Arranging for train travel in France -

Linda,
You do not need to buy Eurail Passes.

You can buy point-to point tickets in advance (usually up to 90 days), at considerable savings, & keep more money in your pocketbook ;-)

• This is a very helpful site you may to read: www.seat61.com

• You can check train schedules here:http://www.sncf.com/en/passengers

• If you encounter issues buying tickets at above website (SNCF), you can use this one:https://www.captaintrain.com/#

• You may also want to buy your tickets for the Eiffel Tower now: http://m.toureiffel.paris

Edit:
I just searched the SNCF site for the tickets, Nice >> Avignon (I used May 20th), & received this message; "You are a bit too early…"
If you receive this message, you have the option to sign up for alerts (via email) when those tickets become available.

Then I checked for the same tickets with May 6 date (close to 90 days from today) & one can find tickets as low €25/pp!

Hope this helps!

If those are your only train trips and you know the dates of them, then you'll do better with advance purchase individual tickets than with a pass. And do note that some trains in France have senior rates for certain train times but not all.

I don't know what the secret is but I bought all my train tickets for France on the SNCF site using my VISA credit card with no problems. I just notified the cc company by phone that I would be using it on foreign websites BEFORE trying to make the purchases and it worked just fine. I've read about many others not being able to use their cc on that website so, if you have problems, buy the tickets on captaintrain.com.

Many thanks to Priscilla and Nancy.

Linda, I'm wondering what you decided to do about buying your train tickets in advance, specifically Nice to Avignon, where we plan to go mid-September. The reason I ask is that if I put in a date of 9/15, I get a fare of 21 euro per person, but if I put in a date in early July, I get the same fare, which makes me think there is no advantage in purchasing 3 months in advance. If you, or anyone else can give me your insight into this issue, I'd appreciate it. I do want to buy before we leave home, but the closer to our departure the better if it won't cost more or much more. Hope you had a good trip.

Hello Judy, We had a good trip. I was glad we had our tickets in advance. I hadn't explored if we saved money by getting them early, but I was glad to have them when we got to the station. It was easier than having to buy them there. No need to do anything except check the board to see where to board the train and if time was correct. Here is where it got interesting: we arrived at Nice station and were told that our train was cancelled. Why? There was a partial strike by the railway system. However, we had to get to Avignon and kept on asking various attendants if other trains were going to Avignon. We finally boarded a train (not the one for which we had purchased tickets) but the attendant said we could take it. We got in seats that at a later stop two people came to claim. However, I guess seeing we were older and my husband traveling with a cane, they allowed us to stay in the seats. This was the only time we had a cancelled train out of four trips. I am very high on train travel in France, but you never know when there could be a labor disruption. I don't know about the risk of this in September, but you must be a bit flexible. Also, we were told they give you about 20 minutes to get to the track after posting it, but we found it was more like 10 minutes. Usually there are stairs up and down to get to the tracks, and only sometimes an elevator (Lyon). This was difficult for my husband who had his carryon-on and hand bag, along with his cane. I had my own bags. I must praise the young people from every city: Nice, Avignon, Lyon, Dijon, and Paris!! In each case they could not have been kinder or more helpful to us with our bags. I was blown away.

Linda,
Thanks for your quick and helpful response!

Thanks for reporting back Linda. I'm glad to see you had only one train cancelled as it could have been way more. Also glad to see you had help from my compatriots . Hope you liked Dijon :)

I am very high on train travel in France, but you never know when there could be a labor disruption.

This year at least, any morning that the sun rises in the East, there could be a labor disruption in France.
The events you described as to the cancelled train is standard SNCF operating procedure. You can just get on any other train on the same route that day (and sometimes the day before or after), but you're not guaranteed a seat. When it happened to us an the Paris-Bordeaux route, we had to give up our first seats because someone else had reserved them, but there were plenty of empty seats.

Yes, we liked Dijon. We only got a little taste of it, but had one of the best dinners of our trip there. It was l'un des sens. Marvelous. It was a little hard to locate since it is at the back of a courtyard. Don't give up because it's worth it. We stayed at Le Petit Tertre where we hope to return some day. Charming and well located. Yes, we love France and French people. Very kind, polite and helpful, in our experience.

Thank you Linda, for the feed back and for the name of the restaurant I don't know (yet) as it was former "Clos des Capucines" which was good already. You make me want to try it and suggest it to my guests.

The name of the restaurant where I dined was l'un des sens at 3 Rue Jeannin, Dijon, France. I would be happy to dine at your restaurant, but I am no longer in France.

Linda I think I didn't express myself correctly. L'Un des Sens was called le Clos des Capucines 2 years ago and I 'm glad to hear that this new restaurant is very good. Voilà! :)