French Train Tip: How to find cheap TGV tickets
Good news for Cheapos planning to take the train in France: The SNCF offers a “Best Price Calendar” that makes it simple to find and book cheap TGV tickets for your trip.
But first, a quick reminder: Book your tickets in advance through the official site of the French railway, the SNCF.
Why book through the SNCF?
As we’ve mentioned in several previous posts, the cheapest way to buy train tickets in France (and throughout Europe) is to purchase them directly through the official railway websites and not through a third-party agency. It’s just not necessary — the official websites have English-language versions and they take foreign credit cards. You can do it!
Once you’ve purchased your tickets, you can simply print them off at home (or, in certain circumstances, pick them up at the station in France, showing the credit card you used to purchase them). There is no need for another company to mail you anything.
However, take note: When you arrive on the SNCF’s English-language site, you’ll be given a choice between continuing with Voyages-SNCF.com or being sent to Rail Europe, the US-based train travel agency. We recommend continuing with the SNCF, as this will allow you to see the same offers available to French customers, including all the discounts and sales. Many of these special offers will not be promoted on the Rail Europe site.
To be fair, there are certainly some good reasons American travelers might want to book through Rail Europe. Customers wishing to talk to someone on the phone or wishing to have US-based customer support will certainly appreciate these things. Also, anyone interested in purchasing Eurail passes should go through the agency.
However, in terms of booking the best deals for point-to-point train travel in France, you’re best bet is to go directly to (and stay on!) the official website: Voyages.sncf.com.
The SNCF Best Price calendar makes it easy to find the cheapest tickets for your dates.
Best Price Calendar
Once on the site, click on the SNCF’s Best Price Calendar, where you can enter your departure and destination cities and travel dates. The website will show you the best ticket prices for a five-week period, highlighting the best deals.
The screenshot above shows a search we did this morning for high-speed train travel between Paris and Avignon six weeks from now. Look at those prices! As low as €25 for the three-hour TGV journey! This is truly a bargain.
Note that these results show tickets for both the normal high-speed TGV trains and for the iDTGV, the TGV’s hip spin-off that travels just as fast, but offers cheaper tickets and limited internet-only customer service. However, they use the same train stations and offer quite similar experiences.
Once you’ve selected your journey, you can choose your seat, pay, and download and print your ticket.
Bon voyage, Cheapos!
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only problem is when you go to purchase tickets on English GB site it only allows UK addresses for CC. How do you get around this?????