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Catching a train to France


Kitty
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1. I need to know a website for finding out details of catching a train from a British station e.g. Bristol to a French station e.g. Bordeaux - all on one ticket.

2. Do the ticket prices vary throughout the year?

3. Can tickets be bought at the last minute?

4. Are tickets transferable? e.g. if you buy a return and then decide to extand your stay, can you change for another day?

With thanks in advance for your advice, Cathy

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The best site for finding out about trains in France I have found is

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de

After you have the information you need go down to a local station, not during the Monday morning rush hour, and then talk to them about fares. It is the only website I have found which gives Marne la Vallee as alternative for changing trains at Lille or Paris if you start at Waterloo and want for instance to go to Poitiers or Angouleme.   

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You have to book the UK sector separately but the above site will let you book from London to Bordeaux.(via Paris or Lille) Fares are not so much seasonal as dependent on the time of day and the speed of the train, although popular holiday periods get sold out more quickly. It is usually cheaper to start your journey from late morning onward as these tickets are not bought by people going on day trips.The cheaper the ticket the less flexible it will be as you have to have a reservation on most fast continental trains; you can't  just jump on any train you like as you do in the UK.If you are able to commit to catching a particular train on a particular day you can make great savings, if you need full flexibility it can cost you 2 or 3 times the price. Good luck, it's a great way to travel!
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Difficult to say without knowing when you'd be travelling, but I could see adult return fares from £99. There is also a Carte Enfant that gives you reductions for a family with at least 1 child under 12. (Available through SNCF) I don't think that the fares compete with the budget airlines but as I have a phobia about flying any amount is worth paying to keep me on solid ground!
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I am happy to spend hours or days looking out of a train carriage

window in the company of my own thoughts (something impossible in a

plane, I find - one cloud very quickly looks like another), so I've

always rather fancied that idea of travelling back to the UK by train.

Unfortunately, every time I try to use the SNCF sites they either

crash, or no seats are available or they want about €600 return. Are

there any other sites that might handle rides FROM France? I had rather

hoped that Thomas Cook might do something being as what they used to

publish their incredibly useful European timetable (is that still

available? Got me out of a few holes in the past...), but I can't find

anything from them either (I may be being stupid). Ideas anyone?

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AFAIK, Thos Cook still publish, but timetables are updated monthly, so work out dear if you need to travel at different times of the year.

Having said that,

a) most trains DON'T alter.........but what would you like to bet that YOUR connection would be one that DID?

b) Thos Cook will almost certainly post you a timetable, or I could if you really want one?

Jeff

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Lots of excellent replies here and I think Kathy C in particular has really summed things up very well.

The Lille transfer is easiest but if you do the Paris Gare du Nord to Montparnasse transfer I would be inclined to take a taxi across Paris, if there is one that will take all of you with you luggage.

I once cashed in a single tickets that I didn't need to use, Strasboug / Paris / Angouleme, I went into a local (Fr.) station a few days before the date of travel and they just credited the amount to my credit card, no problem. as others have said, it depends on the type of ticket and the conditions that go with it.

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[quote user="Alcazar"]

AFAIK, Thos Cook still publish, but timetables

are updated monthly, so work out dear if you need to travel at

different times of the year.

Having said that,

a) most trains DON'T alter.........but what would you like to bet that YOUR connection would be one that DID?

b) Thos Cook will almost certainly post you a timetable, or I could if you really want one?

Jeff

[/quote]

Thanks Jeff - and thanks for your offer. We've got some friends coming

over in three weeks, so I will ask them to bring a copy. People often

ask what they should bring that "you miss from the UK" and I don't have

the heart to say that the only thing we miss is them, so I always ask

for Marmite. We currently have six pounds of Marmite in stock (enough

for about 4 years as I am the only person in this household who eats

it) so henceforth I shall ask for the latest copy of Cook's.

I had another look as thomascook.fr - it is possible to book trains on

there...but the reservation is done through a window from the SNCF

site, so it amounts to the same thing[8o|]

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Thank you everyone for helping me on this question.  I have been debating whether to fly, drive/sail or take the train to my French house near Bordeaux and this has helped me.  The problem with flying is the cost of parking the car.  Even though I use a B&B place to store the car near Bristol airport, the cost still mounts up.  I ask friends sometimes to take/collect me but how often can you do that?

Another question: does anyone know the rough cost of a taxi from Gare de Nord to Gare Montparnesse (if that is the station that goes to Bordeaux)?

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