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France Eurail Pass

Posted by on

Hello, My 13 year old daughter and I are traveling in France this July. I am hurrying to purchase rail tickets and wonder if a France Eurail Pass is a good bargain. Based on my calculations the Pass is the more affordable option but I am worried I'm not understanding something.

Individual Tickets: (Euro amounts for both of us)
CDG-Arles 219 Euros
Cassis-CDG 191 Euros
Arles-Cassis 30 Euros

3 Day Eurail Pass 245 Euros (second class).

We plan to base ourselves in Arles and day trip to Avignon, Nimes, Pont Du Gard, and then go to Cassis and then back to CDG. I I read there is a 20 Euro charge for booking a reservation for Eurail pass holders but still that adds up to less than 440. I also read that seat selection is limited for Eurail pass holders so do I have to worry that when I see seats available now for single purchase those same seats may not be available when I try to book with a Eurail Pass? Am I missing something? Based on what I see 245 (plus seat reservation of 80 Euros on longer trips) is much cheaper than 440.

Thank you!
Lora

Posted by
6985 posts

France is not the most railpass-friendly country with mandatory reservations on TGVs. But if you are travelling next month, and have a child with you, a pass might be the best option in your case. Just make sure you have read The Man in Seat 61's excellent summary on when to buy a pass and when to buy single tickets: https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

Posted by
8977 posts

From where are you getting your individual ticket costs?

Posted by
28100 posts

Lora, thank you for your question. As a result of it, we now know that SNCF website is working properly at last. It has been out of commission for Americans for months.

Posted by
80 posts

Before booking those tickets, look at Oui Go. It's SNCF's discount train service. If you use them, you could pay around 145 euros.

For CDG-Arles you would book CDG-Avignon TGV on the Oui Go site and then a regional ticket to Arles. Oui Go would be a low as 33 euros each plus 7.50 for you and 6.50 for your daughter Avignon TGV to Arles. Total price of 80 euros.

Cassis-CDG: As low as 19 euros but most dates 28 euros each from Marseilles Saint Charles to CDG. Cassis to to Marseilles Saint Charles is 5 euros for you, 4.10 for your daughter. Total cost of 65.1 euros - or 47.1 if you're traveling on the day when tickets are 19 euros.

Posted by
2708 posts

If you are using the oui.sncf website, you should see all available trains, to include Ouigo trains.

Just checking a few days in July, I way CDG to Arles tickets as low as 50€ to 60€. There were more options from Gare de Lyon to Arles. July tickets from Cassis to Paris are available for as little as 70€. To make an honest comparison, you would need to clarify the dates you want to travel.

The SNCF intended to offer more tickets to pass holders than they have in the past but TGVs sell out, particularly in July. I would not plan any summer travel by rail unless I had firm reservations for the trains I wanted.

Posted by
5 posts

Thank you everyone. We ended up booking tickets individually. We opted to take Inoui instead of Ouigo for a variety of factors. Tickets for our routes and days were easy to book at this point so I did that. So far we have all legs booked and are excited to go. I spent my junior year of college in Aix so am excited to share this part of the world with my daughter. Thank you again!@

Lora

Posted by
979 posts

Hi Lora,

I am trying to book a train from CDG to Provence as well. What site did you end up using?

Thank you!

Posted by
5 posts

https://en.oui.sncf/en/ is the website I used. This appears to be the link to where you are sent if you click on "book now" on the main SNCF website. Is this not the right place? It was really easy to book from there.

Lora

Posted by
10213 posts

Glad you got your tickets and are all set, Lora! Hope you and your daughter have a great trip.

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