I will be traveling from Paris to Chamonix July 18th with a France railpass. All the trains seemingly require a reservation for the first leg of the trip. Can I do this now? Will it fill up during that prior week I am in Paris? Are you given a confirmation of some sort? Sorry to be packing alot of questions in, I have only taken one train requiring a reservation before but I was just winging it. This time I want to be more organized.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
If you want to be sure to get a seat on a TGV departing at a specific time, there are several reasons why it would be a good idea to buy your seat reservation now instead of when you arrive in Paris. (1) You will be traveling during the height of the tourist season. (2) You will be traveling on a weekend. (3) SNCF (French National Rail) limits the number of seats it allocates to passholders for any particular train.
You can buy your reservation from Rail Europe.
Posted by
OP
Philadelphia, PA, USA
39 posts
When I go on the Rail Europe site it says that my options for my railpass from Paris to Chamonix on july 18th are one of two. Both require taking a night train. Is this right?
When i enter from Paris to Chamonix on the RailEurope site, it has me taking the overnight train to St. Gervais Les BA, then a 40 minute train ride to Chamonix. When I enter a reservation for from Paris to St. Gervais, it gives me a much cheaper reservation, and a way more reasonable length of time to get there, 5 hours as opposed to 11. I greatly appreciate some advice on this matter.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
No, you certainly do not need to take a night train. You have several daytime choices.
If you need complete timetables--and you do--Rail Europe is not your friend. It only shows timetables for trains for which it sells tickets and it doesn't show routes that require multiple connections.
Use the timetables on the German Rail site. After you get summary timetables for Paris to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, click on the arrow to the left of the departure time(s) of your choice to see the connecting points.
You will see that depending upon when you leave Paris, you will take a TGV to one of the following towns where you will make your first connection: Bellegarde, Lausanne, Annemasse, or Lyon. The only leg for which you will need a seat reservation is from Paris to one of those towns. Buy your seat reservation from Rail Europe from Paris to whichever of those towns you choose. All your connections after that will be on regional trains and no reservations are possible on them. Just get on the train and show your pass to the conductor.
Posted by
OP
Philadelphia, PA, USA
39 posts
Tim, your help is much appreciated.