Just to get a better feel for a country I%26#39;ve never visited before, I%26#39;m considering spending one of my 10 upcoming days in Paris on a high-speed road trip to Avignon via TGV. The guidebooks make Avignon sound like it might be a nice break from hectic Paris.
Since one of my main travel interests is photography, I%26#39;d prefer to wait and see how the weather is going to be in Avignon before bookng a ticket on the TGV. Am I likely to run into problems trying to book a ticket only a day or so in advance? Do they (like U.S. airlines do) gouge you for last minute purchases?
Is Avignon a good choice for a road trip or would another city be preferable?
Thanks,
MIKE
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Your choice depends on what you want to see and what you want to photograph. Giverny may be a good choice, so is Bruges in Belgium (as close as Avignon by TGV). You also have day trips to Loire castles.And I know I will get mean eyes by others for suggesting only these destinations. But remember you have to come back to paris in the same day so don%26#39;t go too far.
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They have last minute specials every week on monday at midnight. Thats a good way to get half price tickets last minute. If you stay a saturday night or travel with 2 or more you can get 25 percent off your ticket even last minute. Its still WAY more than booking well ahead.
You should have no prob getting a ticket last minute unless you are traveling on a major holiday. If you are wanting to take pictures from the train, be sure to book a duplex and sit upstairs.
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So what is the penalty for late booking? Is it like most U.S. airlines who might charge $500 for a trip booked on the day of travel vs. $200 for a 14 day advance booking.
Thanks,
MIKE
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There is always the possibility of a last-minute special / sale...but the range of 2nd class, ticket pricng PARIS-Gare de Lyon/AVIGNON will rune anywhere from 50 €uro for advance purchase PREMs fares to 300-360 €uro same day, FULL FARE (depending on whether %26#39;Peak%26#39; or Off-Peak%26#39; times).
Avignon would certainly be well worth a visit...but I would be inclined to do it as at least an over-night, rather than a same day-trip. Train tavel tim will run 3:00-3:40 each way.
Interesting day-trip destination cities to Paris might be LYON, or DIJON, within a 2:00-2:30 travel window,
In addition to these are numerous interesting DIY daytrips that are closer in to Paris. SEARCH: %26quot;..DAYTRIPS..%26quot; on this forum for specific details on which?...how to?... how much?...how long ? You can use this information to narrow your choices down to your own %26#39;..short list..%26#39; based on your own preferences and interests....then get whatever details are lacking for arriving at your own decision(s)/options. You can %26#39;..pre-plan..%26#39; a couple/few, gather the details and then decide on which one(s) when you are there.
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Mike: The highest full fare for Paris-Avignon for a direct train is 177.60 euros round trip in 2nd and 245.40 euros for 1st. You wont pay more than that day of. A Prem which is a advance purchase fare can be had for as low as 20 euros each way but right now I am not seeing anything less than 45 euros each way.
The iDTGV is another possibility and can sometimes be cheap even for last minute tickets. It has multiple fare levels like a discount airline and the price goes up as the seats are sold. For example for travel today on a classic TGV the fare would be 88.80 one way in second. On the iDTGV it costs 59.90 is second and 69.90 in first. The iDTGV travels once a day in both directions and is booked on the voyages-sncf website like all the other tgv tickets. Its basically a rebranding / cost structure test by the SNCF.
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I would also second KD%26#39;s suggestion of switching to closer cities, but I would like to correct the journey times he mentions. Here are the actual ones :
Paris-Avignon: 2h40
Paris-Dijon: 1h40
Paris-Lyon: 2h00
Keep in mind that the Avignon TGV station is in the middle, not of nowhere, but of the suburbs, and that it%26#39;ll take another 15-30 mn (taxi or shuttle) to actually get downtown.
Other possibilities from other TGV lines are:
Brussels: 1h25
Lille: 1h00
Rennes: 2h00
Troyes (non TGV): 1h00
Tell me what you are looking for exactly: Mediterranean atmosphere (Avignon)? Cute medieval provincial capital (Dijon, Troyes)? Bigger medieval provincial capital (Rennes)? European scale regional metropolis (Lyon, Lille)? A touch of the non French + nice Art nouveau buildings (Brussels)?
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Concerning the fares - I haven%26#39;t heard of such punishment for last-minute booking anywhere on European trains as you describe. On European airlines it is another thing :-(
The train organisation has a fixed %26quot;full price%26quot; for which you can buy a ticket at any given moment (for TGVs as long as there are places), plus a multitude of cheaper offers. You won%26#39;t pay more than the full price under any circumstances unless you buy from some reseller agency like Rail Europe.
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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;Concerning the fares - I haven%26#39;t heard of such punishment for last-minute booking anywhere on European trains as you describe%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;
Railways have adopted many of the same fare structure elements of computerized %26#39;..revenue enhancement / yield management..%26#39; programs that have been employed by the airline industry for decades...with fare / load %26#39;..blocking..%26#39; (assigning %26#39;blocks%26#39; of seats into varying fare %26#39;categories%26#39;with deep discounts for %26#39;timed%26#39;/ restricted, advance reservation--usually 28 %26amp; 7 day cut-offs); round-trip requirements; etc. These computer programs regularly review load and revenue factors and adjust fares accordinly. While it is now possible to get deeply discounted %26#39;last minute sale%26#39; fares, these fares may not be available for the days and times that you need to travel. The odds are that if you wait until the %26#39;last minute%26#39; the best that you can hope for is a slightly discounted %26#39;off-peak%26#39; FULL FARE. As an example, for a 2nd Class,round-trip.
As an example for a 2nd Class, round-trip PARIS/AVIGNON itinerary, you may pay as little as 50 €uro for a restricted, advance purchase PREMS fare (only available on-line) or as much as 180+ €uro for a %26#39;Peak%26#39; FULL FARE on the day of travel.
Take the time to %26#39;..tinker..%26#39; with the SNCF web site%26#39;s reservations system, using tommorrow, a week from tommorrow and an month from tommorrow to see how the fare system fluctuates, according to program--
SNCF--
www.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/_SvHomePage…
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Thanks for all the good advice. I really don%26#39;t mind a 3 hour train ride through an area of the world I%26#39;ve never seen before.
For those who take photography fairly seriously, the time window for good photography is fairly narrow: sunrise + 2 hours or sunset -2 hours. The light tends to be most interesting during those periods and fairly flat and uninteresting during midday. My thought is that if I get to Avignon about noon that will give me a couple of hours to scout out places to photograph before the light gets good. My guidebook says buses run frequently from the TGV station to the regular train station, just outside the city walls.
One final question. Can you buy TGV tickets at any train station or do you need to go to station from which your train will leave (Gare de Lyon for Avignon, I think)? In Rome they had multi-lingual ticket machines; do Paris rail stations have something similar?
Thanks.
MIKE
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There are multilingual ticket machines. However, in the past, they have not accepted foreign credit cards. There are some brand new machines that i have seen very recently at gare de lyon but I havent had a chance to test my american card in them so dont know if that has changed.
You can buy your tickets at any sncf boutique or train station. It doesnt have to be from the departure station ( Gare de Lyon). There are a few TGV that also go right to downtown but I think they take longer to get there than the ones that stop at Avignon TGV.
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