Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

TRAVEL NEWS

French train operator SNCF’s Christmas tickets sale starts

French rail operator SNCF's website and app both overloaded as customers rushed to book their rail journeys home for Christmas in the latest ticket sale.

Published: 29 September 2023 17:04 CEST
Updated: 4 October 2023 11:17 CEST
Train tickets for Christmas travel in France will open for sale on October 4th.
Train tickets for Christmas travel in France will open for sale on October 4th. (Photo by PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP)

Rail users looking to head home for Christmas are having to wait to book tickets, after French train operator SNCF opened up its sale of tickets over the festive period on Wednesday, October 4th.

SNCF high-speed train tickets typically become available about three months in advance.

But tickets for the Christmas and New Year period are now on sale.

However, on the morning that the tickets went on sale, the SNCF Connect website was saturated with customers looking to book early tickets. The homepage warned Internet users: “There is a bit of a wait, many of you want to buy your train tickets, please renew your search in a few moments.”

The app, too, struggled to cope with the number of people looking to book tickets. “The SNCF Connect site and app have seen exceptional traffic since this morning, well beyond expectations. The teams are mobilised to restore quality service as soon as possible,” the operator told AFP.

TGV InOui (premium high-speed trains) tickets for the period of December 10th to January 9th are available here. 

Intercité (classic) train tickets for the same period are available here. 

Low-cost OuiGo tickets will be available for an even larger period, from December 10th to July 5th, and can be booked here. 

If you are unsure of which kind of train is suitable for your journey (or even just goes where you want it to go), check the SNCF website for further details on prices and itineraries. 

Eurostar tickets for the Christmas period are already on sale. 

What about the rest of the year?

If you want to book tickets from mid-January 2024 and onwards, you are going to have to wait for a little while (unless you are travelling on a OuiGo train). 

Sales for TGV InOui and Intercité services will open progressively for services between January 9th to February 9th. 

If however you want to book trains for the February school holidays, you set a reminder for November 15th, which is the date that tickets for TGV InOui and Intercité services will go on sale for the period of February 10th to March 24th. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

FRANCE WEATHER

Thunderstorms, floods and traffic: France’s last holiday weekend in May 

The final holiday weekend of May in France is set to be marked by bad weather and difficult driving conditions on busy roads.

Published: 17 May 2024 15:44 CEST
Thunderstorms, floods and traffic: France’s last holiday weekend in May 

Monday, May 20th is a holiday for most of France, marking the Christian festival of Pentecost, which means that many people will enjoy a three-day weekend.

This is the last of four public holidays in France in May 2024, now we need to wait until August for another extra day off work (since the Fête National on July 14th falls on a Sunday this year).

So what can we expect for the long weekend? Well, bad weather and heavy traffic, unfortunately.

The Moselle département, in north-east France, was placed on red weather alert on Friday after hours of heavy rain caused flash flooding.

The red weather alert initially runs until 9pm on Friday, with between 80mm and 100mm of rain expected, while between 70mm and 90mm are predicted in the far north of the neighbouring Bas-Rhin, with up to 70mm expected further south – figures national forecaster Météo-France said approached records for daily rainfall figures in the region.

Orange alerts in the area remain in place on Saturday.

Image: Météo-France

Rain and occasional storms, some bringing hail, are expected to develop across large parts of the country throughout the weekend, with only the Mediterranean areas likely to remain dry on Saturday.

Showers and sunny spells will continue into Sunday and Monday, with occasional thunderstorms in the south-west. Temperatures throughout the weekend should rise to between 15C and 22C.

To make family getaways on the final long weekend of the month even more difficult, roads watchdog Bison Futé predicts ‘difficult’, or ‘very difficult’ travel conditions on key routes across the country. 

Image: Bison Fute

On Friday, traffic is expected to be heavy on routes heading away from major cities towards popular holiday destinations until well into the evening – especially on Paris’s Périphérique and the A86 and A6B, the A7, along the Mediterranean Arc and on the Atlantic seaboard (A11, N165 and A63). 

The A13 is likely to remain closed to traffic between Paris and Vaucresson across the holiday weekend, so drivers from the Paris region wishing to reach Normandy are advised to take the A14, A15 or N12

On Saturday, May 18th, conditions on the roads will be difficult nationwide, particularly on roads serving the Mediterranean arc (A7 and A9) and the Atlantic coast (A63 and N165). In the Île-de-France region, traffic will be heavy from early morning onwards on the A6 and A10. From mid-morning onwards, traffic is expected to intensify significantly. 

Image: Bison Fute

Routes converging on the A10 and A6 could also see traffic problems on Saturday, Bison Futé warned.

No major forecastable traffic problems are expected on Sunday – but, on Monday, May 20th, short breakers will be returning home, leading to heavy traffic across the country, notably on A7 and A9, in the Mediterranean region, and routes serving the west of the country.

Traffic will be heavy on the A10 and A6 in the Île-de-France region from late morning into the evening. The A13, which should be open, could also experience traffic problems from mid-afternoon onwards, and could continue to do so well into the evening.

Across the country banks and public administration offices will close. Some independent shops may close, while larger stores and chains are more likely to be open, but probably with altered opening hours.

Most bars, restaurants and cafés will remain open while public transport will run as normal. 

SHOW COMMENTS