marie

Four senior citizens want to take train from Avignon to Paris in October. What is the best way to get tickets and which train is best? Thanks for any help.

Sue

You can either buy tickets on the SNCF site and pick them up in Paris or call their English number and order them sent to your home if there is time (two weeks). The number is [011-33] 892-35-35-39 seven days a week from 7 am to 10 pm (French time) daily. The tickets cannot be bought either place earlier than two months before the journey.<BR><BR>If you order them on the sncf.com site, be sure you click on the "Decouverte Senior" fare (25% off); it will automatically give you the "Carte Senior" fare, which necessitates buying a card--not a good idea for a single trip.<BR><BR>There are many TGVs (fast trains) to Avignon every day, so take the one that is most convenient (or cheapest, some are cheaper depending on the time of day).<BR><BR>Will you be picking up a car? There is a new TGV station that is on the outskirts of Avignon, but I think there are still a few trains that go to the city train station (Avignon Centre), which would be preferable if you are not renting a car. You will be leaving from Paris, Gare de Lyon.

Philip

<BR>Marie,<BR><BR>A group of us are also traveling from Avignon to Paris this October. You may want to check out the answers I received to a similar post called "Could I ask you a couple questions about the train from Avignon to Paris?"<BR><BR>You can purchase your tickets 60 days prior to departure from "raileurope.com/us". Avignon TGV Rail Station (aka Gare Courtine) is where you will depart Avignon. You arrive at Paris Gare de Lyon 2 hours and 38 minutes later. The cost (tax title license) will be about USD $143. Hope this helps. The TGV is the fastest nices train.

tgv

<BR>Marie:<BR>There are about 13 TGV trains a day to Paris from the new station "Avignon TGV" and 4 from the old station "Avignon Centre". There's a shuttle in between both stations.<BR>Book on www.sncf.com (you can do it in English) as Sue suggested, and pick up the tix in Avignon, by presenting the credit card you used to pay them.<BR>Philip is right about everything, except that booking via sncf.com is a lot cheaper than via raileurope.com.<BR>Just did a random check for a July morning train and for 4 seniors (over 60), price per person is only 76 Euro ($ 71 at today's rate), for "Decouverte Senior". <BR>Have a great trip!

Sue

I would strongly urge you to buy the tickets through SNCF. Philip doesn't say if his ticket is 1st or 2nd class, but raileurope adds a hefty service charge to the tickets it sells. Plus it does not offer any of the discounts available from SNCF, like 30-day advance purchase or senior.<BR><BR>On SNCF if you were ordering more than 30 days in advance (J30 discount), your cost second-class would be 32 euro ($30) or 46-56 euro with senior discovery discount (depending on time). First class J30 = not available ; senior discovery = 75 euro ($70). This is quite a lot lower than raileurope and worth the effort, I think.<BR><BR>It is still possible to get a TGV from the central Avignon train station, but the Avignon TGV station (Courtine) is easier for dropping off a car.<BR><BR>An inexpensive way to call Europe (SNCF) is to use 10-10-811 (about 17 cents/min).<BR><BR>If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.

Gretchen

Actually while I agree with Sue about not buying from RailEurope if at all possible for your comfort level they do offer discounts--but then also charge the hefty surcharges. At least this was true 2 years ago.

StCirq

DEFINITELY buy from sncf. Last week I purchased TWO tickets (one for me, one for my son, who's entitled to a discount)from Paris to Avignon on the tgv for a total of ? 102.00

Susan

We bought our TGV tickets at a nearby SNCF office when we were staying in Paris in the Latin Quarter. (I think it was on St. Michel - your hotel could tell you the nearest office - we didn't have to go to a train station for the purchase.) We bought the tickets about a week before our departure to Avignon. It was very easy.<BR>The senior discount doesn't apply if you're not doing a round trip from point to point. (We were going to Avignon but returning to the CDG TGV station.)

Marie

Thank you everyone for the wonderful responses! I learned a lot, can't make reservations more than 2 months in advance, no senior discount if going one way, etc. We will be dropping off our rental car in Avignon, going to Paris to finish off our 3 week vacation and spending 5 days there! Will definitely use sncf and will attempt calling them. When I went unto their website, I was totally confused, probably because I was putting in October and they kept asking for round trip! Thanks again. Marie

tgv

Marie:<BR>Small correction:<BR>The 25 % "Decouverte Senior" discount does also apply on a one way trip. You just have to show an ID to confirm you are 60+.<BR>Do book early because there are limited seats for that rate.

Sue

Susan may have been thinking of the "Decouverte &agrave; Deux" couple discount, which only applies to RT travel. Senior discount applies to both one-way and RT.