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Night Train from Amsterdam (via Paris) to Nice - or should we fly?

Posted by (San Francisco, CA) on

Hi all,

Please forgive me if this is a silly question:

Crossing our fingers we make it to Europe. We are leaving for Amsterdam next Thursday, 4/22.

Assuming we make it, we'd like to arrive in Nice around the morning of 4/27. We are looking for options for taking a night train from Amsterdam (via Paris I assume) to Nice.

What the heck am I doing wrong. I just can't figure it out.

  • Important first thing I should note: Hubby and I would want to get a sleeper car, and just the two of us (not sharing a couchette with others) -- maybe that's not even possible or is very expensive for this route??

  • I started at sncf.com, it seems to point me to raileurope.com.

  • I went to raileurope.com; I see two options: $200 (pp?) for Economy 2nd class seats (not beds), or $526 for a spot in a Flexible 2nd class 4-person couchette. From what I can tell, it'd be cheaper (and quicker) to fly instead.

  • DB Bahn shows available trains, but each has a "not bookable via the internet" symbol next to them. None indicate a way to reserve the tickets or how to get a double couchette.

  • Also, is it indicated somewhere the price for a night train reservation when you have a railpass? I keep looking for prices "with railpass" and "without railpass", but I don't see anything like that.

Should we talk to a travel agent? I must be missing something obvious.

Thank you thank you,
Jennifer

Posted by
6 posts

Thank you Steve and Tim, I appreciate your quick posts. The volcano seems to have gotten worse since i wrote this last night, so our entire trip is in the air at this point. We're going to take our chances and wait a few days to make a decision. I do see a good deal at transavia.com, about 210 euros pp for a 2 hour flight (ams->nce). It's only about a half-full at this point so that's an option, too.

Thanks again,
Jennifer

Posted by
8700 posts

It will NOT be cheaper to fly. There are no discount airlines that fly Amsterdam-Nice. The best fare on Air France is €422/person.

Book the 17:16 Amsterdam-Paris Thalys train at www.thalys.com. Choose paper ticket. At this late date the cheapest fare you can get is €92/person. Print your own tickets (if you're given that option) or pick them up in Amsterdam.

Book the Paris-Nice night train at www.tgv-europe.com RIGHT NOW to get a fare of €119/person for bunks in a 4-person couchette. Say you live in Great Britain and pick up your tickets in Paris.

Your total cost will be €211/person, exactly half of what it would cost you to fly--and you save the cost of a night in a hotel.

The Amsterdam-Paris Thalys train arrives at Gare du Nord. The Paris-Nice night train departs from Gare d'Austerlitz. Metro line 5 goes directly from Gare du Nord to Gare d'Austerlitz in 14 minutes and the fare is €1.60.

Posted by
8700 posts

You're welcome, Jennifer.

The reason I said that no budget airlines fly Amsterdam-Nice is because the search engine skyscanner.com doesn't list any. It turns out that I was wrong.

FYI, if you book a roundtrip ticket on Air France, it will be cheaper than a one-way ticket and the fare will be comparable to what you found for Transavia. Am I right in thinking that Transavia only sells RT tickets?

I hope the volcano quiets down so you--and thousands of other people--can fly as planned.

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