France
What Is Ouigo? And Is This Budget Train Worthwhile for Crossing Spain, Catalonia, and France?
Ouigo, put simply, is a French railway answer to the budget airline. The tickets are cheap, and there are no frills, but you get to where you’re going on lovely high-speed trains while enjoying the beautiful countryside. In terms of comfort, Ouigo is nowhere near as bad as a budget (or any) airline, though the …
Cheap Eurostar Alternatives: Low Cost Tricks for London-Paris & More
When it works, Eurostar can be lovely experience, but of late it’s been awful. With the French train strikes earlier this year and the heat wave shutting down trains this summer, even the Eurostar itself has advised against using their own service at several points. Here then is a quick guide to the alternatives for …
Senior Savings on European Train Travel: The Ultimate Guide to the Discounts
Savvy seniors over the age of 60 can get a range of discounts on the European railroads. For frequent travel in a specific country, you can purchase a country-specific senior discount pass. There are also Interrail and Eurail discounts that work out OK for heavy travel in a short period. However, most countries offer no …
Solved! The Problems with SNCF Connect and Ouigo Websites — and How We Buy French Train Tickets in Spite of Them
If you are blocked by error messages on the SNCF Connect or on Ouigo.com, you’re not alone. The websites and apps have lots of redirects and undergo constant updates that can render them in some cases nearly unusable. In particular, the transition to the new SNCF Connect website has been very rough and disabled a number …
Solutions for Buying Train Tickets for France in Spite of Credit Card Rejections from Ouigo and SNCF Connect
The French train operator’s websites SNCF Connect and Ouigo are notorious for rejecting bank and credit cards from outside of France. Those from Brazil, Eastern Europe, the United States, Australia, and Canada in particular report problems with payments not going through or getting rejected. We’ve been carefully researching the best alternatives for foreigners looking to purchase …
Luggage Restrictions On Trains in France — What to Know Before You Go
If you’re used to travelling by plane and thus conditioned to worry about the size, weight, and contents of your baggage, you’re in for a treat. Luggage restrictions for French trains are generally much more relaxed. The main rule is to not be taking so much that you can’t carry and stow it on your …
Our Best Schemes for Cheap Train Tickets in France
I’ve been whizzing around France on TGV and other trains as cheaply as possible for over a decade. Riding the French rails is nearly always a joy, and if you know when to book and how to work the discount cards, sales, and special offers, you can bop around the French train system without shedding …
The Best Platform for Booking Train Tickets for France — Especially If You’re Abroad
I’ve been an avid train rider in France for the past 16 years, and frustrated with the error-prone SNCF (official French national railway) websites in their various incarnations for just as long. There are now two great private alternatives for booking train tickets that cost exactly the same as the official SNCF site (as well …
The Total Guide to Train Strikes in France: Ride Out the Aggravations
The French railway company SNCF is particularly and infamously susceptible to strikes. Here’s a look at the probability of strikes affecting your travel in 2019, how to plan your trip, and what to do if there’s a strike on your travel dates. In general, we love travelling by train in France and don’t think you …
The Best & Cheapest Ways to Travel Between Paris and Barcelona: Train, Bus, and — If You Must — Plane
I’ve long lived in the lovely, romantic French capital Paris and the lively, sexy Catalan capital Barcelona — these are absolutely my favorite two cities in the world. But how to travel between them? There are lots of websites that promise to sell you tickets between the two cities. A lot of them are terrible, …