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My girlfriend and I are getting the Eurostar train to France next month, and we need to get a connecting train from Paris to Tours. I know I can book the train in advance, but can anyone tell me if it's cheaper to book in advance from the UK (in case of any targeted pricing of tourists), or whether turning up on the day to get a train would be cheaper?

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    Booking in advance from the voyages-sncf website will allow you to benefit from cheaper (sometimes non-refundable) ticket fares.
    – JoErNanO ♦
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 12:07
  • Do you (or anyone else) know how much it would cost to get from Paris to Tours (one way) on a Saturday if we just turned up and bought the tickets?
    – Ooberdan
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 12:25
  • 36.20 EUR See my answer below.
    – Maître Peseur
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 12:30
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    Do use voyages-sncf, and not the abooniable Rail Europe to book the tickets.
    – CMaster
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 15:39
  • I'd suggest using Loco2 or Capitaine Train - I find they both have much better interfaces than the main SNCF sites, and they sell at the same price!
    – Gagravarr
    Commented May 14, 2015 at 8:24

1 Answer 1

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Between Paris and Tours you can either take a TGV (highspeed train) or an "Intercités" (classical train). Both are cheaper when booked in advance. The full fare for a 2nd class TGV ticket is 65 EUR. Booked in advance it can be as cheap as 25 EUR. For Intercités the range goes from 15 EUR to 36.20 EUR.

You should also know that TGVs can sell out. If you are really unlucky and show up at a very busy day, there may be no more seats available.

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    Excellent - thanks André. That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for :)
    – Ooberdan
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 12:26
  • Note that the savers fares are often non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Hence you must make sure you don't miss your connection if your inbound Eurostar is late - leave enough time to make the connection.
    – JoErNanO ♦
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 13:03
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    @JoErNanO In theory, CIV protection should mean you can use the next available train if you missed a connection due to a delay (make sure you get your Eurostar ticket endorsed). In practice, separate tickets (rather than a through London-Tours ticket) might result in SNCF taking the view that CIV doesn't apply, but if you take the TGV, then Railteam's HOTNAT should let you get on the next train. HOTNAT has recently been extended to work for cross-Paris transfers.
    – Richard Gadsden
    Commented May 14, 2015 at 15:53
  • In addition to Andre's answer you should know that ticket prices may vary depending on the time of the day. For example a train leaving in the morning might be more expensive than one leaving at noon.
    – K L
    Commented May 14, 2015 at 22:27

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