In making my trip plans, I'd like to book a rail trip from Paris to Bern, Switzerland, but the website tells me it is too early to book. For planning purposes, I'd like to know what it will cost, but I can't find where that information would be. Does anyone know? Thanks!
Posted by
Green Bay
21145 posts
Why don't you start with Paris to Basel. Right now, I can see the TGV Lyria direct trains out to Sept 20.
https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/tgv
Swiss trains generally only sell tickets 60 days in advance, but since the prices for full fare tickets don't change throughout the year, you can check the price nearby and find the price of Basel to Bern. When you get closer, you can check SuperSaver ticket prices for your day of travel.
https://www.sbb.ch/en
Posted by
Brooklyn, NY
4259 posts
That’s what I do, check the same day of the week for any week available. Just check the same time because that is usually where your fares differ.
Posted by
Green Bay
21145 posts
I should add: How long will you be in Switzerland? If touring there a while you might want some sort of Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card. That will effect the price you pay as well for the Swiss portion.
Posted by
Paris, France
112 posts
If it's too far in advance to book tickets then all you need to do to get a rough idea of schedules and prices for advanced purchased tickets is a few dummy bookings on whatever the rail website is for the country in which you plan to travel, though certainly that leaves at least a few websites to check (ex. if traveling between France and Belgium then there are a few national rail websites to check as well as raileurope, trainline etc.).
Anyway, pick your website and do a dummy booking for your planned journey choosing a date one or two days in the future to get an idea for the price of last minute ticket prices. Then pick a few random dates 2, 3 and 4 months in the future for the same journey to get an idea of the prices for advanced ticket purchase and what the schedules might look like. Chances are that the schedules won't change much once tickets for your future travel date become available.