Purchasing train tickets for travel in France

All these routes will be a lot cheaper if you buy in advance, generally going on sale ninety days before travel. Book at tgv-europe.com, state that you are in the UK or Canada, and pick up the ticket in Paris at the station. The exception is the international trip to Bruges, which you need to book at thalys.com. I can't find the info out at the moment, but I believe that Thalys bookings open 120 days before travel. All of them will be direct except Bruges, when you will probably need to change at Brussels. Note that if you get a cheap advance ticket, you are strictly limited to a specific train, and if you miss it you will need to book again at full fare.

You can book Thalys trains up to 90 days in advance at thalys.com. For your destination choose "via Bruxelles-Midi/Bruxelles-Zuid" under the heading "All other Belgian Stations (ABS)". Your ticket will be good on any IC train from Brussels to Bruges. If you're so inclined, you could see a little bit of Brussels, return to the station, and hop on the next train. Or spend a few hours in Brussels on your way back to Paris. With the ABS feature added, the cheapest 2nd class discount fare ticket is €36.00 each way. If you wait and buy your tickets at the station, you will pay €96.00.

SNCF is not Rail Europe. Because it's easier to a quote from Wikipedia than type it out myself: "The SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français; "French National Railway Corporation") is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure owned by Réseau Ferré de France (RFF)." Rail Europe is a travel agent, selling tickets from SNCF (and many other transportation companies). You can - and should - buy tickets directly from SNCF and the others in all but a very few instances (some night train reservations, rail pass reservations, etc.). In these cases, you'll typically pay a premium for RE's services, but they cover a gap left by some rail companies; you may run the risk of not getting a place on a night train if you wait until you're there, for instance.

I just bought some tickets on line at www.tgv-europe.com. If the the ticket has no regional trains involved, you can print your tickets at home and bring them with you. Website shows prices, so you can find good deals when you pick your train. As previous poster said, you are buying a nonrefundable ticket, so you must make your train or pay the price. Important: note on the website give your location as UK, not US, otherwise you will get bounced to the raileurope USA website and can't see the best deals. Must be some kind of international licensing agreement between SNCF and Raileurope.

Definitely purchase these tickets in advance, as soon as you are certain of your dates. I was able to purchase a TGV ticket from Avignion to Paris the day they went on sale (either 60 or 90 days in advance) for €25, which is a great price. I was able to print them out on my home computer. I said my home country was Canada.

SNCF is Rail Europe.

They sort of are, Eileen. Or rather, SNCF is not RE, but RE is SNCF, mostly. Three of the 4 entities of RE are wholly owned subsidiaries of SNCF (or mostly); only the US branch is shared. According to the US RE website About Us page: with the French National Railroads (SNCF) and the Swiss Federal Railroads (SBB) as majority shareholders.

Thank you - this was most helpful. I've purchased my tickets and am set. Appreciate the good advice.

Nigel, that doesn't contradict what I said, and I agree with you. I said they aren't the same thing - RE doesn't own and run, nor co-own and co-run, the nat'l rail of France. According to Wikipedia - which is as much research as I'm doing on this ;-) - the ticket split b/n SNCF and RE is about 50/50. As a comparison - I'm a shareholder in Apple, but nobody is confusing me with Tim Cook... Donna, I'm glad you got your tickets, and I hope you saved some $$$, too, that can be better spent on The Fun Things!!! Have a great trip!