I logged into TGV-Europe and reserved two tickets from Rouen France to Paris Saint Lazare. I chose to print my own tickets, which I did. However, I'm not sure they have printed out correctly (never having done this before). The ticket part is in the upper left hand corner of an 8 X 11 inch page, and there are instructions on the rest of the sheet. I clicked on what needs to be legible and all seems OK to me, but I'm not sure about the size. Does anyone have experience with this? Thanks.
Posted by
Honolulu, HI, USA
408 posts
I cannot speak to TGV but I understand your concerns!! We booked SNCF and printed our tickets at home, on 8x11 (i.e., not A4) paper. Yes, I too was a bit worried about these being actual "tickets" since, in B&W the important parts were rather hard to read. Also, I didn't see how these could be "composter" (validated) at borading time. I fretted until we got to France, where I checked in the SNCF Boutique. I was assured they were fine ... and they were. On the train I saw that the majority of folks had paper, home-printed tickets.
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
TGV tickets are the same as the SNCF tickets, from the same state-owned French railway firm. I've printed them out at home several times and had no problem with presentation at French train stations.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15791 posts
Yeah, I remember I could barely read the printed ticket (Paris-Amsterdam) last summer, but I was the only one who had a problem with it. Everyone else who looked at the ticket was fine with it.
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
Hi Sharon,, I booked a daytrip to Rouen online and enjoyed a visit there about a week ago. I booked tickets about 6 weeks ago and got a great price( 25 euros return) even staff at Gare ST Lazarre commented on the "bon prix"!
You don't really have a ticket yet,, you need to redeem it at the station . YOu enter the station, turn to your right( you are taking a Grande Ligne so watch for those signs) and there will be the ticket office in corner, its large so you won't miss it. I went day ahead to do this as I didn't want to go too early to wait in line.
When you redeem your ticket they will ask for the CC you booked it with, make sure its with you.
Before you board the train you must validate your ticket by shoving it in the yellow( I think they were yellow) machines at head of track. Just watch other people. You can compost your ticket as soon as you want, not just before boarding.
The Grande Ligne lines are usually tracks 18 and up,, so keep on right hand side of station as you watch the big board hanging from cieling for the track number to be posted. You can also check board at end of track.
Sorry if this is too much info,, I just enjoyed my daytrip there so much,, I wish I had booked either a longer day or an overnight.
Posted by
OP
Santa Rosa, CA, USA
1446 posts
Thanks so much to all of you. This has been helpful.