point to point rail tickets in France....now? or later?

Hello Sharon,
Here's how it looks:

Paris St. Lazare to Bayeux takes just over two hours, and will cost you anything from 19€ to 32€, depending on what time of the day you go. Info per the SNCF website.

I tried looking up a price for the journey from Bayeux to Brussels, but could not find price info on it. The sites wouldn't concentrate. It does take just under 5 hours though.

I would advise that you buy the tickets as far in advance as possible, because that is how to get them cheaply. When I arrived in Belgium this year, I waited until the last minute to get a ticket to come down to Lyon, and it cost more than 2 times what it should have, had I planned earlier!!

Also, another thing I would advise is to begin in Brussels and work your way down to Paris, then go to Bayeux. It is more logical that way and may be easier to plan...

I wouldn't stress too much about buying p-t-p tickets now. (Except for the dropping dollar). I have never had the same experience the previous poster had, unless the rail company was running a promotion or something.

I have never found a difference in prices between buying on line or in person or in advance (except for special promotions).

I think the SNCF gives you a slight reduction for reserving on line but all you have to do is explain that you don't have a french bank card or don't speak french and they will honor it. The advantage to dealing with a person is they will work with you to find right train and reservation. Worst case is that you are travelling on a weekend/summer/start of school vacation and reservations might fill quickly. Still 3-4 days in advance is all you really need.

Paris-Bayeux: The standard 2nd class fare is 32€. Booked far enough in advance (up to 90 days allowed) at www.voyages-sncf.com, you can get a Prem's fare of 15€.

Paris-Bruxelles: The Librys standard 2nd class fare is 82€. The Smilys return (round-trip) fare is 55€. It is only sold as a return so book an arbitrary return date and throw away the unused portion. The Mini fare is 25€. Thalys is having a spring special. If you book between 19/03/08 and 16/04/08 for travel between 01/04/08 and 19/06/08, you can get a half-price fare of 41€.

You can book up to 90 days in advance at www.thalys.com. Choose France and English. The Mini fare sells out FAST so you need to book the very day the 90-day window opens to have a chance of getting it. You'll need to be almost as fast to get a Smilys fare. I don't know if there are limits on how many seats are allocated for the 1/2 price spring special fare.

Thank you all so much for the information. I am just outside the 90 day advance. I will begin my search again in a few days.