Train Travel in France - Advance Tix, or Just as You Go?

I don't know where you are getting your info, but I noticed that Chartres to Versailles is a direct TER in about 50 minutes. Just buy at the station or with the SNCF app.

The reasons to buy tickets ahead of time are to get lower priced tickets and/or to secure a seat on a train that might sell out. For your first trip, that is a TER train and there is no cost advantage to buying early and there are no reserved seats. Thus, buy whenever you want. Versailles to Paris is a commuter train and again buy on your travel date if you want. I have no idea if the other trips are on TER trains but you could check on Trainline.com. Also, you do not have to go through Paris to travel from Saumur to Chartres and as Sam noted, same for Chartres to Versailles.

On the Bergerac-Nantes trip, the long segment from Bordeaux to Nantes is best done on a TGV or InterCites train. The fares on those trains (especially the TGVs) will be a lot higher if you buy them at the last minute or even a few days ahead. I see trains on that route for May 4 costing up to 178 euros. On another date there's a departure costing 200 euros. In addition, some trains are full.

I'm seeing good prices on an Intercites routing departing Bergerac (via Ter to Bordeaux) at just after noon (times vary slightly from day to day).

You can explore options for your travel date on the SNCF Connect website.

Sam, Either my memory was faulty, or my SNCF site navigation was.

JHK & Acraven

I have paid for Bergerac to Nantes on SNCF site for 85 Euros for the two of us (seniors), in late May. Far less than what Acraven mentioned. I have emails and Reference codes (all printed out) but no tix unless the emails and reference codes work. Pretty much the same for Nantes to Blois for 92 Euros for the two of us. Emails and codes but no actual tickets. LATE NOTE: FINALLY figured out how to navigate to the ticket and print it. Code plus full name does not work. Code plus LAST-NAME-ONLY. Incroyable!

Our friend in Nantes can help us with Saumur to Chartres. (Thanks for the redirects on that, though there are still likely two transfers, perhaps only one, and a journey of 3-1/2 to 4 hours in any case, which makes travelling though Montparnasse seem like it may still be a good alternative). The rest all seems quite simple.

Merci.

Sam, Either my memory was faulty, or my SNCF site navigation was.

Don't know which it is, but this is a commuter line. There are 11 trains between Chartres and Paris Montparnasse between 6:05 am and 8:35 am M-F, all stopping at Versailles Chantiers on the way. There are 5 trains on Saturday in this time slot, and 2 on Sunday.

you can use a couple of other websites to assist as well - rome2rio.com; seat61.com; parisbytrain.com - sometimes train travel is explained better on these sites than SNCF.

I would never use rome2rio for train information. That website is dicey at the best of times, and there are other resources that provide what you need--especially Seat61 for background and SNCF Connect for schedule and pricing specifics.

Interestingly, our clients yesterday hadn't bought their return tickets to Paris from the Loire Valley.

At 6:30 they bought first class TGV tickets at Tours station for 36€ each, for a train due to depart 20 minutes later. I'm not saying it would always be like that, but it gives the impression that trains aren't selling out.

We paid over 4 times as much on the thalys the year we got last minute tickets to Amsterdam compared to the year we bought several months out. We once got VERY cheap tickets on the TGV to Reims last minute because the cheap tickets had not sold out.

On TER and local commuter trains it doesn't matter although I like to have tickets the day before so I don't get hung up and miss our train the morning of -- that has happened. But you only need them well in advance on long distance trains like the TGV and Thalys.

Train tickets can be purchased through the Rick Steves website. Last week, I spent 2 hours trying to book travel from Arles to Paris using the SNCF website. As a novice, I could not negotiate the SNCF site, I could not find morning trains, and I could not purchase tickets. I gave up and tried the Rick Steves site. I was able to easily purchase 5 tickets on a morning train in just a few minutes.