train travel in France

It is reasonable to purchase tickets early only if you want the great discounts and are willing to be locked into specific travel dates and departure times. I'm not stating this in a negative way as this is the way we travel. We are good travel planners and firm train departures are part of our plan. We've never had a problem. Tickets are usually non-exchangable and sometimes non-refundable as well. When you can get an 80Euro ticket for 9Euro in Italy, this works. Alternatively, if you want more flexibility in your travel, and you are willing to pay full fare everywhere, you can easily buy tickets in France to anywhere you wish to go 1-2 days in advance. Finally, as of the first of the year, France will be withdrawing from the 3, 4 and 5-country Eurail pass. If you want a bit more assistance planning your trip, a lot of us can help. Just ask specific questions. For buying train tickets on the French rail system, go to www.tgv-europe.com. On the upper right area, choose Great Britain as your Ticket Collection Country. If you pick USA, you will be switched to RailEurope which we don't recommend. You can purchase tickets up to 90 days in advance. If these are TGV tickets, you will get a quick email and you can print your tickets out at home. If they are Regional train tickets, you can still purchase them but you will have to pick them up in France. Don't worry about having to go to Great Britain to get your tickets. It's all done from your computer.

Shawn, yes there are France rail passes however you need to do some research to see if they are of value to you. Check out the info on this website. You can buy passes for from 3-9 days but there are caveats: there are add'l reservation fees for the TGV (fast)trains and the number of seats alloted to pass holders are limited on some (if not all) trains. A lot depends on how many train trips you plan on taking and how far they are and if you know for sure your travel days. For example, this summer I spent a month in France but I only took 4 train trips: Nice to Avignon, Avignon to Annecy, Annecy to Colmar, and Chartres to Paris. My trip was pretty tightly planned so I knew the days I would be traveling on the train so I checked into early purchase of point-to-point tickets and they totaled up to less than 1/2 the 4-day France rail pass (and that was without the add'l reservation charges). So, for me, the point-to-point tickets were by far the better value.

It used to be possible to get French rail passes that were second class. The second class saverpass (discounted for 2 or more traveling together) could be a real deal, much cheaper than first class. (And, they got you there just as fast!) If these are still available they are worth considering.

Depends on what /where/ how much moving around you plan to do. I buy my tickets online in advance and get really cheap tickets! Got Paris to Nice first class on idTGV for 40 euros each this past summer. Trips to places like Rouen, I have paid 25 euros for same day returns, could have gotten those for even cheaper but missed the biggest discount by booking a bit later. Have you worked out a rough itinerary?