We are flying into London in late March for a couple of days and then going onto Paris for 10 days. I wanted to find out if there are any special packages or plans that I should consider for Rail travel. I have never taking the train from London to Paris and want to share the experience with my wife and children but also want to take advantage of any packages that would be useful when in France to see some of the other cities via rail for adventures. Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
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2 Comments On Rail Passes and such
ng1111: Check out raileurope.com or sncf.com. Those are very informative sites and you can actually purchase passes/tickets. Donerail
Hello All,
Ng1111, this is a really good question. The Eurostar is by far the best way to go from London to Paris and/or vice-versa!
If you want to extend your travel by train (go to Provence for a few days) then you may not need a One month Pass. If you just go from Paris to tours, then buying the tickets alone will end up being less expensive than buying a pass.
Additionally, purchasing rail travel passes is a bit of an issue from the United States. The main reason is that the SNCF (the French state-controlled) rail behemoth has a monopoly on the management and the sale of rail tickets for all of France.
Their French website is good to find out about prices (if purchased from France) and timetables, but little else.
If you want to purchase a pass, you need to make sure that you will travelling at least 3 days within a month, otherwise it’s really not helpful. If you plan to go around France and stay a few weeks, then a Pass is a really great thing to have. If you also want to go see other european countries within the same trip then, again, rail passes are a great way of doing some of the travel.
Travel agents in the US can issue rail tickets fro point to point travel, and while a bit more expensive that if you buy at the French railway ticketing office, it offers the peace of mind of having a ticket in hand for the right dates. These are actually issued by Rail Europe, the US marketing and sale arm of the SNCF.
Now, there are actually 2 parts to a point-to-point ticket: the ticket itself and the reservation for the seats. On certain trains you can do without a reservation, but on other trains these are mandatory (that’s the case for the TGV lines, for example). You need to keep in mind that the US agents cannot make reservations for dates that are 90 days prior to the travel date, so you have to wait to be within the 3 months period for purchasing point-to-point tickets on the TGV line.
OK. Now you’re really confused ;-).
In response to your question, you can buy a Eurostar ticket for going to Paris, on the Rail europe site: .https://visitfrance.travel/frame_raileurope.cfm
Look at the eurostar (it’s under Premier trains) and also point-to-point tickets can be purchased there (it’s right of the Eurostar on the center of the page.
Make reservations, you’re well within the 90 mark.
Write back if you need extra help