Ecological considerations and the significant fluctuation in fuel prices tend to motivate more and more French people to leave their car in the garage when moving.
If, for short daily journeys, it is possible to take public transport, use a bicycle or even an electric scooter, the situation tends to get worse when it comes to traveling far.
The idea of taking the train tends to be quickly put on the table, since this means of transport is both fast and consumes little CO2.
However, there is a major obstacle to travel by train: the price of tickets.
In recent years, train fares have risen sharply, turning this means of transport, which has long been suitable for modest budgets, into a luxury investment,
which is no longer within everyone's reach.
For a family, in particular, traveling by train can quickly become expensive, even more so at strategic times such as summer holidays, bridge weekends or the end of year celebrations.
Something to question the uneconomical use of the car!
4 tips to pay less for your train ticket
However, there are tips for paying less for your train tickets, but you still need to know them and know how to apply them correctly.
You can, however, make valuable savings by using them.
Here's how to lower the price of tickets when you want to take the train: do not hesitate to use them without moderation to soften your bills and improve your purchasing power, while traveling as peacefully as possible.
Anticipate your train journeys
The first tip to make significant savings when shopping is to anticipate them as much as possible.
When you know you'll be traveling for a set period, start by looking at the fares of your potential rides as soon as possible, and book right away when you find one that interests you.
The SNCF never tends to lower prices, even when there are places left a few hours before the departure of a train: there is not really a “last minute” effect in this context.
Quite the contrary: the longer you wait, the greater the risk of paying much more.
And that's without counting on full trains, which is generally always the case during the most tense periods.
During strategic periods, such as the end of year celebrations, the SNCF announces very early on the day and time of the sale of tickets dedicated to this event.
Generally, the sale starts at 6 am and in such a tense context, it is worth getting up a little earlier to quickly book your tickets at the best price.
Sometimes some trains are filled a few hours after they go on sale, which is an additional argument in favor of buying your train tickets quickly.
Compare prices on the same day
Depending on the date, but also the time and even connections, the price of a train ticket for the same destination can vary greatly throughout a single day.
It can be interesting to leave very early in the morning or, on the contrary, to wait until the end of the morning or the beginning of the afternoon to take the train.
It is very useful to have a little flexible planning when you decide to leave, because it can vary the price of your train ticket by 20 to 30%.
The reason for this is that there are so many people looking to leave early in the morning, but not too early either, or who take the train just after leaving work in the late afternoon- noon or early evening.
The other journeys are therefore a little cheaper.
If you combine this reflex with the one that involves anticipating your purchases of train tickets, you can make very significant savings, which is always good for your wallet.
Invest in a membership card
The SNCF offers multiple subscription cards intended to allow their members to benefit from very significant reductions, which can drop below the 50% mark depending on the offer chosen.
SNCF subscription cards have the advantage of adapting to most traveler profiles: whether you are a student and frequently go home to your parents, whether you are a couple and enjoy romantic weekend getaways -end, whether you tend to travel with your family several times a year, whether you are active with daily train journeys or even whether you are retired with the desire to travel more and more, there are really has for everyone.
The Avantage cards allow you to take advantage of average discounts of 30% for adults and 60% for children, while the Max cards allow you to travel as much as you want — for a reservation of 1.50 euros on the TGV — for the price of a easy-to-amortize monthly subscription.
For people who take the train daily to go to work, there are also various TER offers that can significantly lower daily fares.
Similar subscriptions also exist for TGVs.
All in all, if you travel regularly by train, it may be worth looking into!
Discover here
all the SNCF cards and subscriptions available
Travel in OUIGO
OUIGO is the SNCF low cost train offer.
We still all too often associate this qualification with a proposal of average quality, but concerning OUIGO, it is not so.
Of course, in order to be able to offer train tickets from 10 euros per trip to all of its customers, whatever their age (children always pay less than adults, however), the SNCF had to make some compromises .
For example, OUIGO TGVs do not have a bar car, and the cars are designed to accommodate more passengers than a conventional high-speed train car.
These are, however, small sacrifices that add up to very significant savings.
OUIGO serves around fifty destinations spread across the four corners of France.
However, some areas of France are a little less served than others, which can lead to making a different choice when going on vacation.
But the economic interest is real.
Very often in the year, OUIGO offers very significant reductions through the sale of tickets in very limited quantities: this can allow you to enjoy a weekend in a big city at prices that defy all competition.
Discover here all
the good deals for cheap travel with OUIGO