# Train tickets Paris-Nice: buy ahead or not?



## glenn1000 (Jun 27, 2010)

I'm taking my son to Paris (five nights) and then on to Nice (three nights) in August. We plan to take the TGV. My son is 14 and it looks like if we buy tickets in France he can get a heavily discounted student ticket. Booking online, it seems like I would have to pay full price for both tickets. Anyone done this recently? I'd rather lock in our reservations since our dates are fixed. It's been a long time since I've taken this train so I'm not sure how full it will be in the summer.


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## Carolinian (Jun 28, 2010)

August is when all the French go on vacation.  If your timing is when they are travelling, it could make for a full train.  If you are travelling after most of them are already there, it should not be a problem.

I have always bought French tickets at the station and never had a problem.  You pay a lot extra to buy from Rail Europe.  You might try to buy through the railroad's own website, which should get you the same price as at the station.


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## Talent312 (Jun 28, 2010)

glenn1000 said:


> I'm taking my son to Paris (five nights) and then on to Nice (three nights) in August. We plan to take the TGV.



How Nice. (pun intended)
We took a train overnight from Paris to Cannes just two weeks B4 the TGV started running.
Bad timing. <sigh>  But listen to Carolinian, he's our Euro-guru.


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## glenn1000 (Jun 29, 2010)

Thanks for the advice.  I decided to buy now rather than risk not getting the best train and was able to get a youth discount (I think I was, though the web site did not specify individual ticket prices). Couldn't see anything other than Rail Europe to do this and total price of $198 for both of us seemed pretty good.


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## thheath (Jun 29, 2010)

I've not bought tickets for French Rail but have for German.  I would invest extra for a reservation (with assigned seats) if you haven't already (can be reserved at the station).  I've been on a rail trip without a reservation and half way to my destination the seat I was sitting in turned into someone else's reserved seat.  Then it became the duffel bag drag through the cars looking for an open seat.


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## jlp (Jun 30, 2010)

I use this site for TGV tickets. You can only purchase and print tickets online. 

www.idtgv.com and click on flag for English


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