines. And there are usually alternatives - if can't book direct Paris-Nice train - you book Marseille-Paris TGVs and take local train to Marseille, etc. I think on Bern train you shouldn't have much a problem but if can't get on direct one you can take any of several TGVs to lausanne or geneva and change to Swiss trains to Bern. Yes you can make TGV reservations in any French station. For schedules you can also go to the German rail web site - www.bahn.de if have trouble with French site - but trains may not be loaded for July - as times rarely change just try an earlier date to see samples of trains. For a quick way to access the German site's English timetable page, which has schedules for all of Europe, go to BETS home page mentioned above and click on the link All European Railway Schedules and you instantly get the two boxes where you just put the cities in and get all the trains. The home page gives tips on how to use the fine, fine German rail site.

Thank you all for the input.