And it’s easy to get there. Just hop on the high-speed train in Paris, and you’ll be there in about three hours. Here’s how to get cheap TGV tickets in France.

But before you say cheers, you’ll need to find a Cheapo-friendly place to rest after the long days of exploring — and drinking wine.

More French travel tips:
• How to find cheap hotels in France
• Where to stay in Aix-en-Provence
• 50 Ways to save in France

The 4 best cheap hotels in Avignon, France

Luckily, budget hotels in Avignon aren’t hard to find. We’re sharing our favorite clean, comfortable and friendly spots with excellent locations to boot.

Hôtel Les Corps Saints

Neighborhood: Historical Center
Doubles from $46

The Hôtel Les Corps Saints offers serious Cheapos simple, comfortable rooms and a home base right near the train station. Amenities include flat-screen TVs, free Wi-Fi, and air conditioning. Best of all, guestrooms offer remarkable views of the Historic Center. Read the full review

We love the old-world French style of the room decor at Régina.

Régina

Neighborhood: Historical Center
Doubles from $55

Thanks to recent updates, rooms at the Régina are stylish and modern, but rates are still Cheapo-friendly. Just a quick walk from the Palace of Popes, this hotel offers all the amenities you could need, from flat-screen TVs to free WiFi — some rooms even have balconies. Read the full review

Start your day in the charming breakfast room at Le Magnan.

Le Magnan

Neighborhood: Historical Center
Doubles from $55

Set in a peaceful part of the Historic Center, Le Magnan offers sleek, minimalist en suite rooms with garden views just minutes from some of the city’s most delicious restaurants. In the summer, guests can start their days with breakfast on the lovely garden patio. Read the full review

Relax in the lovely garden at Au Saint Roch Hotel.

Au Saint Roch – Hôtel et Jardin

Neighborhood: South of Center
Doubles from $65

The rooms at the Au Saint Roch – Hôtel et Jardin are reminiscent of Grandma’s house in the best way. Cute and cozy, this hotel offers a lovely garden and terrace views from every guestroom, plus amenities like air conditioning, flat-screen TVs, and free Wi-Fi. They even have a buffet breakfast! Read the full review

More hotel options in Avignon

Are you inspired to visit Avignon? Check out our full hotel guide to Avignon to search for affordable accommodations.

The post The 4 best cheap hotels in Avignon, France appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

As I mentioned in my post last year about Ouigo, the low-cost TGV service is an incredible deal, given that it whisks you from the Paris region to popular southern destinations (Avignon, Aix en Provence, Marseille, Lyon) in just a couple of hours. If you’re already sold on the idea, go snag your tickets now on Ouigo.com while the promotional rate is still available.

However, there are a few things to keep in mind, as Ouigo isn’t a perfect solution for everyone.

Ouigo provides train service from the Paris region to Aix en Provence, Avignon, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nimes and Valence.

Pros:

• Astonishingly cheap! Ouigo provides high-speed TGV train service at a fraction of the cost of a normal TGV train. Even once these 100,000 promotional €10 seats are gone, the seats are still cheaper than on the TGV.

• Fast! Ouigo gets you there just as quickly as the higher-cost TGV.

• Convenient booking. Book it all online now, print off your tickets, and voila! You’re done. The booking portion of the website is available in English (although, maddeningly, most of the terms and conditions are only available in French).

A search this morning turns up €10 tickets for June travel to Avignon.

Cons:

• Not in Paris. Ouigo does not serve Paris proper, but instead serves Marne la Vallée (home to Disneyland Paris), which is 40 minutes from the center of Paris by RER A (according to the SNCF website). However, this trip could take you longer, depending on your starting location. You can hop on the RER A line in central Paris at the following Metro stations: La Défense, Charles de Gaulle Etoile, Auber, Chatelet les Halles, Gare de Lyon, Nation. (Check out this handy little map of the RER trip.)

• Limited luggage. Your Ouigo ticket includes one suitcase and one piece of hand luggage for free. You can bring more, but you’ll have to pay an extra charge for it. (Note: If you plan to bring extra luggage, save by pre-booking it. €5 per suitcase if you book it when you buy your ticket, €20 if you show up without pre-booking it. More info)

• No seat selection. Unlike on the normal TGV, Ouigo only guarantees that you will have a seat, it doesn’t let you choose your actual seat in advance. Parties that book their reservations on the same ticket (couples, families, groups of friends) will be given some assistance in finding groups of seats together. (Read more about this — in French.)

• Nonrefundable. Once you buy your ticket, you cannot cancel it or get a refund.

• Pay-to-exchange policy. You can change your ticket up to four hours before the train, however it costs €10 to change by internet, or €20 to change by phone. (Read more about exchange conditions — in French.)

• Online only. To buy tickets, you must go to Ouigo.com or use the Ouigo app. You cannot purchase these tickets in the train stations or ticket offices.

More information

Is it a good deal? We think so, as long as you’re willing to take the RER trip out to Marne la Vallée and are flexible about seating selection. If so, you can speed to your southern destinations (or from your southern destinations up to the Paris region) for almost nothing.

For more information and to book tickets, visit the Ouigo website (available in French and English).

The post Flash: €10 Ouigo TGV tickets now on sale for summer travel appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Fair fares and high speed

With adult return fares from London to Brussels and Paris currently available from £59 return, budget-conscious British travelers are well aware that in terms of price and city center to city center journey times Eurostar knocks spots off the competition from airlines. And this train service has subtly reshaped England’s relationship with Europe — most particularly since late 2007 when the stylish terminal at St. Pancras replaced dowdy Waterloo as the London launch-pad for trains to the continent.

Reshaping Europe

Londoners have suddenly realised that the journey from St. Pancras to Brussels takes no longer than the ride from St. Pancras to Sheffield. You can hop on Eurostar in London and alight at Calais (the first stop in France) less than an hour later.

But Eurostar is more than merely the canny way to reach Brussels and Paris. It is a good choice for a wonderful range of other journeys. For example, Eurostar offers winter-season direct trains from London to the French Alps. The current season is well underway with most services already heavily booked. The last return trains from Bourg-St-Maurice and Moûtiers-Salins are this year on April 13.

From London to Aix-en-Provence

Eurostar has long run a summer service from London to Avignon and that popular route to Provence is set to return for 2013, but with an interesting twist. Direct trains to Avignon will this year run for a longer summer season (with the first departure from London on May 4 and the last on August 31). During the months of May and June, these trains will be extended beyond Avignon to Aix-en-Provence.

Breaking records

Aix thus becomes the most distant point from London to which it has ever been possible to travel on a direct train from London. Way back in pre-Eurostar days, there were direct overnight sleeper services from London to the continent. The trains cars were ferried over the English Channel in a boat. For a time there were even through carriages to Switzerland, but never has there been anything to match this new direct train to Aix.

Eurostar will purr from St. Pancras to Aix-en-Provence, a journey of 1,215 km (about 755 miles), in just over six hours. Return fares to Aix can still be booked from just £109.

How to book tickets

To grab the best fares on Eurostar, bear in mind the forward booking horizons that apply to your intended route. For the capital city services from London to Paris and Brussels, tickets go on sale four months before departure. That same forward booking horizon applies for tickets to Calais and Lille.

But tickets for other Eurostar destinations go on sale very much longer in advance. For example, the company runs a direct service from London to Marne la Vallée – Chessy (a route that is hugely popular with British families bound for Disneyland, but also useful for the excellent connections at Marne la Vallée into the French TGV network). And tickets on those trains can already be booked right through to October 2013.

Tickets for all direct trains to Avignon and Aix in 2013 can already be booked on the Eurostar website — right through to August 31, 2013. But if you are looking to book a trip to the ski slopes on one of Eurostar’s direct trains to the Alps for next winter, you’ll have to wait a while yet. We expect tickets for those services to be released for sale in July 2013.

The post Eurostar Expands its Network: London to Aix-en-Provence from £109 return appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Here’s what I found…

1. Start with the national rail Web sites.

As we’ve covered in several posts, first check out the Web sites of the national railways. In this case, it means going to SNCF (for France) and Trenitalia (for Italy).

Note: As mentioned elsewhere, you have to continue browsing the SNCF site in French, as clicking on the British flag to switch languages will take you to RailEurope, which may not show the same fares. We have this article on how to book tickets in French for non-French speakers.

The voyages-sncf.com Web site proposes fast trains from Avignon-Lyon-Turin-Florence for €183.

When I checked on SNCF, the proposed train from Avignon to Florence is a high-speed TGV train running to Lyon, then another TGV to Turin, and finally one last train to Florence. Total time: 11 hr 58 min. Cost €183.

This was deemed a bit too expensive, and also struck me as a bit out of the way.

Furthermore, I wanted to experience smaller trains, not necessarily jetting up to Lyon and down to Turin on a TGV. (Read hidden europe’s excellent piece on opting for the slow train.) I also wanted to hug the Mediterranean for as much of the journey as possible.

But how can you find those slower, more direct, and cheaper trains? You could look at a map and plot it out, but what if you don’t know the route?

On the Bahn.de site, uncheck the “prefer fast connections” to see more route options.

2. Find the route on Bahn.de

The German railway, Deutsche Bahn, provides a great service (in English, too!) on their Web site. Do the same search (Avignon – Florence on January 6) and you’ll see that the first result is the same as the SNCF’s, via Lyon. The next results, however, are much more interesting.

Note: In order to see slower and less-direct routes, un-tick the “Prefer fast connections” box before searching.

In the third result, Die Bahn shows a TGV to Nice, then a regional to Ventimiglia (the Italian border town), an Intercity train to Milan and finally a EuroStar Italia train to Florence. Total trains have increased (four), but the time is actually faster (10 hr., 44 min). Only problem, this still heads north to Milan. I want to see Genoa — and trace the Ligurian Sea.

The route for Avignon – Florence, via Nice, Ventimiglia, Genoa and Pisa, shown on the Bahn.de site.

And there it is, the final option: From Ventimiglia I can take a train up to Genoa, and then follow the sea all the way around to Pisa, then Florence.

The only problem: They don’t show fares for these routes and you can’t book them here. Now what?

3. Head back to the national railway sites.

To book this journey, I’ll need to book on two sites: the SNCF and Trenitalia.

Booking the first half of the trip on voyages-sncf.com.

Back on the SNCF, I search for Avignon – Ventimiglia. Et voila! There’s a 9:30 TGV from Avignon to Nice, then a slower TER train to Ventimiglia, arriving at 13:43. Total price: €32, when booked in advance. (Note that the Bahn site shows a 10:11 a.m. TGV from Avignon, but I book a 9:30 a.m. train instead, as it will give me an extra hour in Ventimiglia for a little break.)

Then I head over to Trenitalia, switch to English, and do the Ventimiglia – Florence search. And there’s my train: Ventimiglia (14:58) – Genoa – Pisa – Florence. The total ticket price can be as low as €34.80, booked in advance.

4. Booking issues

Now, at this point I’m feeling pretty smart. I go ahead and book the seats on the SNCF site, never switching from French to English.

The Trenitalia site shows the trains from Ventimiglia to Florence.

But when I go to book the tickets on the Italian site, I get booking errors. Something has gone wrong. I have to create an account, but then it won’t let me pay. We’ve hit a snag.

The site tells me:

“Error code : 998    Dear customer, due to some malfunction of the system transaction is unsuccessful. No charges made. Please try again later.”

Solution

Not to panic, the base fares for the ticket are still pretty low. If I simply wait to buy the same tickets in Ventimiglia during my one-hour transfer, it will still be €43.80, in lieu of the €34.80 discounted price on the site.

I guess some things can still be booked the old-fashioned way, by waiting in a line.

Even with this little snag, I’ll be able to get from Avignon to Florence for €32 + €43.80 = €75.80, a savings of more than €100.

And yes, even though it will require several more stops and transfers, the trip will mostly be spent hugging the Mediterranean. It just took a little research.

The post How to find and book slower trains in Europe appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

So much well-justified praise is heaped on Eurostar’s capital city links that it is easy to overlook that the rail service through the Channel Tunnel is good for more than merely quick hops to nearby capitals.

Direct trains to the Alps

Last Saturday, Eurostar kicked off its regular season of direct ski-trains, serving some of France’s premier winter sports resorts from London and two other stations in south-east England: Ebbsfleet and Ashford.

Ready to board in St Pancras. Photo © hidden europe magazine

Although the trains are aimed fair and square at the winter sports market, you certainly don’t need to be a skier to use these trains which are a very fine way of traveling from England to the Savoie area of eastern France. The services run through mid-April and operate to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, stopping along the way at Moûtiers-Salins-Brides-les-Bains and Aime-La Plagne. The latter, with its cottage-style stone station building, surely rates as the most rural station on the Eurostar network.

Dash South to Avignon

Tickets go on sale tomorrow (December 22, 2011) for Eurostar’s 2012 season of direct trains from London and Ashford to Avignon in the south of France. Travelers can speed from Kent to the heart of the Provence in less than five hours.

And whereas most French high-speed trains serve Avignon TGV station, the Eurostar services drop passengers at Avignon Centre, just a stone’s throw from the ancient city wall and the Old Town. For Londoners keen to catch some southern sun, the direct Eurostar service to Avignon is hugely more appealing than tackling airport crowds.

Eurostar operates a two-class service on the Avignon route (compared with the choice of three classes on their capital city services). Fares start at £109 return in Standard Class and, for passengers wanting extra space with complimentary meals and drinks, return tickets in Standard Premier are from £249.

Connections through Brussels

We traveled last Wednesday from London to Cologne, an easy 4hr 20min journey including a slick connection from Eurostar onto a German ICE train at Brussels. You can use the Eurostar website to book through journeys from London to Aachen and Cologne in Germany, as well as to any station in the Netherlands or in Belgium.

City center to city center travel times often undercut comparable journeys made by air. For example, the fastest rail connections from London to Rotterdam (changing at Brussels) take less than four hours.

Beyond Paris

Travelers from the UK can use the Eurostar website to book through tickets from London via Paris to a dozen Swiss cities and to over 60 stations across France.

We used this latter option last month on a London to Strasbourg journey, which took 5hrs 15mins. That included time for a change of trains in Paris, requiring an easy ten-minute walk from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de l’Est. One-way fares on this routing start at £55.

Some travelers worry that many itineraries via Paris require a change of station in the French capital. And that is where Lille Europe station comes in handy, as it offers seamless connections between Eurostar and the French high-speed network without the need to switch stations. For example, the same lead-in fare of £55 from London to Strasbourg is also available on routings via Lille.

You can book with Eurostar from London to Lille and connect there onto direct trains to Nice, Toulouse, Marseille, Bordeaux and dozens of other destinations across France. Again, through bookings for most itineraries can be made on the Eurostar website.

Other Links

The regular direct Eurostar trains from London to Marne la Vallée-Chessy are operated mainly for visitors heading to the Disneyland complex east of Paris, but can also be used to link to and from connecting TGV services.

And we have found Eurostar useful for short hops on the continent. For example, Eurostar trains can be used to travel from Lille to both Brussels and Calais.

Rail pass options

Interested in seeing a full list of rail pass options? Visit our booking partner, Rail Europe, to compare rates, destinations covered and see their latest promotions.

The post Eurostar Links: Beyond Paris and Brussels appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Remember, of course, that local and regional train services are often bookable but not reservable. So, although you can book tickets, you’ll not be able to reserve a seat.

The three-month-rule

There are minor variations in how that three-month-rule is interpreted. For Thalys train services, linking Brussels with Amsterdam, Cologne and Paris, tickets become available three months to the day before travel. For bookings on the Deutsche Bahn website, each new day’s wave of bookings is released at midnight (Central European Time), 92 days before travel.

Eurostar services: Four months ahead

For services linking London with Lille, Paris and Brussels, Eurostar accepts online bookings four months in advance of travel. But if you want to use Eurostar’s direct services from London to Avignon in the south of France, you’ll find that Eurostar is already accepting telephone bookings for journeys up to September 10, 2011.

Looking east

For journeys to and from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, trains are usually bookable 60 days in advance, although we have noted that for journeys within those countries, the forward booking window may be only six weeks.

Finland works on a sixty-day-rule for services into Russia but domestic trains may be bookable longer in advance. For example, they are presently accepting bookings thru late April. Finland is unusual in that its online booking system closes down at night.

Early birds get the deals

Remember that for long-distance trains in Europe, it really pays to book just as soon as you can firm up your plans after bookings open. That one-way fare from Salzburg to Amsterdam for just €39 may be there for the taking 92 days in advance, but a week later may have crept up to €69. Leave booking till just one month prior to travel and you may have to pay €99 for the same journey. Early birds get the best deals.

Rail pass options

Interested in seeing a full list of rail pass options? Visit our booking partner, Rail Europe, to compare rates, destinations covered and see their latest promotions.

The post When Should You Buy Train Tickets in Europe? The three-month rule appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.