If I purchase a one way ticket in France to go from, let's say, Toulouse in the west to Nice in the east, may I travel over many days as long as I stick to that route....getting on and off along the way at places along the route? Some years ago I bought a ticket in Austria and traveled to Paris. I was told that I could use the ticket over many days, weeks, even months as long as I stuck to the route. I'm wondering if this is the case in France and Italy, Austria, Switzerland, etc?
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
If the train in question is a TGV, these have mandatory reservations. You won't be able to get back on a different train unless you have a reservation for your new leg. So, if you are taking TGV's, you would need to buy in segments if you wanted to break up the trip. I don't know how it works for other French trains.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
Sally, These days I VERY MUCH doubt whether you'll be able to travel "over many days, weeks, even months as long as I stuck to the route" using the same ticket. That certainly WON'T be the case in Italy. Tickets on Regionale trains for trips up to 200 kM are good for six hours only. If you travel on the Freccia (high speed) trains, you MUST have reservations which are specific to each train and departure time. If you're caught without a valid reservation for the train you're riding on, you may be fined on the spot! The fines start at €50 plus the cost of the reservation, and increase from there. The same fines apply to those riding Regionale trains with expired or invalid tickets! Based on a recent post here, it seems that the Swiss have now adopted the same tactics, so you can expect to be fined there also. I'm not as familiar with Austria and France, so will leave that to the others to comment on. The situation is now much different than "some years ago", especially as cash-strapped governments are scrambling for whatever sources of revenue they can find. Cheers!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
The short answer is that you cannot do this. If you are on a TGV and you leave the train somwhere along the way and your train departs without you, your ticket is toast. It's gone. On the Regionale trains, the ticket should be good for 60 days or so. However, you must validate it before boarding. When you validate it, the little machine places a stamp on the ticket showing the date and time. Once validated, your 60-day ticket is now good for 4-6 hours.