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Purchasing train passes and collecting TGV tickets

Posted by on

Hi all,
Our current plan is to arrive in Paris from Brussels on the Thalys, and then leave 4 days later on the TGV. The arrival in Paris will be at Gare du Nord on a Saturday, and then for the TGV we leave from Gare Lyon on a Wednesday. I have used the Paris metro system before, but that was almost 10 years ago, when I purchased the 10 packs to tickets. As I the trip gets closer I have been researching the options, and I am getting more confused by the minute. Can someone clarify:

When I go to the SCNF site I see these several options, please tell me if I am correct:

Day Pass (from 7.50 €). Is this valid for 24 hours, or does it expire at midnight on the day you purchase?
Weekly Pass (this seems like the beast deal, but only works Monday to Sunday, so not great with our dates).
Youth Weekend Pass does this apply to all youth, or only people from the EU?

Which brings me to the cards:
Navigo Découverte - Costs 5€, can load day, week or month pass, but could not load the T+ individual or ticket packs. Could weekend passes be loaded?
Navigo Easy - Can put individual tickets and 10 packs, and day passes, but not weekly passes....No weekend passes either?

I am trying to make sense of what is our best option. It seems like getting day passes (youth weekend passes for the kids) for Saturday and Sunday and then the Weekly Pass would make the most sense. But would I have to purchase two cards per person?

One final question, would we be able to print to TGV tickets at Gare du Nord?

Thanks in advance.

Posted by
2703 posts

You really only have 3 full days in Paris. Unless you plan on traveling outside the city, I would simply purchase 4 Navigo Easy cards at 2€ each and load them with 10 tickets t+ each at 14.90€ or 7.45€ for those aged 4 to 9 years old.

If your children are 10 or older, you might consider the zone 1-3, Jeune weekend pass at 4.10€ per day, Saturday or Sunday. I am not really sure that this would save a great deal.

Posted by
136 posts

@Tocard,
Thank you for your quick response. We will be arriving on Saturday at 10:00 am, with 4 adults and two teens. We leave Wednesday at 10:20 am. So I am counting 4 days.

Posted by
571 posts

It seems like getting day passes (youth weekend passes for the kids) for Saturday and Sunday and then the Weekly Pass would make the most sense. But would I have to purchase two cards per person?

It almost certainly doesn't make sense to get a weekly pass on a Navigo Découverte for less than 2 full days (Monday and Tuesday morning). The cost of a Navigo Découverte card is €5 and the weekly pass is €22.80 so that would be €27.80 per person. Even if you planned to take multiple far-flung excursions to zone 5 of the transport network on Monday, an all-zone daily pass loaded onto a Navigo Easy card is €17.80.

Just to answer some of your other questions:

Day Pass (from 7.50 €). Is this valid for 24 hours, or does it expire at midnight on the day you purchase?

It's calendar-day based and expires at midnight, with the exception of the Noctilien night bus network which you are allowed to take until 6am the following calendar day (source)

Navigo Découverte - Costs 5€, can load day, week or month pass, but could not load the T+ individual or ticket packs. Could weekend passes be loaded?

If you want to purchase a youth weekend pass for your teenage children, I would recommend loading it onto a Navigo Easy pass. For reasons I mentioned above I don't think it makes sense for anyone in your party to pay for a Navigo Découverte card.

One final question, would we be able to print to TGV tickets at Gare du Nord?

Yes, there are ticket machines that you can use. Make sure you are using an SNCF ticket machine (they often have yellow as a prominent color) and not a regional Paris Île-de-France ticket machine.

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