I seem to remember that I need to wait til closer to June to make a reservation. Is it worth the extra money to buy up from the cheapest ticket. It appears that the next higher price has a reserved seat. Is that important? thanks sue
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
All TGV tickets have reserved seats, even the cheapest. You can't travel on a TGV in France without a reservation.
Whether you book early and get a cheap price, or book later and pay more it is the same seats on the same train. So book as soon as bookings open and get the cheapest price.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Summer bookings for TGV will open tomorrow, Feb. 5, according to an email I received this morning from www.capitainetrain.com, so I would go ahead to reserve the cheapest tickets, which you should expect to be nonrefundable and nonchangeable.
Rick’s France rail travel page has the link and tips for buying “Prems” rate TGV tickets through SNCF (cheap, reserved, nonrefundable, available three or four months ahead of your travel date) to print at home and pay with PayPal. It does not tend to work with US credit cards, unless you have an extra level of security set up.
Posted by
Eugene, Oregon...Formerly Ventura, CA
2262 posts
I saw that too, it looks like they will release in stages, so I'll just copy it in here:
**Partial opening of SNCF summer sales*
For the first time this year, the summer sales of SNCF tickets will open in two phases. From Thursday, 5th of February (tomorrow), you will be able to book your trips from 3rd of July to 30th of August to the French Riviera, the Basque Country, the Auvergne and a few other destinations. You can take a look at the map above for reference. Some of you will notice that Bordeaux and Lyon are missing: they will be part of the second sales round.
Second round? Yes, other destinations like Brittany and Alsace will be available on 2nd of April. But don’t worry, we will send you a reminder later.
And if you plan a trip in May or June, as usual, these tickets will be available 3 months in advance**
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4088 posts
SNCF is gradually widening its window for advance sales. Anyone can sign up at http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/ for promo notices. Newcomers are sometimes confused by one class of train, iDTGV, which is available Paris-Avignon. These are low-cost seats in special cars attached to the regular train. They can be purchased well in advance.