Calling all rail experts

The Saver passes can be a good value, but I think you might be able to save some money with advance fares directly from SNCF, the French national railway.

The disadvantages of this are that the tickets are restricted (and you'd be giving up flexiblity about when to travel) and you would have to navigate SNCF's labyrinthine web site to buy them.

Seat reservations are required on the TGV trains, and wouldn't wait until the very last minute, unless you don't care which train you will take. You can buy them at any train station in France.

You don't say whether Nice is a destination or just an airport--if the latter you could also price tickets from Rome to Marseilles or even Toulouse, both of which are closer to Montpellier than nice.

Rena,

Yes, it makes sense to fly from Rome to Nice, as that trip would be somewhat longer by rail.

I haven't checked, but I'm assuming that the trip from Paris to CDG airport would use one day of the rail pass?

One important point to note, is that even when travelling with a Rail Pass, you will need to pay separately for reservations, on those trains where they're compulsory. Usually the high speed trains such as the TGV and ICE trains require reservations.

I don't normally pay "in advance" for reservations. My usual practise is to arrange the reservations (or tickets) for the outgoing journey a few days before I'll be travelling (usually when I arrive in a particular city - I'm at the station anyway, so it makes sense to do it then).

You might check the "Rail" section of this website or the "Rail Skills" chapter of Europe Through The Back Door, as there's lots of information there.

Happy travels!

Very few ICEs (just the ICE Sprinters to Berlin, I think) require reservations. I was on an ICE yesterday (Köln to Hannover), and there were many unreserved seats.

In fact, I sat in one. When I bought my ticket (Dauer-Spezial) online, the reservations were only an extra €2 so I said, "what the heck." Well, the train would have been one of the ICEs that is out-of-commission for wheel inspection. The substitute train didn't even have a seat with the number on my reservation, but the train was half empty, so I could sit almost anywhere.

I second Adam's concerns- is Nice just an airport stop or an actual destination in your itinerary? Marseille's Marignane airport (code: MRS) has a decent amount of flights. You can also save big money by booking train tickets online at TGV-Europe.com or Voyages-Sncf.com. To navigate the "labyrinthine" rail site, start with the TGV-Europe site. Keep the country of collection at FRANCE, then click "Search." The page will change into French. Leave the information alone and click "Rechercher." To combat the oddity that is Voyages-SNCF.com, I have written a Step-by-Step Guide to the SNCF. If you have trouble, reply to this thread.


To redeem a free bonus on a rail pass, you must use a Rail Day. Do not waste you precious rail days on an 8E train trip.

Thank you everyone. Martine, your help with the French pages is much appreciated. I did see a big savings on the SNCF site, confusing as it is! With that savings I don't think we'll need the Saverpass after all!

Nice isn't a destination. We're coming from Rome and the cheapest way I can find to get near Montpellier is to fly into Nice. Can't find any cheap fares to Marseille but clue me in if I'm missing something!

I agree with the others that a railpass will not be cost effective. A Prem's fare for Nice-Montpellier can be as low as €17. A Prem's fare for Montpellier-Paris can be as low as €35. Standard fare tickets should still be cheaper than a railpass.

FYI, in Paris a railpass would only cover your trip on the RER B from Gare du Nord to CDG. You would still have to buy a ticket to get to Gare du Nord. The fare, with transfers on the Metro and RER, from anywhere in central Paris to CDG is €8.40.

I checked a couple of budget airline search engines and found no cheap flights from Rome to either Marseille, Montpellier, or Toulouse.