We are using our four country select rail pass to go from Colman France to Paris on Tuesday, Sept.9.
We would like to leave about 11 am. In preparing for this I was reading that I should have reservations too and that they can be hard to get. Can someone tell me the best way to proceed?
Posted by
San Jose, CA
1994 posts
I waited until I was in France to make those reservations, trying to make them about a week ahead. Don't do that. And it was on a Paris to Colmar trip that I had the most problems.
There were plenty of seats available; however, none could be purchased by a pass holder. Consequently, I had to leave a segment of the pass unused and buy a full fare ticket. The only alternative was to wait until a seat for a pass holder was available, and in my instance, that would've meant waiting more than a day. This is a significant issue any time you are trying to use a pass in France.
Hopefully somebody who did advance purchases can chime in on the specifics of on line reservations. Otherwise I'd suggest you query the vendor from whom you purchased the pass.
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3165 posts
If you go to the RailEurope site, you can purchase reserved seats. Opt for online delivery. Then all you need is the alpha code to enter at the train station. Her's a link Let's Get Booking I'd reserve ASAP.
Posted by
OP
19 posts
The site you suggested would not even let me enter the name of my pass. I did get it through Rick Steves though. I guess tomorrow morning we can go to the local train station and see what's up. Thanks everyone for your help.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32790 posts
Are you in France now, kid?
If so you can go to any SNCF train station, or in many towns and cities there are "SNCF Boutiques" which you can also visit. I find the SNCF Boutiques easier as there are comfy chairs, you sit across the desk from somebody instead of a ticket window at a station and most speak some English.
If the train you want to take is a TGV (either via Mulhouse into Gare de Lyon, or via Strasbourg into Gare de l'Est) and you have a railpass you MUST ASAP try and buy your seat reservations. This really must be ASAP. Really.
There are only a very small number of TGV passholder reservations available - they are strictly rationed. Especially as it sounds like you are not very flexible with your dates or times. You should not be surprised if only 5 days out there are none left on the train you want. There are probably plenty of seats available for purchase if you want to buy a ticket but maybe not passholder reservations.
Don't be tempted to board a TGV with a pass and no reservations. All tickets will be checked during the journey and if you are caught you should expect to have your pass withdrawn (taken from you and destroyed) and have to pay the fine that somebody with no ticket has to pay - very expensive.
So close to your travel day you need to sort this out ASAP.