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Decipher booking info on SNCF website

Posted by (lake forest park, washington, usa) on

Hi all: Help! I cannot find the meaning of "not bookable" on the SNCF website. Not in FAQs or elsewhere. We want to take a train from Paris to Caen on Thursday April 4. The Monday April 1 and Sunday April 7 dates show prices. All dates in between have a hyphen. ALL of them (including those with prices listed) say Not Bookable. Does this mean they are all booked (doubtful) or am I simply too early to book? Or what?

Also, Gare du Nord is the closest station to my AirBnB. When I enter this as my departure point, a row of letters and numbers shows up underneath. There is a 5 in a circle. 5 is the metro line to Gare du Nord so I chose the 5. Don't know if that was a problem because I am uncertain if my interpretation is correct? If not, and you can decipher, please inform me. also plz inform if that is the correct interpretation.

I'd appreciate info. We have a long trip planned in France with an internal flight, 2 car rentals, and several internal train journeys. I have asked and will be asking more questions. This site is incredibly helpful!! Thank you in advance!! Susan

Posted by
2679 posts

I think you're just a bit too early. There's plenty of direct trains on that line - give it a little longer.

Posted by
687 posts

You are too early and the trains to Caen generally go from Gare St Lazare. Paris has several train stations each of which has trains going primarily in one direction of the country so you don’t choose your train station, SNCF does.

Posted by
2545 posts

Try plugging in some dates in January. If you see bookable trains, it just means you can’t book yet for April (most likely).

Trains from Paris to Caen leave from the Gare St Lazare station. Your SNCF ticket will cover between these two stations. You need to make your way to St Lazare separately, either using a separate metro ticket, or a multi-day metro pass. Use the Bonjour RATP app to navigate the metro. Download the app and get familiar with it now, you’ll be using it a lot. Many lines go to Gare du Nord, but none go directly between Gare du Nord and Gare St Lazare. You will need to transfer.

Posted by
10190 posts

From Paris to Caen, you must take the train (and buy the train ticket) from the Gare St Lazare.

The Gare du Nord may be closer to your airBnB, but trains to Caen don't depart from there.

You will get from Gare du Nord to Gare St Lazare either by public transportation (for example, the 26 bus or the RER E local suburban train) or by taxi/Uber.

You can download the CityMapper app, choose Paris as your city, and see what routes it recommends between your lodging and Gare St Lazare.

Posted by
2296 posts

We did run into an issue last May when trying to book tickets from Paris to Bordeaux. The usual departure station for that is Gare Montparnasse, but the purchase wouldn’t go through. It turns out that the particular date there was engineering work on the track from Gare Montparnasse and they were using Gare Austerlitz instead. I finally was able to purchase just entering “Paris” as my departure point, but even those tickets didn’t become available until much closer to departure.

Posted by
121 posts

Thank you all, and especially for pointing out that I was trying to book out of the wrong station!

I'll wait until 90 days - that isn't long; and I'll try to book out of the right station then! Susan

Posted by
33819 posts

it is true that there is not a direct Métro line connection between the two stations but there certainly is a RER line, the newest one, "E". It is only one stop.

When you say you are closest to Gare du Nord, how close? Which direction? Bus may be easier or G7.

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