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Anyway, aweatbu, to answer your specific questions, no, the Thalys trains are not the same as SNCF trains. Thalys is an independent high speed train serves running between Paris and Amsterdam and also between Paris and Koln, Germany. Limited Thalys trains serve Brugge, Belgium, and during certain times of year, they may add other destinations. The Thalys is different from the French TGV trains, which are run by SNCF. However, you can (I believe) purchase Thalys tickets through SNCF--but I never have.
On Thalys trains, if you book a first class ticket, you are served a light meal at your seat. You also can pick up free periodicals at the entrance of each Thalys compartment and there is a Thalys magazine that sometimes has helpful info about the cities the train serves. On the TGV no meal is served at your seat in first class. Thalys has its own ticket pricing structure. My own experience is that I can get discounted first class tickets even a day or two before the train I want (except for holiday travel), but that the cheapest second class seats tend to sell out more in advance. So whether you should wait until you get to Paris to buy the tickets depends on your budget. Finally, if you catch the regular non-Thalys train from Brussels to Amsterdam, then you don't save anything by buying a ticket in advance, as far as I know. www.thalys.com will explain more about their train system. FYI, all Thalys trains are red, the SNCF TGV trains are blue and gray. |
Again - not shouting, not roaring. Just 'emphasizing' as I think sometimes people read the last note or two, and overlook anything above - just meant to <b>emphasize</b> that, indeed, there <i>were</i> trains available.
I personally dislike the Thalys website, and find booking tickets on sncf.com to be a bit easier (in spite of the occasional quirks of the website). but either one will 'get you there'... |
Now, I'M concerned (not shouting..emphasizing :) ) I'm traveling during those sames dates and going from Paris to Bruges/Brussels/Amsterdam...I wasn't going to reserve in advance, just buy once I get there...but now, I'm thinking maybe I should buy in advance?
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lyb, which 'same dates' - the OP's October dates, or the IBC September dates..?
If you are going to be in Paris a few days, pop into an SNCF Boutique and get your tickets a few days in advance. (but buy online if you need to find discounted fares). |
travelnut,
October is when I'm going... I'll check it out tonight and see what the rates are. In a way, I don't mind paying in advance, then it's one more thing that I know is done and don't have to account for when budgeting. It's the first time I'm doing it all by train, so still figuring my way through. Thank you for the suggestion |
I went on line to http://www.voyages-sncf.com and ready to buy my tickets from caen to paris, roundtrip, went through the whole process but luckily before I got to the portion to put my credit card info, they had a message that the "Print your own ticket" option had currently been disabled. Darn! the only other option I saw was to have tickets mailed to your home but USA was not an option. Hopefully, it's a temporary thing and I'll try again tomorrow.
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I bought tickets for a day-trip to Rouen next month. I paid online and chose 'mail' (since they're <u>refundable</u>, I figured I'd try it). I ordered and paid on July 31, and on Aug 6th, they were in my mailbox.
The mailing address I used was (disguised to protect the guilty): Travelnut 1234 Main Street Big City, Florida USA FRANCE It cost them 000,53€ postage. I make no claims as to whether this works so well every time, so try only at your own risk. |
I also saw that "Print your tickets at home" had been disabled, so I selected the option to pick them up at an ATM at an SNCF station. Was that a bad thing to do? I figured we could just pick them up when we got there.
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TravelNut,
I was going to try that as well...putting my address and just leaving the France in, since there's no way to take it out anyway. :) I think I'll give it a shot. |
ok, but remember, my tickets are refundable, so if they don't show up and I have to buy more, I could get a refund....
discounted tickets are not refundable so if yours don't show up... :( |
<b>aewatbu</b>, here are the offices where you can pick up tickets (or you can go to any train station, ie. "Gare du....").
http://www.voyages-sncf.com/info_res...r/Adresses.htm |
I just went on the website and the printing option was back on. I was able to buy my tickets for Paris/Caen and print them. Now, I'm off to check out my other itineraries. :)
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