Train Reservations in France with Railpass

Without checking, that is probably correct or close to it. The seat reservation fee for a pass is often higher than the early purchase, discounted ticket available. Which is one of the reason that may of us suggestion that a rail pass is getting harder and harder to justify. And Rail Europe is not the best site since they tend to add extra service fees.

Most likely, this reservation is on the Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris. The Thalys train has the most expensive supplemental fee that I have yet found in Europe. Plus, at $95, I suspect that you either may have a 1st class ticket or that RailEurope has a very high markup on their services. Seats are also limited for passholders as well on the Thalys. All of this information is on the Eurail website. Here's what I see there for Amsterdam/Paris for reservation fees. Fees - 2nd class: €39 / 1st class: €62. The fees are not that bad on other train systems although the new Paris/Milan day train on the TGV will be about the same.

Carol, That price of $95 for a reservation I would say is probably close enough after the conversion from Euro to $. It 's because Amsterdam-Paris is a Thalys route. Only their trains travel that route. Thalys charge horrendously high prices for reservations...totally not worth it. That's one reason to avoid Thalys. You could consider the real option of flying from Amsterdam-Paris. Does your Pass include Germany? If so, another solution is open to you. It basically costs you a day of traveling, whether it's worth it or not depends upon your time constraint. You take the longer route by going through Germany (That's why I ask if it includes Germany). Take the early Amsterdam-Duisburg ICE direct, transfer at Duisburg to Frankfurt on ICE direct...both these legs require no mandatory reservation. With your Pass you can just hop on. At Frankfurt Hbf you have time to catch the 1301 departure to Paris ICE, (on this leg there is a mandatory reservation...for second class 10 Euro...they will look for that first before your Pass), arrival 1650. This round-about way cost you 10 Euro, since the rest of the distance is already paid for by your Pass.

There are no budget airlines that fly Amsterdam-Paris. Single (one-way) tickets on national carriers are very expensive. Unless you're willing to take a cheap but slow Eurolines bus, Thalys is your best choice, even with its high passholder fee. Booked well in advance (up to 90 days allowed) at thalys.com, you can get a discount fare point-to-point ticket as low as €35.00.

That is not the reservation but the ticket price. You may be too far out on your date or there may be no reservations left for that particular leg. You can call them on telephone with US phone number. We booked reservations on train from Switzerland to Paris and the reservation was only $11USD It was a TGV train and we are going first class. This might give you an idea. Note: make sure you get all your reservations at one time as they have a handling fee. You cannot get Italy reservations with them though.

No, that is the reservation fee. Going from Switzerland to Paris is a different rail company with different policies and that experience does not translate to the Amsterdam/Paris route.

Here is what the eurail website has to say and I quote, " Thalys trains are high speed trains that serve select international routes between France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany. Thalys trains appear with a "THA" in schedules. Railpass holders may ride Thalys trains, provided that their railpass covers the entire ride. Eurail, Europass, and Eurail Select passes (covering the entire ride) are valid. Belgian, Holland, France, and Germany Single-Country Passes are not valid. Pass holders must pay a 15 Euro railpass-holder reservation fee to ride Thalys trains. Several travelers have reported difficulty making this special type of reservation, as seats in this catagory often sell out. Make your Thalys reservations early in your trip to avoid this problem. You can specify that you accept "Standby Seating" - which gets you on train, but does not guarentee you a seat. If you cannot get a reservation, or your railpass does not cover Thalys trains, or you wish to avoid the Thalys reservation fee, use the following table to find an native to each Thalys route. There is a table below which gives some ideas if you are coming up with problems in booking reservations. I would still give raileurope a telephone call and see what they can do.

Laurie, Where on the Eurail site did you find the information you quoted? Like Larry, when I checked the Eurail site I found the passholder fares listed as €39 for 2nd class and €62 for 1st class. The same fares are given on the Thalys site. The $92 passholder fare is what Rail Europe charges. That's €68 at today's exchange rate.

tim, the website for the eurail pass reservations info I quoted was www.eurailinfo.com. I still think that giving a telephone call to Rail company would probably reassure and clear up things.