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No morning trains from beach/resort town in off-season?

Posted by on

I'm going to be in Le-Touquet-Paris-Plage for a concert, then heading to Brussels. The concert's not until March, but I'm planning ahead based on current schedules. Anyway, when I search for trains from Étaples Le Touquet to Brussels on any Sunday in June, July, or August, I see several options, the best of which is an 11:52 AM train to Brussels via Arras. But when I change the search to any Sunday in September or later, the earliest train is at 4:22 PM.

Is this because some of the trains aren't available for booking yet, or is it possible that the schedule is different outside of peak summer months? Le Touquet is a beach town, so that's why I'm wondering.

Thanks for you help.

Posted by
2494 posts

Probably either one or more of:
- Seasonal schedule difference. This is France after all, where consistent public transit schedules are considered a deadly sin.
- Trains not available yet.
- Planned engineering works in september.
- SNCF not interested in people not going to Paris

No idea what it will be in March. But you can assume there will be something,

Posted by
166 posts

I've learned that I can't check train schedules that far in advance, in spite of my need for reassurance before booking anything else (hotels, concerts, etc.). I usually plug in several dates within 30-60 days ahead just to get a feel for the frequency of trains. I suggest you look at the Man in Seat 61 for good guidance on train travel, booking tickets, etc. It's been very helpful to me.

Not sure where you're looking for tickets (SNCF?) but you may want to check out Trainline and EuroRail. Rome2Rio is a good site to get a feel for various transportation options, too.

Hope that is helpful.

Posted by
28069 posts

Be very, very careful about using Rome2Rio. It has proven to be wildly off-base as to fares, frequencies and travel times. I don't use it for much these days except to find the name of the bus company serving a route I'm interested in, and that information can often be found about as quickly with Google.

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