How to Book French Train Tickets: A Guide to Painless Trip Prep

You get to decide what to see; it’s hard to give recommendations because what you will enjoy in France varies so much from person to person. But I can tell you what I’ve seen work out great, and terribly, for the many, many friends whom I’ve seen come through this weird and fascinating place over the years.

• Travel slow; give yourself time to really enjoy each spot you visit and get to know it. Hoping on another train every day or every other day gets to be a bit of a grind.
• If at all possible, skip the sites you’ve already seen hundreds of photos of. Yes, that means skipping the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa. You can have better experiences, more unique to you. Your Instagram photo in front of some monument will not be better than anyone else’s stupid Instagram photo in front of the same thing.
• Go to places that allow you to do the things on your French holiday that you enjoy in your normal life. Go dancing, eat good food, drink good coffee, go sailing…all the while being open to experiencing the very different French ways of doing these things. Do you like punk rock? Check out a French punk rock show… etc.
• The opposite advice is also true: Go to places and delve into situations that you would not ordinarily experience.
• If you want to save money, visit spots on current Ouigo routes in France—these high speed budget trains are nearly always much cheaper than regular trains; when searching in Trainline or SNCF Connect you’ll see Ouigo next to conventional train options for such routes.
• You’ve surely already got some ideas of French spots that pique your interest; explore them! France has had an outsized influence on the world with its books, paintings, films, and more—it can be fun to explore the locations you have seen portrayed. You can also consult Unesco’s World Heritage list for France.

Most long-distance train tickets in France (TGV INOUI and INTERCITES, as well as Thalys) go on sale four months in advance, and this is the best time to buy for the cheapest tickets. As you get closer to the date of your travel, tickets become more expensive based on demand—very sought-after dates can cost several times what the trips cost when first released.

It’s often worth buying tickets ahead of time even if you’re not completely sure of your dates, as the SNCF’s policies about refunding and exchanging tickets have become a lot more flexible; you’ll be shown specific details when searching in Trainline or SNCF Connect. You don’t usually lose anything if you exchange at least a week ahead of your departure.

For special events and the French vacation period (August), tickets may go on sale either more or less than four months before the date of travel. Ouigo tickets can be available for purchase a lot more than four months before travel. Eurostar tickets go on sale 11 months ahead of travel. TER (regional) train tickets go on sale anywhere from three to five months ahead of travel, though there isn’t a particular advantage to booking ahead on these trains as prices are fixed.

Tickets for local commuter trains such as the RER in Paris are purchased in the station at the moment of travel from the ticket machines (which have English and other languages—but you’ll need to know the exact French name of the destination train station) or from humans in ticket windows (when available).

In a separate article we reviewed the variety of competing platforms that sell train tickets for France; some are good and some are not so good, the same as for airline comparison sites. They sell tickets at the same dynamic prices. In brief, we recommend as follows.

Country	Best Strategy	Train Operators	Other Notes / Hacks
Portugal Train Booking	Comboios de Portugal runs all trains in Portugal and it is cheapest to book directly through them. The website and app work fine in English.	Comboios de Portugal is the state train operator running a few different types of services. Alfa Pendular: The classy, higher-speed long-distance service, with WiFi and better handicapped access; a bar car; first and second classes; power sockets in all seats Intercidades (Intercity): The regular-speed long-distance service, often with some graffiti and visible wear on the outside but generally quite clean and comfortable on the inside; a bar car; first and second classes; power sockets in some seats Regional and InterRegional: Serving more in-between and smaller destinations; map here Urbano: Local trains serving the Lisbon, Coimbra, and Porto areas; no assigned seats	Buy your long-distance tickets about 30 days in advance. It's possible to get tickets up to 60 days ahead of your trip but many tickets (even those that appear in Comboios de Portugal's own search listings) are not actually available until about 30 days prior to the trip. This is when you're most likely to get sale tickets and have them actually be available for purchase. Be a bit flexible with traveling at unpopular times for the very best deals—check the pricing for various times and days when booking and look for sale pricing ("promoção"). Urbano (local) train trips are visible in the Comboios de Portugal website but their tickets are not sold online; you instead buy a €0.50 card from ticket machines or station ticket windows and load the card with your ticket. Each card is reusable within its own region only (Lisbon, Coimbra, or Porto). It is also possible to book through Omio if you have problems with the Comboios de Portugal site, usually with a small booking fee. It also shows flight and bus options alongside the trains. Portugal/Spain connections: While supposedly in the works, there are almost no train services between Portugal and Spain; check BusBud for buses and Skyscanner for flights from Portugal to Spain. An exception is the train line connecting Porto and Vigo. On the Comboios de Portugal site, even if you're using English version, you need to use Portuguese place names (like "Lisboa" instead of "Lisbon").
France Train Booking	1. Trainline is the only way to compare prices on all of the train operators within French borders and to get optimal routes combining them. It was the smartest overall French train booking site in our testing and, thus, the best way to discover the cheapest dates for travel. 2. That said, most trains are SNCF. You may want to check or book SNCF directly for their trains at SNCF Connect. Doing so avoids a few-percent Trainline booking fee. Yes, it is tricky and tedious to use SNCF Connect for those outside of France—and French people complain about it endlessly too. It shows both SNCF and Ouigo options, but downplays Renfe and Trenitalia options. 3. There are a number of other platforms that also offer train tickets for France but that are less complete or trickier to use: Rail Europe (still pretty good but doesn't have Ouigo trains) and Omio (but see why they're not recommended for trains). 4. Byway is an interesting option for European and French trips if you want to have experts figure your whole train vacation itinerary out for you.	SNCF (Société nationale des chemins de fer français — French national railway company) is the main national train operator in France.  Ouigo is the French budget high-speed option and is run by the SNCF. Spain's Renfe and Italy's Trenitalia also cover parts of France (such as crossing over from Barcelona); the SNCF site tends to hide these options (but Trainline shows them).	Book in advance, but not more than four months in advance (when tickets tend to go on sale). Pay attention to the luggage restrictions when booking Ouigo tickets to avoid the last-minute fines at boarding (enforced!). Harness the flexible dates feature in Trainline to see if traveling a day earlier or later will save money. These simple strategies will get you 95% of the available discounts, but you can check for a few more tips for cheap French train tickets.
Germany Train Booking	1. Trainline is the best and only way to compare the competing operators (i.e., Deutsche Bahn and FlixTrain) for prices on a specific trip in Germany. For trips that cross out of Germany, Trainline is also excellent for combining different countries' operators into time- and price-optimized trips. 2. The official Deutsche Bahn site is also excellent for booking and may save you on a booking fee if you know you don't want a competing service. 3. For trips between Germany and Denmark and Sweden, check Omio for all options, or search individually on the operators Snälltåget and SJ. 4. For the overnight trains running between Berlin or Dresden and the Netherlands or Belgium, it's easier to book directly with European Sleeper.	Deutsche Bahn is the main national operator in Germany and the one you'll take for most trips. FlixTrain is a competing train service in Germany with more limited routes and no high-speed trains, but it is quite cheap and worth using if relevant for your trip; this is a FlixTrain/FlixBus Europe/global website (or the USA version). European Sleeper runs overnight trains that stop in Germany in Bad Schandau, Dresden, and Berlin to take you to/from the Netherlands and Belgium three nights per week. If you're willing to get up early, the same trains can also be a cheap way to get from these German cities to Czechia. (While Trainline also offers European Sleeper tickets, the various overnight seat/couchette options are easier to understand when booking directly at this link.) This train startup company is running throwback vintage train carriages with both private and shared sleeper car options; it's a classic, social overnight European train experience brought back to life. Neighboring countries' national operators also run routes crossing in and out of Germany.	There are generally significant savings on long-distance Deutsche Bahn trains when booking months in advance. Generally, you choose whether or not to have a reserved seat on Deutsche Bahn train. We recommend doing so for long-distance trips as you may otherwise end up standing for quite a while if you can't find a free seat. Bahncards can be purchased to get discounts and may be worthwhile if you have frequent trips in Germany. European Sleeper sometimes has "last-minute" deals on bookings a few weeks ahead.
Spain (and Catalonia, visca!) Train Booking	1. There are four competing high speed train services in Spain; the way to instantly compare prices of all four for any trip is Trainline. Since all four services are good we tend to just choose the cheapest. 2. Also use Trainline for booking between Spain/Catalonia and France; it is the only site that reliably shows all options (the national operators tend to hide each other's). 3. For travel to a few out-of-the-way rural spots, you may need to book directly via Renfe, where the national operator is the only option and for which tickets are sometimes not sold via Trainline. The Renfe website is functional, though it has many problems. If you can't get it to work just buy tickets for such areas just before travel in the station. 4. Portugal is not well-connected to Spain by train (yet). For bus options, check BusBud.	The national operator Renfe runs the most services. The high-speed Renfe services are Ave, Alvia, and Avant; The Renfe budget high-speed train service is Avlo, which runs from Madrid to Barcelona and Valencia.  Iryo is a competing high-speed train service that I find quite comfortable as well, running from Madrid to many cities both East and South. Ouigo is the budget high-speed train service from the French SNCF that runs from Madrid to Barcelona and Valencia (The Spain Ouigo does not connect to the French Ouigo train network — yet.)	If you're taking any of the budget trains (Avlo, Ouigo, or Iryo) pay attention to luggage restrictions; most tickets include only a carry-on-sized suitcase/bag and a personal item, with the option to add a large suitcase for a fee. For better prices on popular routes, it’s best to book a few months in advance. For some less-popular routes on Renfe, you may need to wait until just a few weeks before travel for the seats to become available for booking. For local trains, there is no need to book in advance and often it is not possible. You can purchase the tickets at the moment of travel in the station. Omio is not a great platform for booking trains but it is a way to instantly compare train and flight options for Spain; in certain cases a budget flight might be reasonable to cross the country, get to Spanish islands, or go to Portugal. Rail Europe is another booking platform but its coverage was not as complete as Trainline for Spain in our extensive testing.
Sweden Train Booking	Omio offers tickets from all operators in Sweden ( SJ / Øresundståg, VR, and Snälltaget) and is the easiest way to compare the real-time prices for any route and buy tickets.	The Swedish national train operator is SJ and booking is also possible (though sometimes there are issues) at the English version of SJ.se. You'll need to know the Swedish place names. SJ runs the X2000 high-speed trains. The Finnish company VR (previously MTRX) runs trains from Stockholm to Gothenburg serving points in between. The open-access company Snälltåget runs trains between cities and to popular spots up north in Sweden as well as to Denmark, Germany, and Austria (particularly interesting for overnight travel to Hamburg, Berlin, and from there you can go to the rest of Europe).	The tickets from Omio are the same price as buying with an operator directly but there may be a small booking fee added at the end of the process. Omio may sometimes miss some options but works pretty well for Sweden. If you're looking to get an overnight train heading South, do check the Snälltaget options specifically on their site. The competing FlixTrain previously ran in Sweden as well but its operations there were discontinued in 2024. FlixTrain still runs in Germany.
Italy Train Booking	1. The easiest way to compare all competing Italian train services is with Trainline; it shows which is cheapest on which date. It also gives you options for neighboring countries' train services running in Italy if relevant for your trip. 2. Another search platform that does this well for Italy is Rail Europe.	Trenitalia is the national train operator and has the most complete coverage of the boot. If you already know you want this operator for a specific trip, you can book directly via the functional but sometimes-error-prone Trenitalia website. Italo is the main competing operator running excellent high-speed train services to major cities. Arenaways is a smaller competing operator in the north connecting Cuneo-Saluzzo-Savigliano and Ceva-Ormea; when relevant for your travel, its options are also shown in Trainline.	For crossing the full length of Italy, it may take quite a few hours, but there are night services (Intercity Notte). Fall asleep with a glass of wine in Milan or Venice and wake up with an espresso in Rome, Bari, Palermo, etc.
Austria Train Booking	1. Check Trainline for the pricing on all operators in Austria, as well as to find the best international trip routes and prices. It has much simpler, more comprehensible booking than the operators' sites themselves. 2. For overnight long-distance train services in, to, and from Austria, it's easier and better to book with NightJet directly, though these services do appear in Trainline searches. 3. If you already know which operator and route is best for your specific trip, it's also easy to book directly with that operator. The national operator ÖBB has a functional booking site in English for its own services  as do both WESTbahn and Regiojet.	The national train operator is ÖBB (Österreichische Bundesbahnen, or Austrian Federal Railways). Their high-speed trains are known as Railjets  (not to be confused with Regiojet, see below). The ÖBB's Nightjet offers sleeper trains in in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland; when these are partnered with other operators they are called Euronight trains. The competing WESTbahn covers certain limited routes in Austria and Southern Germany (including Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Bregenz, Lindau, Munich, Augsburg, Ulm, and Stuttgart). The private Czech operator Regiojet serves Vienna and other Austrian cities with links to Czechia and Slovakia.	For international trips between Austria and Croatia, Slovenia, and Czechia, it may be cheaper in some cases to buy the ticket from the neighboring country's train operator, if it is also sold by them. It's also possible to book ÖBB trains at Bahn.de  but this is not likely to be cheaper than Trainline or the ÖBB and doesn't always work.
Belgium Train Booking	1. For domestic Belgian trains, you can simply purchase tickets at the moment you travel. You can also check routes and times and purchase at BelgianTrain.be. 2. For international trains to, from, and through Belgium the best way to search the many options and find what may be relevant for you is on Trainline. 3. For overnight trains to/from Berlin, Dresden, Děčín, and Prague, it's easier to book directly with European Sleeper.	The company for domestic services is the Belgian government's:  National Railway Company of Belgium (Flemish: Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen or NMBS or in French: Société nationale des chemins de fer belges or SNCB. You may see it as NMBS/SNCB. It runs Intercity (IC), Local (L), and Regional (S) trains. International high-speed train operators to and from Belgium are Eurostar, Ouigo, NS International, Deutsche Bahn, ÖBB Nightjet and SNCF, Arriva, and European Sleeper. European Sleeper runs overnight trains from Brussels through Antwerpen, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Děčín, and Prague (with a few other stops) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, returning on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. (While Trainline also offers these tickets, the various seat/couchette options are easier to understand when booking directly with them at the link.) This train startup is running throwback vintage train carriages with both private and shared sleeper car options; it's a classic, social overnight European train experience brought back to life.	For domestic trains within Belgium, it doesn't pay to plan in advance; ticket costs are the same whether you book as soon as tickets go on sale (a month prior) or at the train station the day of. Google for the place names of your Belgian destinations and train stations in French and Flemish so that you're ready to recognize them on signs and when booking. Realize that the place names can be quite different from each other in those languages and in English. There are no seat reservations for domestic trains in Belgium. European Sleeper sometimes has "last-minute" deals on bookings a few weeks ahead.
Bulgaria Train Booking	1. BDZ is the national train operator and booking is possible in English online at that link or directly in train stations. 2. For a variety of long-distance bus services in Bulgaria (they're more likely to get you where you want to go, nationally or internationally), check BusBud.	Bulgarian State Railways (Balgarski darzhavni zheleznitsi, usually abbreviated БДЖ, BDZ or BDŽ) is the national operator. Trains in Bulgaria are known for being quite unreliable.	Tickets are made available a month or less prior to the travel date and can be purchased online if you can get the website to work or at train stations.
United Kingdom Train Booking	1. The easiest way for a visitor to find the cheapest and best train route among the 20+ operators in the U.K. is with Trainline. It will quickly point you to the best and cheapest route, any relevant options for split tickets (using multiple tickets on the same journey to save money), and, if you wish, the best-priced day to travel on. It tends to be the smartest at finding good routes and works well with non-U.K. payment methods, but generally tacks on a small booking fee. 2. If you know what you're doing already, you can also book any of these same U.K. train operators with Transport for Wales, which also works great but can involve a bit more clicking around in your trip search results to find the best route and price. The advantage: There are no booking fees. However, it sometimes fails to surface some better, cheaper routes and deals. 3. An excellent website for surfacing more split ticketing deals in particular is RailEasy.	There are more than 20 passenger train operators (known as "train operating companies") in the U.K. They work together as the National Rail, run by the Rail Delivery Group. There are small differences between them but they all meet certain standards and are now being folded back together in a process of re-nationalisation.	In your search results, you'll see different fare types for your route. Usually the cheapest is the standard Advance ticket, which is generally non-refundable and valid for a specific train on a specific date and time. You can pay more for an Anytime ticket and have some flexibility to grab different trains on the same day, or for a refundable ticket. Book ahead—ideally about 6-8 weeks beforehand. Don't book too far in advance of your trip. Tickets may be available a specific route 12 or more weeks beforehand, but that doesn't mean they're the best deal; you may see only limited operators or more expensive "anytime" fares. Harness the other features in Trainline if relevant for your trip: split ticketing, a great hack for using two tickets on a single journey; flexible travel days by going whichever day is cheapest, and combining with buses (coaches) where relevant.
Czech Republic (Czechia) Train Booking	1. There is no good one-stop comparison engine for trains in Czech Republic. Start with the national train operator's website ČD (in English). This will give you the best prices on ČD trains (resellers exist but have unreasonable markups); this site also has good pricing on the ÖBB's Railjet services running in Czechia.   2.  For tickets between Czechia and Slovakia or Austria, also check Trainline for the private Regiojet and LEO Express options. 3. For overnight trains between Czechia and Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, it's easiest to book directly with European Sleeper.	The national train operator is České dráhy (English: Czech Railways, abbreviated ČD). The company Leo Express serves some cities in Czechia as well as into Poland and Slovakia. Austria's ÖBB runs Railjet services in parts of the country and connects to Austria. The privately owned Czech operator Regiojet serves Czechia and Slovakia with links to neighboring countries. European Sleeper runs overnight trains out of the Czech cities of Děčín and Prague to Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium heading out of Czechia on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and returning on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. (While Trainline also offers these tickets, the various seat/couchette options are easier to understand when booking directly with European Sleeper at the link.) This train startup is running throwback vintage train carriages with both private and shared sleeper car options; it's a classic, social overnight European train experience brought back to life.	Register on the ČD website before you buy tickets; this allows you to reprint your tickets if necessary after purchase and saves time if you go back. European Sleeper sometimes has "last-minute" deals on bookings a few weeks ahead.
Denmark Train Booking	1. Omio offers tickets from all operators (DSK, SJ, Øresundståg, and Snälltaget) and is the easiest way to compare all Denmark options and buy the tickets if you're not a local. But unfortunately in our tests Omio can miss stuff, so if you want to be absolutely sure to get the best deal or trip times for you, also check the other sites below. 2. For most domestic Danish trains from the national operator DSB, you can book directly their Danish Railways site in English. 3. Even though Deutsche Bahn is not operating these trains, Bahn.de is a good way to check all options between Denmark and Germany, including Øresundståg daily trains and the Snälltåget overnight trains. If you see a train time that you want but is not available for purchase there, go to the operator's website. 4. You can use the website of the Swedish rail operator SJ to buy tickets for the (Øresundståg) international options serving Denmark. 5. You can buy directly from Snälltåget if you're wanting to go to/from Sweden or to/from Germany at night.	The Danish Railways (DSB) is the national rail operator and runs most of the trains that you would want to take in Denmark. The open-access company Snälltåget runs both day and night trains serving Kolding, Odense, Copenhagen, Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, Malmö, Stockholm, the Austrian Alps, and other points in Sweden. Some trains only run in certain seasons. The passenger train network Øresundståg works with the national Swedish and Danish national operators to serve Copenhagen, Malmö, Stockholm, and Gothenburg, as well as points in between.
Netherlands Train Booking	1. For domestic tickets for train travel in the Netherlands there is no need to book in advance; you can simply do so at the station when traveling. You can use ticket machines or the NS site or app or else wait at a ticket window, if you can find one and there's not too much of a wait. 2. For international trips in and out of the Netherlands, check Trainline. It is the easiest way to find what you need for the many neighboring national operators and to discover the best routing in terms of times and prices. 3. For overnight trains to/from Berlin, Dresden, Děčín, and Prague, it's easier to book directly with European Sleeper.	The Dutch national rail operator NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) handles many of the domestic and international trains for the Netherlands. Some international services are run in partnerships. Arriva is the biggest private operator of trains. Other neighboring countries' national operators also run services into and out of the Netherlands. Eurostar connects Amsterdam and Rotterdam to Brussels, Paris, Marseille, London, and other spots in France and along the way; both Eurostar and the innumerable connections to national and private train operators can be found via Trainline searches. European Sleeper runs overnight trains from Amsterdam and Rotterdam through to Berlin, Dresden, Děčín, and Prague on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, returning on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. (While Trainline also offers these tickets, the various seat/couchette options are easier to understand when booking directly with them at the link.) This train startup is running throwback vintage train carriages with both private and shared sleeper car options; it's a classic, social overnight European train experience brought back to life. These are also cheap options between Amsterdam/Rotterdam and Brussels if your trip coincides with the dates/times.	Another booking option for trains in and out of the Netherlands is NS International. European Sleeper sometimes has "last-minute" deals on bookings a few weeks ahead.
Finland Train Booking	1. Book directly with  the national rail operator VR, which works well and allows you to choose your seats. 2. The reseller Omio also works for trains in Finland but with a slight markup.	VR-Group Plc (or in Finnish: VR-Yhtymä Oyj) is the Finnish state rail operator (not to be confused with the Vy rail operator in Norway).	Fares for long-distance trips are cheaper purchased months in advance. Fares for regional trains are fixed price, so just buy them the day of travel.
Hungary Train Booking	1. Book with the Hungarian national railway's official booking site: MÁV-group. Enter your birthday to see discounts; those under 14 and over 65 can get free tickets, paying only for the (very cheap) seat reservation, which is required. Use this site as well for booking travel from Hungary into and out of Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia. 2. For travel between Hungary and Serbia, take a bus instead; search BusBud for options. 3. For Austria-Hungary travel, check both Trainline and ÖBB. 4. For Hungary-Romania travel, book with the Romanian national operator CFR Călători. (The CFR trains timetable site we recommend for Romania doesn't work for travel into Hungary.)	The Hungarian State Railway is called in Hungarian: MÁV (Magyar Államvasutak Zártkörűen Működő Részvénytársaság).
Norway Train Booking	1. For travel within Norway, check Entur, the Norwegian government's transport website, to compare and purchase train tickets for all domestic operators. It also shows trains to Sweden but doesn't allow you to purchase them. 2. For travel between Norway and Sweden, check Omio (easier to use, more likely to work) or SJ (no booking fee).	The Norwegian state-owned rail operator is Vy, (formerly known as Norwegian State Railways or Norges Statsbaner, abbreviated NSB); it offers the most complete coverage of the country and was the only passenger operator until the deregulation of the 2000s. SJ Norway is a subsidiary of the Swedish operator SJ running several routes. The privately owned operator Go-Ahead Nordic (the website is a pain to use) runs a few lines (including night trains).
Poland	1. Trainline is the place see the various operators' train routes serving Poland all at once and in English. It has the easiest and most error-free ticketing interface, though some the Trainline options may show as "ticket not available," in which case you should see below. 2. You can search long-distance (except Regiojet) and regional train options with Portalpasazera.pl, which can then redirect you to most Polish operators as relevant. Be sure to first look up the place names in Polish for your trip. For local tickets, if the Polregio site produces errors or is too hard to use in Polish (via Google Translate), just purchase directly in the train station before travel.  3. Deutsche Bahn also shows Polish train routes in an easier interface and sells some long-distance trains, but at a significant markup.	PKP Intercity runs the long-distance passenger rail trains in Poland. It is a subsidiary of the PKP (Polskie Koleje Państwowe) Group, the Polish State Railways. Regional and local trains are run by Polregio, which was split off from PKP and is owned by the Polish regional governments. Local tickets can be purchased directly with them, but this was not possible in English at last check. Regiojet runs some lines between major Polish cities.
Croatia Train Booking	1. Book trains within Croatia using the national operator HŽ's English site. 2. Book international trains to and from major Croatian cities with Trainline. 3. If there are issues, try the search engine of Deutsche Bahn International just to see Croatian train times (but it doesn't sell most of these tickets). 4. For ferries to various Croatian islands and to Italy, see Jadrolinija's English site. 4. For overnight trains between Zagreb and other major cities, while they are on Trainline, it can be easier to find them through a direct search on Nightjet.	The national operator is HŽ (Hrvatske željeznice, or Croatian Railways). Neighboring countries' national railways offer services into and out of Croatia as well; notably the The ÖBB's Nightjet connects Zagreb and Austria and Switzerland.
Luxembourg Train Booking	1. Second-class domestic trains in Luxembourg are free and thus require no booking. Just hop on. Find routes and times at CFL's site. 2. For international trains, check Trainline, which shows the relevant options and tends to find cheaper/faster routes than the neighboring national operators themselves.	The Luxembourg national rail operator is CFL, or the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois, that is, the Luxembourg National Railway Company. It runs the domestic trains and some international trains in and out of the country. The national rail operators of Belgium (SNCB), France (SNCF), and Germany (DB) run other international trains serving Luxembourg.
Slovakia Train Booking	1. Book domestic tickets directly with Slovakian Railways. 2. For tickets between Czechia and Slovakia, check the Czech National Railways for their options as well as Trainline for the private Regiojet and LEO Express options. 3. For travel between Hungary and Slovakia, book with the Hungarian national railway's official booking site: MÁV-group. 4. For travel between Austria and Slovakia, use the Austrian railway's ÖBB site or Trainline (may help you find a better route for complex trips but adds a small booking fee). 5. For travel between Austria and Poland, use Polish Railways (PKP) Intercity, first looking up the Polish names of your destinations.	The national train operator is ZSSK (Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko or The Railway Company of Slovakia), with neighboring countries' national rail operators also running their own or joint services into and out of their countries connecting Slovakia. The company Leo Express serves some cities in Slovakia as well as trains running between Czechia and Slovakia and Poland (via Czechia). The privately owned Czech operator Regiojet serves Czechia and Slovakia.	If you are travelling extensively in Slovakia and are an EU resident and a student under 26, child under 16, or retired person over 62, it may be worth the process to apply for a card that allows free travel on some of the ZSSK trains: The zero-fare card. The process and restrictions are explained at the link; note that it does mean getting Slovak translations of documents and that such a card does not work for some important trains (IC and Railjet). Children under six ride free and don't need a card.
Greece Train Booking	1. For trains within Greece, book directly with OSE on their English website. 2. Travel between Greece and another country overland will mean either a bus or a ferry, not a train. To compare a variety of bus options, check BusBud or Omio.	The national railway is OSE, or in their alphabet, Ο.Σ.Ε. or OSE (Οργανισμός Σιδηροδρόμων Ελλάδος, that, is, the Organismos Sidirodromon Ellados, or the Hellenic Railways Organisation.
Romania Train Booking	1. The CFR Trains Timetable English site shows all operators in Romania and is also the easiest and most-translated site to use for booking. It will send you to each operator's site to actually book depending on which you decide is best for price and time of travel for your route. 2. Most likely you will end up on the booking site of the national operator, the clumsy CFR English site. For bookings on TFC you'll be sent there. Or you may end up with Astra Trans Carpatic  (for English, click on the top left menu that says "RO" and you'll get a drop-down where you choose "EN"). All of these sites are poorly translated; have your Translation app or browser extension handy.	The national operator is CFR (Căile Ferate Române) Călători, which means the passenger Romanian Railways. A private operator running some major routes of interest is TFC (Transferoviar Călători), which, one supposes, means Trans-Rail Passengers. Another well-regarded private operator serving Romania is Astra Trans Capatic.	Shorter regional train trips can be purchased directly in train stations before travel.
Slovenia Train Booking	1. For tickets, check the site of the national operator SŽ in English. Various pieces of the English version site are not translated so have your Translation app or plugin handy. We also often see errors in trying to buy tickets. 2. If you run into issues with that clumsy site, you can try the search engine of Deutsche Bahn International to see trip times in Slovenia and then purchase on arrival at the station; the DB site is not at present useful for actually making purchases for Slovenian trains.	The national rail operator is SŽ (Slovenske železnice, in English: Slovenian Railways), which runs modern InterCity Slovenija high speed trains between Maribor and Ljubljana as well as regular speed and night trains crossing the country and into neighboring countries.
Switzerland Train Booking	1. It's easiest to book Swiss trains with Trainline, which avoids some of the expensive traps that tourists accidentally run into, as well as website errors and language and payment issues. It is also the best and most reliable way to find good trip options into and out of Switzerland. 2. The SBB website is fine though for domestic Swiss trains if you know what you're doing (see the notes) and will likely save you a franc or two on the booking fee.	The national passenger train operator is SBB (in German: Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, or Swiss Federal Railways). Various neighboring countries' national operators run services in and out of Switzerland.	Most Swiss trains do not have seat reservations; hop on and find a free spot. Even on the longer-distance trains that offer these, they're not really necessary. The exception is tourist sightseeing trains, for which your ticket will include a reserved seat. In some difficult-to-predict cases, Trainline or SBB will offer you you supersaver tickets with a discounted rate, if they're available for your journey. They start to appear from six months in advance and are generally cheaper the earlier you book. The half-price fares you will see displayed prominently on the SBB website are not actually available to you unless you have purchased a half-fare card, which most Swiss riders do each year, but which is not worthwhile for temporary visitors to Switzerland.  The regular-priced Swiss tickets don't sell out, so you can always just turn up and buy a ticket at the last minute (avoid waits and clumsy ticket machines by using Trainline or SBB on your phone). Just don't hop on without a ticket; one of our writers also works as a Swiss train inspector and he swears he will catch you.
Albania Train Booking	1. Check if you really want to travel by rail here? There are no trains connecting Albania to other countries and very few and very poor train services within the country. 2. To actually get around in Albania, check for buses on BusBud, Omio, or Trainline. For minibuses, see a guide to Furgons in Albania. 3. If you just want an adventure, but not necessarily to go anywhere, check the HSH website.	The national Albanian rail operator is HSH (Hekurudhë ë Shqipërisë, Albanian Railways).

Here’s a bit more about our testing of French train booking platforms and the top results.

• Trainline is the best of the private platforms we tested; it finds smarter routes and can save you money if you cross borders or take a complex trip. It finds the best combinations of routes and gets you the local prices from each operator’s system when leaving France. It also shows Renfe and Trenitalia routes that operate in France (“mysteriously” missing on the SNCF website); these can also save money. Lastly, Trainline has a flexible dates feature that can show you whether it’s cheaper to travel a day or two before or after your dates . The only downside is that sometimes a booking fee of ~3% of your total order is tacked on at the end.
• SNCF Connect is the national train operator’s own booking website; it has lots of errors that make it difficult to use but there is no booking fee, so you can give it a shot and maybe save a few Euros on simple routes if you’re patient.

Both of these sites allow you to use e-tickets (discussed later), which you simply show on your phone and/or print out in advance.

Both of these sites (as well as the other competing platforms discussed in a separate article) pay us a teensy commission if you book your trip through the links above; that money keeps our little travel and research projects going.

You can buy your French train tickets from ticketing machines in train stations and/or use the machines to print out e-tickets purchased online (from Trainline or SNCF Connect) if you want to have a hard copy (rather than showing your ticket to inspectors from your phone).

The advantage of machines over human-staffed ticketing counters is that they are available in English and there is usually no wait. However, these ticketing machines are much worse than buying online because the translations are very incomplete, the machines produce errors, they are finicky with foreign credit cards, and they’re not exactly intuitive to use.

The prices are the same and it’s much easier to buy your tickets online on a computer or phone as recommended above. But if you find yourself using a ticket machine, here’s how to do it.

Purchasing from a Ticket Machine

After purchasing, your ticket will be printed out as a paper receipt with a scannable QR code as shown in the next section. The older-style, longer, rectangular tickets on card stock are no longer issued.

Printing an Already-Purchased E-Ticket

Here’s how you collect a ticket which was previously purchased online. You’ll get a paper ticket from the ticket machine and won’t have to show the electronic copy on your phone.

Switch to English (as shown in the previous section) and choose “Collect a ticket”. Enter the ticket information and your trip will be displayed on the screen.

Kiosks should print tickets purchased on SNCF Connect using a foreign credit card, but they may not be able to if they can’t read the card. If that happens you’ll need to go to a staffed train station window (and allow time for this). I’d suggest avoiding all this and just using the e-ticket from your phone.

Tickets from either of the above-mentioned platforms can be used as e-tickets. These are generally preferable to old-fashioned paper because:

• You can show them to ticket inspectors on your phone or print them out yourself.
• You don’t need to wait for them to be mailed to you.
• You don’t need to validate e-tickets in the train station (insert them into a machine that stamps them) before boarding trains.
• Exchanges and refunds (when allowed for your ticket type) are simpler.
• If you lose your printout (or your phone, for that matter), you can easily access the ticket again by logging in to the platform you bought them from.

If you use an e-ticket you can display it in the ticketing platform’s app (SNCF Connect or Trainline) or display a PDF (zoomed in on the bar code) of the ticket on your mobile device.

You can also print the ticket yourself; a printed copy is a nice backup but not truly necessary. European A4 as well as American 8.5 x 11″ paper are both fine for printing your French train tickets.

Personally, I like to have printed copies of everything during my travels to refer to quickly, rather than rummaging through my phone, but some people find that more complicated. It is also true that the battery never dies on a piece of paper (though I also always travel with an external USB-C battery).

Finally, you can use the reference code to print out your tickets at train station kiosks if you purchased on Trainline (payment card not needed) or SNCF Connect (payment card may be needed and may cause problems if not French).

While e-tickets are what most travelers now use in France, it is still possible to travel with paper tickets, and the SNCF says that these are not going away completely (article in French).

If you’re buying a ticket at a train station ticket window or from an automatic machine in a station, you can still get your ticket as a piece of paper. The old-style card stock tickets are no longer used, instead you’ll get a simple piece of paper with a scannable QR code.

This means that ticket validation machines will soon be eliminated (article in French) and validating your ticket is no longer something you need to worry about with these new paper tickets.

Whether booking with Trainline or SNCF Connect, you’ll generally have a few options to choose from, though these vary by train. The options are thankfully much more straightforward than they used to be.

Standard class (2nd / French: “seconde classe” or “2de”): This is the main, cheapest option. On TGV INOUI, the seats are four to a row, spacious enough and comfortable.

If you buy your standard class tickets early enough, you may see they are designated as Prems or Prem’s. This designation no longer really means anything other than you’re getting a good deal — cheaper prices on the same 2nd class seats.

Standard/second class TGV INOUI tickets in France can be fully refunded or exchanged up to seven days before departure; you’ll have to pay any difference in price between the old and new tickets. From six days prior to departure, you pay €19 for this privilege. From 30 minutes prior to departure, tickets can only be exchanged for another journey on the same day.

1st class (French: “première classe” or “1re”): This is usually (but not always!) more expensive than 2nd class and on TGV INOUI trains. These seats are a bit roomier, with more foot room and seating generally three to a row. Exchange and refund conditions are the same as for 2nd class.

Within this 1st class, you’ll see a much more expensive option noted as “Flexible” in Trainline or as “Business Premiere” in SNCF Connect; it offers the same seating but with a few extras like in-seat service (rather than going to the bar car) and access to the business lounges “Salons Grand Voyager TGV INOUI” in major train stations (listed here in French). These Business Premiere tickets can be exchanged or refunded free of charge up to 30 minutes after departure.

Ouigo tickets in France are all one class and are non-refundable; changes in the departure station, arrival station, or date are possible for €19. The Ouigo Plus option isn’t really for a different class of service; it simply allows you to choose your seat, carry more luggage, and arrive at Paris stations up to only 5 minutes ahead of departure.

When booking TGV INOUI and other fast trains, you can request in Trainline and in SNCF Connect to be on the upper or lower level and have a window or an aisle seat. Seats are roomier than on airlines and so aisle seats have less value, in my opinion; I always opt for upper level window seats to maximize my enjoyment of the views.

In some cases it is possible to select forward-facing seats. If this is the case this option will be available in both Trainline and SNCF Connect.

Whether your seat preferences are fulfilled depends on availability.

Both Trainline and SNCF Connect also allow you to select your exact seat in certain cases, like when traveling on TGV INOUI first class. The option comes up on both sites after you select your train; you can choose the train car, the bottom or top deck, and the exact seat from those still available.

During the booking process, I think that SNCF Connect’s seat map is a bit easier to understand than Trainline’s, and shows the location of luggage storage, tables and the bar car in relation to the your chosen seat. Remember that it’s never guaranteed that you’ll get the seat you have chosen.

This is a very quick summary of the main train types to know.

TGV INOUI: These are the cream of the crop: the flagship, comfortable, high-speed trains that criss-cross the country serving over 200 destinations.

There are also similar high-speed services with different names that connect France to other countries: Eurostar (connecting London, Paris, Lille and Brussels), TGV Europe (for travel between France and Belgium, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg and Germany), and Thalys (for travel to/from Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam).

INTERCITÉS: These are the standard-speed trains that still fill in some gaps in the high-speed and regional services, there are daytime and some night services. Some of these require reservations (dynamically priced and can sell out) and some do not (fixed price, do not sell out).

OUIGO: This is the SNCF’s answer to budget airlines. We’ve written about the Ouigo experience, but in a nutshell its trains are slightly more cramped than standard offerings and almost always a lot cheaper. The vast majority are high speed, getting you around the country just as quickly as TGV INOUI. There are also now a few “Ouigo Classic” routes that offer cheap service at standard speeds to smaller destinations between Paris and Nantes and between Paris and Lyon.

If booking on Ouigo pay careful attention to the baggage restrictions as these are tightly enforced; pay for a full-sized luggage piece if you have more than a carry-on.

TER: These are small, regional trains. There are no class distinctions and tickets can be purchased at any time for the same price. For the Paris region, the local service is called Transilien.

You can get one-country Interrail (for European residents, including the UK) and Eurail (for non-Europeans) passes for France, though most people will find that they are no longer worth it, even those who like to travel by the seat of their pants and visit a lot of destinations in a very short period.

A Eurail/Interrail pass does not include journeys on Ouigo trains (the very convenient and cheap high-speed trains). The French trains you’re most likely to want to take, such as TGV INOUI, require seat reservations to be paid, and sometimes other supplements. If you’re patient, you can check out our article about how to compare whether Interrail / Eurail is worth it. Then check prices for point-to-point tickets by putting the same itinerary into one of the ticketing platforms mentioned above, and see what actually works out cheaper.

There are also Global Interrail and Global Eurail passes available for travel beyond France and across the continent, though the same basic caveats apply and it’s hard to make them worthwhile either.

If—and only if—you spend a lot of time in France and travel frequently on non-Ouigo trains, it could perhaps be worth investing in a discount card. These are purchased and mailed to you and are valid for one year. We’ve written more about these discount cards for children, adults, and seniors; if you do get them the discounts can be applied when buying tickets in either Trainline or SNCF Connect. Here is the SNCF’s page with details on the various discount card options. Do be wary about the many exceptions for when they can be used; in my personal experience they did not end up actually saving money.

If you’ve purchased your ticket on Trainline, go to the “Manage my booking” section of the site to see your options for replacing or exchanging your tickets—it’s just a few steps.

Tickets purchased with SNCF can be changed / refunded at the point of sale (if allowed), i.e. in the SNCF Connect booking section, at SNCF offices or self-service kiosks, or by calling +33 1 84 94 36 35 (or just 3635 from a French phone).

First, relax. You don’t really need French to buy French train tickets; the online ticketing platforms recommended above have English versions. And even if you’re waiting until the last minute and in a French train station, you can always purchase via the ticketing kiosks, which have English and multiple other languages.

Also, the odds are low that your poorly pronounced attempts at French phrases learned in a guide like this are going to save you from confusion in a French train station. French people working in trains are used to speaking English and may also have a bit of Spanish, German or Italian.

That said, French people tend to be embarrassed of their own self-perceived poor level of English, prefer speaking their own language, and value foreigners who at least attempt a bit.

So whether you speak a bit of French already and want to have some key vocabulary ready for train travel, or you just want a few basic words for communication, this guide is designed to focus on the words you might actually need and use.

The Most Important Vocabulary for Trains and Train Stations in France

You absolutely must know the following general items before boarding a French train.

Train Station Vocabulary

Vocabulary in French Trains

That’s all you really need, but if you want to go further and amuse yourself chatting to fellow passengers, we have a handful of articles on fun, flirty, and explosive vocabulary building in French, as well as, I think, the internet’s best strategies for true communicative language learning.

Do I need to print my tickets for trains in France?

Tickets purchased online through the platforms mentioned above do not need to be printed; you can simply show the e-ticket on your phone (either use the PDF you will have received by email or use the app).

How can I buy train tickets in Paris?

If you’re looking for long distance trains (leaving the Paris region) you’ll want to purchase online as discussed above or else go to any train station (“gare”) in the Paris or SNCF ticket office.

If you’re traveling in the Paris region (known as “Île-de-France”) you’ll use the commuter network RER and buy tickets at vending machines (usually less waiting if you know what you’re doing) or from ticket windows. Here is trip planning and more information in English on Paris region trains (run by the Transilien SNCF).

How are French train tickets priced?

Long distance train tickets in France are dynamically priced, meaning that the prices go up and down based on demand, as with modern airfare pricing. For the best prices, you generally want to book about three to four months ahead of your trip.

The exception is fixed-price regional trains (TER). Tickets for these trains can be purchased in advance but you will not gain anything by doing so.