I will be spending two weeks in France next spring; one week in Paris and one week in the Loire Valley. I am trying to determine the best rail pass options.
The first week, I plan to do spend 100% of my tiem in Paris, commuting in on the A4 train from the Marriott Village d'Ille de France (near the Disney Resort.)
The second week, I will be taking a train to Tours and will stay in Amboise for 6 days, taking the local trains and a car to various sites, then returning to Paris for a flight home.
Should I get a Paris Viste card for the first week for traveling from airports to hotels to all around Paris? Should I buy a France rail pass for my second week. Or would a France rail card or Eurail card cover both weeks.
I have been researching options online for hours. Rail Europe suggests that the best buy is a 14 day Eurail Global pass for $575...but it's not clear that it will be good on the regional and other Paris trains.
I would greatly appreciate some guidance!
Thank you!
KMLF
Reply to this Hey there,
if the only travelling you're doing is from Paris to Tours and back along with regional trains, a rail pass is not worth it. 575 USD is at least 5 times what you should be paying.
When you arrive in Paris you can get a weekly travel pass for all RER, Metro, Tram and Bus services in Paris (within whatever zones you need to get in to the centre from Marriott Village), it's quite pricey compared to other cities in Europe but I'd still only expect it to be about 40 EUR. This information is how it was back in 2006 when I was last in Paris - there might be a better ticketing system nowadays.
You should be able to buy a return ticket from Paris to Tours with RailEurope/SNCF. Once you're in the Loire Valley, as I remember you can buy tickets quite cheaply (moreso if you're under 26) which cover all train services in certain regions. I remember getting one in Brittany which cost something like 15 EUR (again 5 or 6 years ago), and we could basically travel on all regional services in that region on that day. If not then buying tickets to do short regional journeys as you go shouldn't be that expensive.
Hopefully someone else can offer more uptodate information, but basically, do not get the Eurail pass!
Merry christmas
Zeibura
Reply to this Just checked RailEurope and you can get tickets for Paris - Tours for as low as 30 USD each way.
Reply to this no pass...book online ahead of time...it will be cheaper!
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