Eurorail Pass vs. SCNF Tickets

A Eurail (note spelling) pass for two days in one month costs €122, seat reservations not included. You can get a single ticket between Paris and Strasbourg for €45, or if you are willing to travel on Ouigo for as little as €16.

You might want to redo the maths.

Are you perhaps comparing by looking at SNCF tickets very close in (e.g. tomorrow or the day after)? SNCF long-distance rail tickets are like airline tickets in that they vary in price and get more expensive the closer you are to departure, so if you are booking very close in some trains are going to be expensive.

But if you're planning a bit ahead of time you can buy further out, which will mean cheaper prices. And SNCF's TGV (important note: not including Ouigo) refund and change conditions are quite generous. There are no change or refund fees up to 6 days before departure; starting at 6 days prior a €19 fee is charged.

The con of one of these passes is that you do not obtain firm reservations without extra expense and space for Eurail holders is very limited. What website are you using to conclude a pass being cheaper? I have never found that to be the case, particularly for travel in France. To compare prices use the official website: https://www.sncf-connect.com/

OP here. I'm looking at travel December 17-22. When I price on the SCNF website for 6 people, it's $790 (745 Euros) for 2nd class. When I price out the Eurail 1-country, 2 day pass for 6 people (including 2 children that are free), it's $486 for 2nd class. I read someplace that seat reservations tend to be about $13pp, so even incuding them, it still seems cheaper.

Did you check what the Man in Seat 61 says about passes in France? Rick seems to be down on them at the moment.

Does SNCF itself offer a pass?

On the 17th I see single tickets for €49, but on the 22nd it's harder. That close to Christmas, tickets can be expensive and a Eurail pass might look more attractive. A seat reservation on the TGV costs €10-20 normally but there are a limited amount of them and they might sell out long before the regular tickets do.

@IcedCoffee52, You may want to check to see if there is way for you to find out if reservations are available for pass holders for any of the trains that work with your schedule. Reservations for pass holders sell out even on empty trains. I learned that the hard way when we missed a train for which we had a reservation and had to purchase tickets on the later train at full price because no pass holder seats were available. That later train was maybe 30% full. It was a very painful lesson and the last time that I used a pass.

6 people trying to find 6 Eurail pass slots at a busy travel time of year may be in for a disappointment; there are limited reservations allowed for Eurail pass holders so having the pass doesn't mean you'll get on the train you want. What if they only have 4 slots?

There is a Ouigo train at 8:01 pm on Dec 21 for 132 EUR for 4 adults and 2 kids. Ouigo trains are bare bones trains, like bargain airlines. You get 1 piece of luggage and 1 personal item. no services on-board, so bring water and snacks.

Passholder reservations at 10,- euro are limited, but reservations at 20,- euro are available as long as there are seats. So if you see that you can still get ticket for a particular train you should still be able to get reservations as well.