The train strikes, however, have at least been organized with some transparency for travelers: Two days of strikes (during which SNCF train service is reduced by about 80%) are followed by three days of normal service. This “on again off again” strike schedule allows travelers the opportunity to avoid the strike days when booking, and even re-book their train tickets in advance without penalties.

I’m currently spending the week in Sète, a charming canal-lined city that hugs the Mediterranean in southwestern France. I had planned to travel with my family to Paris by TGV this Sunday, but because of the strikes, re-booked to leave on Saturday instead. (Sunday is a scheduled “strike day”, while Saturday is in the clear.) Fortunately, we hadn’t yet booked our hotel and had some flexibility with our schedule!

So what should you do if you’re wondering how your upcoming trip to France will be impacted by the rail strikes? Read on…

French train strike calendar

This calendar, from the SNCF website, illustrates the strike days in red. Note that the strike is scheduled to run from April 3 through June 28, 2018 (although it may be called off at any time).

If your travel days fall outside these scheduled strike days, you’re fine and don’t need to change your tickets. (You should, however, plan for a full train).

Travelers wait to change their tickets at the Gare de Sète.

What to do if you booked a train on a strike day

If you have already purchased SNCF train tickets on a day marked as a “strike day”, you should change your ticket as soon as possible to a non-strike day, when trains will be running normally. Note that trains on non-strike days are filling up quickly, so you’re encouraged to re-book as soon as possible.

As we mention in more detail below, all train tickets for April travel are currently fully changeable at no cost. However, the SNCF will not automatically change all tickets for May and June travel, and changing tickets may incur extra charges if the fare has increased since you made the original booking. This is because the strike may be called off at any time.

However, that’s hardly reassuring for travelers to France who need to know their itinerary in advance, especially as hotel reservations will need to be made ahead of time. Therefore, we would advise all travelers with tickets that fall on strike days to change them, if possible, to avoid any potential travel disruption. You don’t want to be stuck in the train station wondering where to go for the night.

How to re-book train tickets

If you’re already in France, you can re-book by heading into any train station. Ticketing machines are able to re-book tickets, but you may also head to a ticket counter to re-book with a ticketing agent.

You can also change your ticket online, by heading to the official France national rail service website, oui.sncf. From the railway’s website:

TGV around France and Europe and INTERCITÉS

You can exchange your tickets or request a refund at no extra cost, including non-exchangeable / non-refundable rates.

More info on our OUI.sncf website or app:

1. See more on « my bookings » on the website or « my journeys » on the app.
2. Enter your booking reference and the name used for the order.
3. Proceed to the exchange or cancellation of your ticket

For more information about Eurostar, Lyria, Thalys, and other TGV trains, see this page on the Oui.sncf website.

Note that the above policy refers to train tickets for April. Changing tickets for May or June travel dates may incur an extra charge if the ticket price has increased since the time of booking.

A few more hiccups…

If you have built flexibility into your schedule and have refundable (or changeable) hotel reservations, you should be able to avoid too many travel disruptions by simply bumping train travel dates to non-strike days. That’s the best case scenario.

However, travel issues will arise for the rest of us. For example:

• The SNCF’s website is currently allowing travelers to book trains on strike days without warning them that the trains will likely be cancelled. For example, a strike day is scheduled for June 13, yet a search for Paris-Avignon TGV trips brings up a long list of trains that are currently bookable — but scheduled to be cancelled.

• If you scored a cheap seat on the TGV for May or June and are now forced to change it to avoid a strike day, you’ll likely have to pay the fare difference. So much for early bird savings!

• If you’re forced to rework your travel itinerary because of the strikes but have non-refundable hotel rates, you’ll likely still have to pay for those nights.

• You might consider ditching the train altogether and opting for a rental car instead. That could work, but we forewarned that rental prices will increase because of the strikes, as will traffic. (This morning, for example, traffic into Paris was backed up for four hours…)

Stay up to date

For the latest on the rail strikes, check out this page on Oui.sncf, the official website of the SNCF. Eurostar customers can find more information specific to Eurostar service here.

Share your experience

Have you been impacted by the rail strike or do you have advice for those who might be impacted? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

The post France Train Strikes: How to know if you’re affected and how to change tickets 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.

And these seats are really cheap, going for as little as €10!

So, if you heading from the Paris region to Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nimes, or Valence, hop to it and book your seats before they sell out!

The deal

A few things to keep in mind if you’re considering booking:

Ouigo offers service between suburban Paris and southeast France.

Book now: Seats are limited and the cheap seats will sell out quickly, so the time to book is now.

Book directly: Book these trips directly on Ouigo.com. Booking them through the English version of the SNCF website will not show you the same deal.

Departures from Marne la Vallée: Trains do not depart from Paris, but rather from Marne la Vallée, about 45 minutes from central Paris on the RER A train. Marne la Vallée is home to Disneyland Paris.

No seat selection: While you’re guaranteed a seat on a Ouigo train, you cannot choose them in advance.

Luggage: Your ticket covers one piece of luggage and a carry-on. You may pay a small fee to bring additional luggage with you.

Travel dates: Tickets on sale now cover trips from July 6 – December 9, 2014.

Book directly on Ouigo

We hate to repeat ourselves, but it’s worth noting again that you need to go directly to the Ouigo.com website to book these seats. You will not see the same deals if you search for them on the SNCF’s English-version website.

Compare for yourself: The prices in the screenshot above are from a search on Ouigo.com this morning, while these are from SNCF:

The English version of the SNCF website will not show you these Ouigo trains.

More TGV advice

Of course, not everyone is heading to destinations in the southeast! Luckily, there are many more options, including booking tickets on the low-cost idTGV service, and of course, the regular old TGV.

For much more on this, see our guide to how to book cheap tickets on France’s railways.

The post €10 tickets now on sale for high-speed rail trips in France this summer on Ouigo! appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

At just €10 (ten, dix, diez, X – just to be clear, it’s not a typo!) for a ticket that would cost €60, €70, or even €80 on a normal TGV, well, yes, “oui” will go indeed!

How Ouigo works

The SNCF said there will be 62 different TGV (“train à grande vitesse,” or high speed trains) each week serving various destinations. Trains are the same as the standard TGVs and the stops are mostly familiar, running between the Paris region, Lyon, Montpellier, and Marseille, among other cities.

Ouigo’s routes are initially limited to the southeast and Paris region.

Ouigo will launch with service only to the southeast of France, which accounts for 35% of all TGV traffic in the nation. A successful run, however, could mean spin-offs to Bordeaux, Rennes, or Strasbourg in the future, if we’re lucky!

Oui-know that you’re ready to book a ticket now, but first be aware of some of the differences between Ouigo and standard TGV service. Here’s a quick overview:

1. Ouigo doesn’t stop in Paris.

The train actually departs and arrives from Marne-la-Vallée, right by Disneyland Paris. This is also a stop on the Eurostar line from London, in case any Brits were looking for a cheaper shot down to the south of France.

For Parisians, however, sure, it’s only a 30-40 minute RER ride from Paris, not to mention the Metro to get to the RER to get to the Ouigo train. Sounds like a hoot, right?

Center-city Parisians aren’t the main audience, however, and the SNCF is targeting suburbanites who would usually travel by car, offering the low-cost train as an alternative. But no one is writing off a direct train from Paris one day in the future…

€15 for Marne-la-Vallée to Aix-en-Provence. Pas mal!

2. Keep an eye out for extra charges.

Anyone who has ever taken Ryanair will understand the hidden costs of budget travel. While the Ouigo extra charges aren’t as extreme as the Irish airline, there are supplementary charges possible, like €2 for an electrical plug if you want to charge something. And if you’re not traveling light, extra baggage beyond the one suitcase and one handbag allowance will cost you €5 when reserving a ticket or €10 afterwards, so plan accordingly.

So far, trips to the bathrooms are free…

3. Act fast to book a €10 tickets.

Prices will go up after the first 400,000 seats are sold at €10. Then the next million or so tickets skyrocket, relatively, to €25. The prices continue to rise with demand.

Tickets can only be bought online, so don’t bother heading to a train station expecting inexpensive tickets. A color-coded calendar on the website will indicate when the most low-cost tickets are available (think pink!) and when cheap tickets are dwindling (white or, worse, blue).

4. Choose your tickets wisely.

Tickets are not reimbursable, but you can change the name on it or switch it for another date. If you are going to change a cheaper ticket for a more expensive one, you’ll have to pay the difference. If you’re getting a cheaper ticket, you won’t be reimbursed the extra that you paid. Such is low-cost.

5. Say goodbye to the café car.

If you’re interested in low-cost travel, you’re not expecting the Four Seasons. Ouigo is no exception. There’s no First Class aboard this train. Gone are the days of the dining car, so bring your own pastry and coffee if you’re an obsessive traveling eater. (Although, really, the ride is only 3 hours and 15 minutes from Ile-de-France to Marseille, so you’ll survive!)

No onboard café means more seats though, with each train holding about 20% more seating than standard high-speed TGV trains. Otherwise, the trains are perfectly comfortable.

The post Introducing Ouigo, France’s new budget TGV appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.