I have been trying to book my train from Amsterdam to Paris on Sept 15. I had tried several websites, including the Thalys site. For the dates, Sept 15 & 16, nothing is offered. I can book a ticket on the day before, the 14th or after the weekend, on the 17th. So I know, I think I know, it has nothing to do with booking less than 90 days out.
Does anyone have any insights? Gare du Nord closing for that weekend???
Search "Thalys not running Sept 15" and you get: https://www.thalys.com/nl/en/traffic-info, it's not running, planned engineering in France Sept 15 and 16. Afraid you will have to link regular intercity trains (8.5-9.5 hours) or take a cheap airline if that's the day you have to transfer.
You're right, no trains shown on https://www.thalys.com/ for 15th or 16th September, but plenty on 14th and 17th.
I looked on Eurostar (London to Paris), same result. But I can't find anything on either site that explains why.
Long-shot, but see if SNCF is runnung from Brussels to CDG and then piece it together. Thalys goes to Gare du Nord, SNCF to CDG.
Going to Larry's link, and clicking for details ( https://www.thalys.com/nl/en/traffic-info?news=20351 ), it says:
Engineering works on the High Speed Rail Lines in France
Dear customers, due to planned engineering works on the High Speed Rail Lines in France, booking tickets for the following dates is not yet possible: 8 & 9 September and 15 & 16 September 2018. The reservation shall be back online as soon as we receive confirmation about the impact on our traffic and the final transport plan is made. The re-opening of the ticket sales for these dates is expected by end of June. Please accept our apology for the inconvenience.
I.e. They probably will run some trains, but as of today they don't have enough information to know which trains will be running.
I would check the website at the end of June. From the announcement above, it looks like they do not quite have their plans finalized. If you have to be in Paris on the 15th and the rail site is not letting you book a train by the end of August I would look at flying.
Thanks everyone.
Guess I should have scrolled down farther on the Thalys website. Though you would have thought they could have have put a notification on the 15 & 16th instead of just a blank.
I guess my options are to change my hotel reservations in Paris, try to circumvent Thalys, fly, or wait until the end of June and see what Thalys comes up with. Guess I'll wait it out.
Decided to go with the flow. Changed my hotel reservation date in Paris.
That similar issue about Eurostar tickets was reported on a thread a few weeks ago (I think now deleted) but they have the detail at https://www.eurostar.com/us-en/travel-info/service-information/eurostar-travel-updates:
Engineering Works on 8 - 9 and 15 - 16 September 2018
On these two weekends, we've currently stopped selling tickets on services running to and from Paris.
This is because of planned works to the tracks near Paris Gare du Nord which means that our trains will be diverted away from the high-speed lines which we normally use.
Once our timetables for these days have been amended and tickets are available to book again, we'll announce the details here and also on our Twitter page.
