Hi, I am visiting Paris in late June and I am planning on taking a day-trip to the Champagne region. Is it advisable to book a train ticket on the SNCF website before we leave or should we just buy our tickets from a train station once we get there? Is there a difference in price? If any one has any has advice/tips about the Champagne region I would love to hear that too!!! Thank-you in advance for your advice.
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You can get %26#39;saver%26#39; fares for 10 Eur each way if you buy in advance. *However,* and this is a big however, then you%26#39;re locked into a time and they will *not* change it for you if you decide, for example, that you are tired and want to go home early.
I bought those tickets for when my husband visited and we went to Veuve Cliquot and then for a fantastic lunch at Le Millenaire (Michelin-starred at a decent price, with great foie gras). However, after a 3 hour lunch and champagne, we found ourselves ready to go home. Alas, we still had 5 hours to kill! Not that Reims isn%26#39;t lovely, but after checking out the cathedral and the market and the main street, we ended up sitting in a park people watching, and fell asleep!
So the moral of the story is, buy your %26#39;there%26#39; tickets in advance, and perhaps buy the %26#39;and back%26#39; tickets whenever you want to leave. No worry about it being too crowded or selling out.
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SNCF does offer substantial discounts on their web site for advance-purchase, non-changeable, non-refundable tickets vs. Full Fare for walk-up purchase on the day of travel. In the case of a Paris-Reims day-trip itinerary, this difference can be 1/2 of regular Full fare---20 € Last Minute vs 43,20 € Full fare.
There may be a desire to keep your options open (relative to weather, mood-of-the-moment, etc) but advance purcahse of even a couple of days can usually still qualify for discounts. You may be able to do this by stopping by ANY convenient SNCF train station or SNCF %26#39;..booutique..%26#39; in Paris (not just Gare d%26#39;Est) during your travels about town...or from a computer , The new English language version of the SNCF Guide isn%26#39;t available yet...but you can find the locations of the various SNCF %26#39;boutiques%26#39; throughout Paris by using the %26#39;..TOUS NOS POINTS de VENTES SNCF.. feature of the French language guide easily enoug found at the bottom of the page at--
http://www.voyages-sncf.com/guide/voyageurs/
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