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OUIGO anyone?

Posted by (California USA) on

We will be taking a quick 2 night, hand luggage only, trip away from our longer Paris trip this July. I've run across the very budget French train, OUIGO, and was wondering if any of you have taken it and what your experience was like.

I see their map of connecting cities and Strasbourg and some cities to the southwest of Paris are on our possibilities list. I looked on seat61.com and read about this budget train line. The one statement that was a concern to me was that even though you book now (for the cheapest fare) your tickets aren't emailed to you until a few days before your journey and must be printed at home or incure a fee. While similar sncf and tgv routes are 35-135€ most of the OUIGO routes are 15-16€. Also their times are considerably shorter on some routes.

Anyone used OUIGO and could share their experience? I did a search on this website and nothing showed up.

Posted by
26 posts

We rode OUIGO from Lyon to Paris in 2013 and were very happy with the whole experience. I can't remember how we got our tickets but it wasn't a problem. I found my email from OUIGO when I bought the tickets and it said that they would be emailed to me 4 days before our trip. Sounds like it is the same process as what you're seeing. We had already left home by then so I think we were able to print them out at the hotel we stayed at but I don't remember for sure. I'm sure if it had been a problem, I would definitely remember! I do remember that I loved the price!

Posted by
16895 posts

I've largely ignored OUIGO over their first few years of service, but they plan to significantly increase their departures and capacity over the next two years, so I guess we'd better get used to it. They now serve a couple of the in-city Paris train stations that are more convenient for the average traveler then going out to Disneyland/Marne-La-Vallee. If you're traveling with minimal luggage, it's probably a good fit for you.

At https://www.ouigo.com/faq?question=28090-imprimer-billet (in French) are notes about how you can get an e-ticket on your phone instead of having to print it on paper. I don't know why they only email it 4 days ahead, but assume that it helps them save money, like every other feature of the service. You also must be on the boarding platform 30 minutes in advance.

Posted by
4100 posts

Thanks for the feedback! I will keep OUIGO as a possibility for tickets on our upcoming summer trip which we are trying to finalize.

Posted by
8164 posts

I did Ouigo 2 times Bordeaux to Paris, the last being January 2018. The tickets came in my email. It is the same as theTGV except there is no dining car and in instances I took them there was no WiFi. It is no brainer when you compare the prices and the travel times to go the same distances in a similar amount of time as the TGV. Actually both are owned by the same company. You can download the app and your tickets show up there also.

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