Train tickets

It depends. Ticket prices increase as you approach travel date. But you lose some flexibility with the lowest fares because they usually cannot be exchanged.

More accurately, ticket prices don't increase, but the lowest fare tickets sell out quickly and you will pay more (full fare) the longer you wait.

The lowest prices on-line now for May are 15 euro Prems fares for select dates and trains. The next group are 31 and 34 euro Leisure fares. The full fare ticket is 40.30 euro.

We bought our Paris to Bayeux tickets 3 mos ahead and they were 15 Euro and we printed them out at home before travel; it was very convenient. If you are traveling immediately on arrival at CDG then you want to leave about 4 hours to account for late planes, slow immigration and the normal couple of hours it takes to get through processes and then into the city on the train.

May I ask which website you purchsed through? I'm a little confused on which site (other than rail europe) you can print at home and also have ease of use with the US credit card.

Rail Europe and Capitainetrain both take US credit cards. If purchasing the Prems fare (cheapest advance discount rate), then http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en works with PayPal, but not with all US credit cards.

I'd go with www.capitainetrain.com. Identical prices to the en.voyages site with no credit card issues.

I had no problems buying tickets to Bayeux for June on the SNCF site using American Express. I paid about 40 euros apiece for round-trip tickets that are exchangeable and refundable in case our plans change. This was only about 7 euros more than non-refundable tickets for the direct train on a Saturday morning.