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train reservations

Posted by (Goderich, Ontario, Canada) on

My husband and I have purchased a 4 country Eurail Select Saver Pass (Switz, Benelux, France, Germany) for this July. When we come from Lausanne to Paris we need to reserve seats on a TGV train and when we travel from Paris to Amsterdam we also need to reserve seats on the Thalys train.

Does $13/person for a seat reservation from Lausanne to Paris sound reasonable? What about $56/person for the Thalys train to Amsterdam? These prices are through the Rail Europe site. I cannot seem to reserve seats only using the TGV and Thalys websites.

Thanks for any advice,
Joanne

Posted by
19274 posts

$13 for a seat reservation on a TGV seems excessive. In Germany, the passholder reservation fee is €4,50 (~$6). Thalys, on the other hand, is considered a premium train not completely covered by a rail pass. The additional is a "supplement" for riding the premium train. Still I suspect the Rail Europe price and the European counter price are much different.

The lessons here are:

  1. Look before you leap. Make sure you know the price of the reservations you will need before you commit to a railpass.

  2. Figure everything out in advance. Today, with the discounts offered by national rail companies, and the difficulties of getting reservations anywhere else but RailEurpe and it's markup, it's probably not worth it to get a Rail Pass.

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