Please answer some rail pass questions for me.

Perhaps Rouen, about an hour's train ride from Paris. It has a famous church that Monet painted. Or Lyon, about 2 hours. It's just a really neat French city with lots of sights. Good luck.

"We are 2 adults, 1 youth, 3 children (4-11), and one infant.

"Will we be expected to have some kind of pass for the two-year old?"

That doesn't make sense.

There's a lot you don't say, so this is speculation. But I suspect that if you were to reorganize your trip to fly home from Nice, and buy train tickets instead of a pass, you would spend less and (more important) save a day on the train that you could spend in Paris or Nice. You'd definitely save money of you could snag those discount fares.

If not, a good use of that extra pass day, in my opinion, would be an overnight stop in Arles or Avignon or Lyon.

What are the dates you would be traveling Paris-Nice and Nice-Paris? The cheapest discount tickets may already be gone for regular TGVs, but you might be able to get relatively cheap seats on the iDTGV each way that would total less than railpasses. (iDTGV tickets can be booked farther in advance than regular TGV tickets.)

In response to my post not making sense, there are 3 children who are between the ages of 4 and 11. They are required to have tickets. The two year old is considered an infant (ages 0 to 2) and does not have to buy a ticket. I do not know, however, if the non-paying 2 year old still has to have a pass of some kind.

When you fly, a 2 year old does not have to pay but must have a boarding pass. So, I want to know if I have to have SOMETHING for the 2 year old.

I have to start and end in Paris. It has to be roundtrip.

Please let me know if you need any more info.

All help is appreciated.

Thanks

Cecily:
Please note that the under 2 year old only flies free when flying domestic. There is a charge when flying international. This is normally 10% of the full adult fare I believe.

You should check this out with your airline ahead of time or you may be in for a shock at the airport. Also, you can request a bulkhead seat and a bassinet (not sure if this will be too small for the 2 yr old) ahead of time.

Thanks Arnold.
I was just giving the airplane example to clarify the question I am asking for the rail:

Do I need to get some kind of pass for a non-paying child age 2?

Is the combination of a Saverpass (2 adults, 3 paying kids) and a separate Youthpass (21 year old) the best combination for a necessarily roundtrip Paris-Nice trip?

I am sorry that I am not being clear. I hope this latest round of questions makes sense.

Thanks again.

I don't think you need any type of pass for the 2 yr old. In fact, I would even check on the 4 yr old as he/she may also be free. I know that in a lot of European countries under 5 or 6 normally travel free. Sorry I can't be of more help - I normally have just used point to point tickets for my travels.

Cecily, I'd still like to know what dates you will be traveling Paris-Nice and Nice-Paris.

Tim,

Sorry, you did ask that before.

Paris - Nice is on July 22, 2008.

Nice - Paris is on August 5, 2008.

I am actually traveling to Vence and am assuming I go to Nice then on to Vence. If that is a wrong assumption, please let me know.

Many thanks!

Yes, you need to go to Nice first and then take a bus to Vence.

If you definitely want to take a daytrip somewhere from Paris, then three-day France passes probably would be cost effective.

If you only want to go Paris-Nice and Nice-Paris, then point-to-point tickets booked NOW at www.voyages-sncf.com for the iDTGV each way would be cheaper than passes. Passes would cost $999.50 and you also would have to pay the reservation fee for each seat each way. Discount second class p-to-p tickets would be 233.40€ each way. Converted to dollars, your total for both ways would be $738.47. So your savings would be substantial.