I've been looking at train fares in France and most routes are on TGV and are very expensive. Has anyone tried buses as an alternative? I was looking at Colmar to Paris and also Lousanne, Switzerland, to Colmar.
I have used buses in Spain which worked great and were cheaper.
Barb
The TGVs are only expensive if you get the tickets at the last minute after the cheap tickets are gone.
Get your tickets when they are released and look for PREMs and iDTGV.
There are very few domestic long-distance bus services in France as the railways have a monopoly on inter-city ground travel, by government policy. You can find international bus services at www.eurolines.com.
We found out the hard way about bus service in France. A number of years ago we were caught in Rouen by a sudden railway strike. Our flight back to Canada was the following day so we HAD to get to Paris somehow. No buses so the somehow had to be a $300 taxi ride from Rouen to our hotel in Paris. We enjoyed the ride, though, and the driver was a pet.
Lausanne to Colmar is simplest by InterCity trains with one connection in Basel, so prices should be more moderate (or if you have some type of Swiss Pass, it would cover you to Basel). For the Colmar-Paris TGV, book as soon as possible, if you're within the 3-month booking window, because the lowest fares sell out first.
How do you book on the French trains? the DB site won't give me prices and neither will the SNCF French train site - not if you live in the USA. I must be doing something wrong???
Barb
Barb:
I have not done your itinerary before so I don't have personal experience. However, seat61 is an excellent site for train travelers that you might want to bookmark, especially for European travel quirks where you can book some trains on certain websites and some others on other websites.
Hope this helps.
Porcupyn
Barb,
DB is the German Railways site it will only sell tickets for journeys within, to or from Germany.
The general rule is you have to book on the site of the Railway company running the train you wish to travel on. But, I agree, the SNCF site is particularly user-hostile. For France (and some journeys in surrounding countries) there is a private site selling tickets which is a lot more user-friendly: https://www.capitainetrain.com
The trick with SNCF TGV tickets is to book 2-3 months in advance, then you get cheaper fares.
In general, if you want to find out how and where to book rail tickets, the best site with all the info is the abovementioned: http://www.seat61.com/ It even explains how to use the SNCF website!
On some routes you even have rival companies running the same route in competition, and you have to book on the right site (rather like airlines).
