I just returned from a wonderful vacation in France. We traveled from Paris to Tours via the TGV train. We booked the tickets online in the States and found it very easy/convenient to pick them up at a SNCF boutique (located throughout paris) instead of waiting in line at the station. One word of caution though...we didn't know we had to validate our tickets prior to boarding the train. On our outbound trip, our tickets were not collected by train personnel. It was only our return that they were checked and we had to pay a fine. Even though our tickets were for the day/time/train that we were on, we still had to pay. The fine is 10Euro per person. They did give us a break though and only charged us for 2 of the 4 passengers. I guess there are validation machines on all of the tracks that you must insert your ticket for a validation stamp. Wanted to pass this along so others don't get fined like we did.

Nice of you to post the reminder, Gina.

That's a good reminder.

The yellow validation machines are located at the beginning of the platforms.

This is the same in Italy. We did forget on the EuroStar, but the conductor let it slide

I've noticed for a few years now that the orange "composters" aren't always so obvious. I have to make a conscious effort to remember to use them.

You'd think they'd be bigger and more in the way to remind you to use them. Unless they WANT to collect those fines.

This is true in nearly every European country. In France there are constant reminders posted, in French, not to forget to 'compostez votre billet,' as this cancels your ticket and it can no longer be refunded. Some trains have no conductors on them so this is the way to cancel tickets. Tickets bought through Rail Europe in the U.S. don't have to be cancelled, you just need board the train. In France the little orange metal stamping machines are at the entrance to the tracks - you insert your ticket and the machine date stamps it, thus cancelling it. If you don't cancel your ticket you could be fined for not traveling with a valid ticket though conductors may give you a break if they think you're a naive tourist.

Sorry, but point to point tickets DO require validation regardless of where they are purchased..passes do not need machine validation after the initial validation nor do seat reservations.

Ooops..let me qualify my remarks above..point to point tickets need validation UNLESS they are for a specific date and a specific train..sorry.

Actually, Intrepid, I think you are right the 1st time, the tickets bought for specific trains DO still need validation. It's only the passes that do not need to be stamped. Also, since it doesn't HURT to stamp them, I just stick everything in...better safe that sorry!

I think you do need to stamp passes too... on our night train from Venice to Vienna, some VERY naive college kids in the next compartment hadn't stamped their passes (which effectively shows that one day is used). The conductor wanted an enormous fine on the spot, which of course, they didn't have! He finally "fined" them by punching two days off their pass, which cost them a lot, but not in actually cash. I couldn't believe that they bought passes without knowing that you had to validate them, but they did! (They also had no idea what station to get off...and no place to stay...and no clue what to do when they got there... very scary!!...guess we all do stupid things when we are young!)

Anne

You are supposed to WRITE the date on the pass for each date you use it to travel, and you are supposed to do it before you give it to the conductor (so in case you don't see a conductor you have effectively "cancelled" off one of your travel days). [This is for the 10-days-in-30 etc type of pass] You actually can't keep stamping those passes or the dates/times would all jumble on top of each other.

point to point tickets purchased through Rail europe in the US definitely do not have to be validated before boarding, just shown to the conductor - i've sold these tickets for years and have clarified this with Rail europe many times. Tickets bought in europe do usually have to be validated yourself before boarding.

It seems odd that RailEurope tickets would not have to be validated. Do they look like regular tickets? I have read that tickets that you print off the SNCF site do not need to be validated, but I suppose that's because they are really just a piece of paper.