Reserve train and plane in advance or just book tix there?

My experience is that flights between European cities are generally higher the longer you wait to buy them, and baggage can cost more if you buy at the airport.

I would not plan on a flight-to-train connection on the same day unless you leave a good time cushion.

Spontaneity has become expensive.

Ah, the eternal dilemma, price vs flexibility. The more flexible you are, the more you pay. If you commit even just 4 or 5 days in advance, looks like big savings. A fully flexible ticket from CDG to Lyon is 85 to 102 EUR, but if you stay in Paris a few days first, tickets are as low as 29 EUR, nonrefundable. Flights with say, Easyjet, are similar. There is a price for everything, and now you know the price of "flexibility".

I am always on a budget and find that when traveling by train for a long distance I get the best price by booking in advance. Same with airfare and accommodations.

Hi,

I did something similar on arrival day from SFO in 2014, but took the train instead, landed in Frankfurt at ca 10 am, which was on time but couldn't get myself out of the airport, ie just dilly dallied. But I gave myself four hours before boarding the ICE train to Berlin Hbf. Doing a connecting flight at FRA to Berlin Tegel was not an option .

My experience has been if you land in the morning, be it FRA or Paris CDG, or London going through Immigration/Border Control is done relatively quickly, a lot fewer people than the long lines in the late afternoon. After lunch at Frankfurt Hbf, at ca 1400 I took the ICE train to Berlin to stay the first night. I had calculated on getting to Berlin Hbf between ca 1830-1930.

Thanks for the replies. I arrive at 12:55pm from a connecting flight in Iceland, and the TGV to Lyon leaves at 2pm or 5pm. I may be the only person who doesn't have an interest in spending time in Paris! I have been there before several times, but prefer Lyon.

The thought of hanging out in the airport for 4 hours jet-lagged depresses me almost (but not quite as much) as missing the 2pm train reservation. (-;

We recently landed at 8 AM from Chicago and then went directly for our train to Normandy. We could have taken an earlier train but I too was afraid of missing the connection so we took a later one and had about 4 hours to kill in the train station. Luckily it had a mall in it and we were very jet lagged from the overnight flight so just hung out. Who knew we would be out of the airport with checked bags in less than 45 minutes and the drive into the city to the train station we would have no traffic. I was glad we were safe than sorry. Those non-refundable cheaper train tickets were worth the wait at the station.

Enjoy your trip.

If you are flying Icelandair, sorry to say, do not make plans requiring the flights to be on time.

I'm not saying they won't be, just not to count on it.

Quite apart from that: If you wait to buy train tickets on the ground in Paris, it will be expensive and you will have to wait to buy your ticket. A shame to miss that 2 o'clock because you were still queuing to see a ticket agent!

A better bet if you are willing to pay more is to buy a refundable ticket in advance. Or buy tickets on both trains, if that is cheaper, and throw away the one you do not need. if it's worth it to you, I mean.

By the way, last summer I found some cheap tickets on SNCF that were not for sale on the other sites, for the Lyon-deGaulle run.

Thanks for the helpful comments. Obviously I am wishing to have my cake and eat it too, but haven't been to Europe in over a decade so wasn't sure about the last-minute fares being higher like they are here.

I have decided (pretty much) that I will get a 5 day train pass so that I only have to pay an $11 reservation fee for the TGV. I think I will come pretty close to making it worth the money, and it will allow me to be a bit spontaneous within the 2 main countries I am visiting!

The SNCF has limits on how many reservations are available to railpass holders. You may end up needing to take a second-choice train or settle for a second-class seat.

If you want to be spontaneous, preserve the option of flexibility but have a limited budget, that still can be done without locking yourself in. It depends where you travel and what type of train, ie the time you're willing to take in getting to the destination. Traveling in Austria on the Westbahn gives the best flexibility and price. You can take a regional train, no reservations taken, maybe transfer once or twice but you pay a much cheaper ticket than going on the ICE or IC or the TGV in France. Compare the time invested Paris to Metz or Strasbourg on the TGV vs the regional trains.