France's SNCF opens ticket office for early summer getaway rush
And, from Thursday February 13th, sales will open for TGV InOui and Intercités running from June 13th to July 4th inclusive. All Ouigo Grande Vitesse destinations can be booked until July 4th, with 'more than 60 destinations accessible from €16'.
Meanwhile, European train tickets can be booked according to the following schedule: until July 4th for TGV Inoui to Spain and Italy, June 27th for TGV Lyria, and up to six months in advance for TGV Inoui and ICE to Germany from DB-SNCF Voyageurs.
SNCF also announced the return of the seasonal Paris-Perpignan line from March 31st, with 'a daily return service to Lyon Saint-Exupéry, Nîmes, Montpellier, Sète, Agde, Béziers and Narbonne'.
And a direct TGV Inoui line between Paris and Milan, which was suspended in August 2023 due to a landslide in the Maurienne valley, will resume on March 31st, with 'three daily return trips serving Paris, Mâcon, Chambéry, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Modane, Oulx, Turin and Milan,' SNCF announced.
When sales opened last year for the spring holidays, more than a million tickets were sold in 24 hours.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local France
an hour ago
- Local France
Should I worry my French train will be cancelled during a heatwave?
While it remains uncommon for French rail services to cancel large swathes of scheduled train journeys due to high temperatures, heatwave-related cancellations and delays are becoming more common, especially on lines with older trains. Over the weekend, French national rail services (SNCF) cancelled more than 20 journeys along the Bordeaux-Marseille, Paris-Limoges-Toulouse, and Paris-Clermont-Ferrand routes, as the rail service tried to anticipate "potential air conditioning failures", Le Parisien reported. During France's June heatwave, trains from Bordeaux to Marseille were cancelled as well. As heatwaves ( canicules ) become more common - and more intense - it is important for passengers to anticipate potential disruption (and to pack water bottles). READ MORE: Eat balanced meals and shut the shutters - French government advice for staying cool in a heatwave Why would trains be cancelled or delayed during a heatwave? Aside from concerns related to air conditioning, the most common reason has to do with the steel rails. Advertisement When air temperature exceeds 37C, rails can become hotter than 55C (sometimes even 70C in direct sunlight). As a material, steel can be sensitive to temperature fluctuation, and extreme heat can lead the tracks to deform, which in turn can cause significant damage and possibly lead to derailments. Hot temperatures can also make it so power cables hang lower, and this creates a risk of the cables touching the roofs of carriages. And finally, heatwaves can force trains to run slower, in order to avoid engines overheating. Which trains are most likely to be cancelled? SNCF told BFMTV that cancellations due to anticipated air conditioning issues are more common on older trains. For example, the rail service told Le Parisien that the older 'Corail carriages', used in Intercités (regional) trains, "do not provide the same reliability as new trains under certain weather conditions." Luckily, these trains are going to be gradually replaced by newer 'Oxygène' models from early 2027 on the Paris-Clermont-Ferrand and Paris-Orléans-Toulouse lines, and later onto the Bordeaux-Marseille line in 2028 and 2029, according to Le Figaro . What if my train is cancelled? Before going to the train station during a heatwave, first check the status of your train using the SNCF website or app. If your train has been cancelled, then SNCF ought to inform you of the change and offer a free refund or exchange. As for the general rules for delayed or cancelled trains, you likely qualify for a full or partial refund. On high-speed domestic TGV InOui trains and regional Intercités services, you cannot get any refund for a delay of less than 30 minutes. However, you can get 25 percent of your ticket back for 30 minutes and two hours of delays; 50 percent of your ticket back for a delay of two to three hours; and 75 percent back for a delay of more than three hours. Advertisement For budget OuiGo services, you do not qualify for compensation if the delay is under an hour. You can get 25 percent back for a delay of an hour to two hours, and you can get half of your ticket back for a delay of more than two hours. If your train runs as planned but the air conditioning is broken, making it unbearably hot, then unfortunately you do not qualify for a refund, although train staff will usually distribute water to any passengers who need it. You can find instructions on the SNCF website. READ MORE: Revealed: France's five worst rail lines for delays and cancellations Will other things be cancelled? If Météo France has declared an area on heatwave alert, than certain services or events may be cancelled. A red alert gives local authorities the power to cancel large public events such as festivals, if they think the heat poses a danger to attendees. Likewise, organisers may cancel if they believe they cannot keep visitors safe. A new law that came into effect on July 1st 2025 requires employers to take more precautions to ensure that their employees are safe in the heat, which could include altering working hours (and therefore opening hours of a public site). As awareness of heat-related risks grows, you may also see that some businesses declare that that will close if the temperature reaches a certain level (eg 35C or above) or if a red heatwave alert is declared. Paris public transport runs even if the temperature reaches Hades level, but lines can be disrupted or services suspended if a passenger collapses and requires medical attention - which is why you will hear lots of announcements encouraging you to stay hydrated on the hottest days.
Local France
an hour ago
- Local France
Ryanair boss threatens to cut services in France, again
In an interview with the French daily, Le Parisien , on Saturday, the Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary once again threatened to reduce services to France. The CEO of Europe's leading low-cost airline cautioned: "If France's response to this is to raise taxes again, then we will further reduce our capacity here." In response, the French minister of transport, Philippe Tabarot, told Le Parisien in a separate interview that he "does not tolerate this way of doing things. Dialogue, yes, but no threats." Tabarot also noted that Ryanair had doubled its profits in one year. Advertisement "Rather than lecturing the government on how to prepare its next budget, he [Michael O'Leary] would do better to focus on the service Ryanair provides to its customers," Tabarot said. O'Leary's threat came shortly after Ryanair announced it would cut its winter services to France by 13 percent and halt its winter services to three French airports - Strasbourg, Brivé and Bergerac. READ MORE: Fears over future of south-west France airport after Ryanair announcement The CEO explained that these airports were chosen because "they are three of the smallest airports where we operate, but they are also three of the services where our revenues are particularly low compared to the cost of operations. "As a result, we are barely breaking even at these airports and will certainly lose money now that our passengers have to pay almost €5 extra per ticket," he told Le Parisien. At present only the winter schedules at the three airports are affected - services from Bergerac airport were due to be suspended for part of this winter anyway, due to runway repairs. O'Leary has been an outspoken critic of the country's tax on airline tickets ( taxe sur les billets d'avion , TSBA), which was doubled in the 2025 budget so that it now adds €7.40 to an economy or short-haul flight. READ MORE: What is France's airline 'eco tax' and how does it affect ticket prices? Initially, Ryanair had threatened to halve its schedule from France following the first proposal for France to treble the TBSA. As things stand, there are no official plans for France to increase the TSBA in the upcoming 2026 budget, but Prime Minister François Bayrou has listed several proposals, including the abolition of two of the country's public holidays, to cut the budget by €40 billion. The budget will be debated in the autumn.
Euronews
14 hours ago
- Euronews
Why France's strategy is working in the age of overtourism
In Greece, locals are spraying graffiti. In Italy, Portugal and Spain, they have resorted to water guns and mass protests. While anti-tourism sentiment has begun to bubble over across Europe, one country is conspicuous in its relative silence. And it's the most visited country in the world: France. Although it welcomes about 100 million travellers each year, France rarely makes headlines for tourism protests – a stark contrast to its neighbours, who have increasingly vented frustration over crowded cities, rising rents and bad behaviour. There is no single reason why France has avoided the backlash, and fears that one could still be coming aren't unfounded. But a commitment to sustainable tourism, strong infrastructure and a strategy to spread visitors across regions and seasons all play a part. France has played the long game Unlike many countries now scrambling to rein in mass tourism, France started laying the groundwork years ago. Atout France, the country's tourism development agency, has made sustainability a central tenet of its strategy. Under a 10-year roadmap – the Destination France Plan – the government earmarked €1.9 billion in 2021 to encourage greener, more responsible travel. That means pushing for rail travel over short-haul flights, investing in mid-sized cities and nudging visitors beyond the usual suspects, like Paris or Nice. The country doubled down this year, with a fresh pledge to invest in tourism that's more ecological, inclusive and digitally savvy. Tourism leaders hope that investment results in longer stays, smaller crowds and more meaningful experiences. 'The French authorities have invested in sustainable travel for years,' says Veronica Diquattro, president of B2C and supply at Omio, a travel search engine for Europe. 'The focus now is on improving the quality of tourism experiences, spreading visitor numbers throughout the year to combat overtourism and emphasising ecological, digital, social and inclusive tourism practices.' The power of trains France has one of the most extensive rail networks in Europe – 28,000 kilometres of tracks, including 2,800 kilometres of high-speed lines. 'France is among the most accessible countries for rail tourism,' Diquattro says. Cities with as few as 20,000 people have train stations, she explains. Thanks to its high-speed rail, you can get from Paris to Marseille in three hours. That kind of access reshapes tourism patterns. It also reshapes policy. In 2023, France formally banned domestic flights on some routes that could be done in under two and a half hours by train. Although its impact on the climate is unclear, the move has nevertheless boosted train travel and likely encouraged trips to regions that may have gone overlooked. Tourists are dispersed by design Where Spain has the Costa Brava and Italy has Venice, France has... everything. And that's exactly how the country likes it. 'Tourists are spread out in France,' says Marine Prat, a travel and business events designer at Loire Secrets. 'They don't go to only one place. They travel to several regions.' Part of this comes down to history – France has always marketed itself as a country of regions. Part of it is storytelling. From the châteaux of the Loire to the wine cellars of Alsace, each region offers its own brand of tourism and the infrastructure to match. 'More and more people want to travel off the beaten track. They want to see different areas – not just the classics, like Paris and Normandy and the south of France,' Prat adds. 'Now they can see on Instagram that you can go an hour and a half from Paris and easily discover charming villages, gastronomy and very dynamic cities.' A cultural advantage Perhaps less obvious, France's legacy of hosting outsiders could be paying dividends today. 'France has been a crossroads of cultures for centuries,' says Prat. 'It's quite normal to have people from all over visit [France]… It's a big part of our economy.' That long history of hosting, combined with a strong tourism infrastructure, has likely helped insulate France from some of the issues seen elsewhere. And the audience is growing. As Prat points out, arrivals from new markets like India, Southeast Asia, Australia and Africa have ticked upward in recent years. They're finding more to do outside of the big cities and gravitating toward them, too. 'We're trying to sell more local experiences,' she says. 'We are very involved in our region. We want to promote more organic or biodynamic winemakers, more local and organic food, and people who work in this way.' Diquattro says her company's data backs that up. 'Travellers frequently choose Paris as their initial destination.' But from there, she says, they're branching out, adding that Marseille and Strasbourg are growing fast, thanks to better connections and more to experience when travellers get there. Can regulation fend off retaliation? France hasn't escaped friction. Frequent strikes – rail, air or otherwise – remain part of the national rhythm. Crowding and gentrification could be looming issues, too. Meanwhile, the Olympic Games last year brought so much attention to the City of Lights that more than 50 million people visited it in 2024 alone. Earlier this summer, residents in Montmartre began sounding the alarm over surging crowds. 'People come for three hours, have fun, buy a beret or a crepe, and leave, as if they were in an amusement park,' one resident told Reuters. The authorities hope that regulation could help stave off the worst. While short-term holiday lets have triggered housing crises in cities like Lisbon and Barcelona, authorities have been quicker to act in France. Under a law passed last year – Loi le Meur – local governments can cap holiday rentals, slash the number of nights residences can be rented (from 120 to 90) and fine landlords who ignore the rules. Whether it's laws regulating short-term rentals or a masterplan for a more sustainable kind of growth, France's system seems to be holding. In the age of overtourism, the country's secret weapon might be that it has planned for this moment all along.
