I am researching and comparing Eurail passes vs. point-to-point for my France Travel. My question is that on the sncf website, it appears that there is a $25 (or $25E) additional fee for TGV reservation if you have a Eurail pass- does anyone know if a) I am reading it accurately, and b) is that $25 per person?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Shelby
Reservation fees are per person. If you can commit to specific departure dates and times, booking point-to-point tickets ASAP (up to three months allowed) will be much cheaper than a rail pass.
The TGV seat reservation fee with a Eurail-brand two-country or Global pass is $25 per person, but reservation prices start at $11 with a single-country France pass. See notes on Rick's France rail page: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/france-rail-passes. You can book passholder reservations through the US web site where you buy your pass, not on the SNCF site. Whether you choose a pass with reservation or the advance-discount point-to-point tickets, seats are limited and it pays to reserve one to three months ahead of your travel dates.
Note that if you have to change TGV to TGV on your journey, change trains that is, that that fee is per person per segment so you would be paying twice. And that SNCF ration passholder availability on TGV trains - if no more passholder reservations are available you will have to wait for a train which has availability - even though there are many empty seats - or pay full walk up fares for the train you want.
You may well find that buying non refundable TGV tickets with no pass is considerably cheaper. Many here can help you with that if you would like.
Great responses and confirmation, everyone. It was about what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure with people who have actually been there. Thank you all again. This is a wonderful resource!
Shelby
