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French train tickets

Posted by (Elizabethtown PA) on

Does it make sense to purchase French train tickets in advance for relatively short distances, ie. Toulouse to Carcassonne? Is there an advantage to purchasing a ticket with all of my destinations (Toulouse-Carcassonne-Collioure-Toulouse) on the ticket? This would be spread out over 7-8 days. Must I specify which trains I want to take in that case for each leg of the journey?

Or should I not worry about anything in advance and just plan on purchasing an individual ticket for each segment of the trip at the train station when I get there? This travel will take place in October 2019.

Thank you!
KN

Posted by
3990 posts

If your trips are on TER trains, there is no financial reason to buy them in advance. That being said, I like to have all my tickets so I only have to worry about lines once so I would probably buy all of them on the day of the first trip but if you are not sure of the time that you want to travel, I suggest that you wait and buy your tickets as you travel. There are some tickets on some train lines that can be good for up to 7 days from the date of travel that was purchased but I am not sure if any of those lines come into play for your trips. You can look at sncf.com/en to see the types of tickets available for your trips.

Posted by
5436 posts

Tickets are sold by the trip, not unlike one way plane tickets. Buying in advance can save money on the high speed trains. These are fixed to a specific date, time and train. There's no real advantage to buying in advance for the slower regional trains.

It sounds like you are unfamiliar with European trains and how they work. I suggest reading all you can on the Man in Seat 61 website.

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