Are trains in France this expensive?

[executiveclubber]

Looking at trains next week Paris to Reims, a 45 min journey, seems to be £100 return at the cheapest for two of us. I’m on the SNCF website. Am I missing a trick (is it cheaper at the station) or does that sound right?

[can2]

Not unless you travel during the olympics.

I tried a dummy booking, it says €20 for a return.

[hugog]

They are not cheap unless you get advance purchase – for a TGV doing around 150km that is what I would expect for a last minute ticket like this.

[LD27]

It would not have surprised me if it cost more. As @hugog says, it’s a last minute purchase and you’ll be on a TGV. The distance between Paris to Reims must be nearly 100 miles, so seems quite reasonable compared with say UK prices (eg an off peak single from Dorking in Surrey commuter land to London is around £14). Ouigo might be cheaper than SNCF, but it’s a rail LCC with no food on board and you pay extra for everything.

As an example I paid around €10 single recently on a local TER from Cenon (Bordeaux) to St Emilion which is max 20 miles. Takes about half an hour though as it’s a slow train.

[executiveclubber]

We’ve also done the same train journey to St Emilion, a lovely walk from there to the town.

Ok thanks, I just won’t look while I enter my card details 😂

[LD27]

executiveclubber wrote:

We’ve also done the same train journey to St Emilion, a lovely walk from there to the town.

Ok thanks, I just won’t look while I enter my card details 😂

Yes. It’s a lovely walk. We have a house nearby. Got picked up by car as it’s so much easier than a round trip to Bordeaux airport, on a day that the Pont Aquitaine and part of the rocade were closed and it was pouring with rain.

Enjoy Reims. Haven’t visited recently but was a frequent visitor when I lived in Paris as I had a friend at Uni there. Even then I remember the trains weren’t cheap!