Travelling in France on Pentecost Sunday

I do not have specific advice for traveling on Pentecost Sunday. I will be in Paris from May 14 to May 21 and I have not even thought about Pentecost Sunday being an issue until I read your queries. I don't think it will make a difference on the Paris side of the trip and given that things are usually closed in small towns in France on Sunday afternoons, I don't think it will make a difference at the destination end of the trip. Are you planning to rent a car? If so, I suggest traveling to Auxerre and renting the car there through the Avis SNCF program that provides cars at times when the stations are open but the car rentals are closed. Generally, rural car rental agencies are closed on Sundays. Unless you are flying in on the day that you are catching the train, I recommend buying your tickets as early as you can because the lower priced tickets sell out. Tickets usually go on sale 90 days before travel and the lowest price tickets sell out first. The lowest priced tickets are usually non-refundable and non-transferable. I would look now for the tickets at scnd.com/en and if tickets are not for sale yet, sign up to receive an e-mail alert when the sales begin.

The price of the train ticket on those routes are fixed at 25 euros so you can wait til you get there. It is a regional train TER. A lot of trains scheduled on that route the day May 20.

Hi,

I was wondering the same thing as well as if we travel to a smaller town outside of Paris on that Monday will the town be shut down for the holiday? We wanted to travel to Lille or Strasbourg, but don't know if it is worth it on May 21.

Thx,
Ria

I must disagree with the statement that only TER trains with a fixed price are on the route between Paris and Auxerre or Laroche-Migennes (the station closest to Joigny). Many trains on that route from Paris are TGVs that go Dijon and then in Dijon one changes for the TER to the smaller town.

True and not true, JHK. Joigny is in northern Burgundy so one would take the TER. It’s a couple of hours by freeway or TER from Joigny to Dijon. It would make sense to go to Dijon via TGV if the destination were in southern Burgundy. In fact, there are two separate sets of tracks: the TER that goes through towns, and the TGV that by-passes towns via the countryside. I’ve taken this exact TER for decades to visit family south of Joigny.

OP—the trains won’t have many people on a Sunday going south. The later in the day that you wait on Monday, the more people will be returning to Paris if it’s a 3-day weekend. Between Bercy and Joigny there’s only one stop, in Sens. The trains from Gare de Lyon are local commuter trains that make 13 stops before ending in Joigny. Joigny has a station; no change of train needed.

You may qualify for a ticket discount even on a TER depending on: the time of day and your age. Buy at the ticket window to see if you get a discount, rather than a machine. Don’t forget to have your ticket punched in the yellow machine. The basic ticket price on that route won’t change between today and your travel day.

I agree with Sunday being the busiest day, and Monday return will be horrible...
Most things will be closed on Sunday and Monday, anyway.

We are traveling by train from Nice to Paris on Sunday May 20th. Originally we had thought of going on Monday 5/21 but found the fares to be extremely high. I found out that 5/21 is a major travel day for a holiday weekend. Presumably train stations and airports will be very crowded on Monday 5/21.

If you can purchase tickets earlier than May 20, I'd do so. Things will be open then, and the trains might not be so horrible.
I'd suggest you do not book ticket with Candadian dollars, the Euro is the common currency in Paris.