 Poster: A snowHead
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Just received this reminder from Rail Europe for thoses looking at travelling down to the French Alps on the train. This is the French service, not the service from London (they went on sale in July).
From 11 October 2012, you will be able to book trains for your French winter travel from 9 December 2012 - 10 January 2013 inclusive. For Ski and Christmas breaks, it's always advisable to book as early as possible as the lowest fares sell out quickly.
Fares on the continent start from just £13.50 one way high speed.
Add the date to your calendar to avoid disappointment. Fares will be available from 5am.
Trains can be booked either with Rail Europe or directly at www.sncf.fr
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Add the date to your calendar to avoid disappointment. Fares will be available from 5am. |
Worth remembering the time difference! 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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After that it's back to the normal 90 days before travel. Though in the past this has sometimes been disrupted in February (I imagine due to French school holiday demand).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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snowball, The SNCF site has this information about when you can book your tickets
Ouvertures des réservations
Pour vos voyages avec TGV, INTERCITÉS de jour, INTERCITÉS de nuit, Lyria, Artesia, Alleo ou Elipsos, les ventes de billets de train sont ouvertes 3 mois à l'avance à l'exception de la période de Noël (ouverture 2 mois à l'avance) et des vacances de février (ouverture 4 mois à l'avance).
Les ventes de billets iDTGV sont ouvertes jusqu'à 6 mois à l'avance.
Les billets Thalys sont en vente 3 mois avant le voyage.
Les billets Eurostar sont en vente 4 mois avant le voyage.
You can also sign up to receive an alert from SNCF by following this link - http://www.voyages-sncf.com/services-train/alerte-reservation
Boredsurfing I would have thought it was 5am in Britain as the alert came from Rail Europe and not the French SNCF site. Fortunately, I will not have to be up that early to book anything.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Does anybody know whether one can obtain a timetable for the trains?
We have booked 5 tickets out on the sleeper train to Briancon for 8th January- a Tuesday... but we have no idea whether or when tickets will become available for the return journey a week later..
Does anybody have any experience with mid-week sleeper train or just plain TGV trains from Briancon or similar?
I was up at 5am, but they didn't seem to get released till 6am..
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Altis- this only goes to December 8th?
Useful link though, much more like the british rail websites.. Seems similar to tgv-europe.com
Looks like there are only nightly services at the weekend- does anybody know when the weekday overnight services start/stop?
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clong, It looks to me like the Briancon Paris overnight service is only at the weekend for that week. I'd assume that the weekday overnight services are only available during the peak holiday weeks.
The tickets should be available 3 months before you travel so you should be able to book them from 15th October if you are travelling on 15th January.
This link has details of trains up until 14th January: - Briancon - Paris
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Skichampcouk thanks- that link is amazing! Definately the best way to explore rail prices.
Weird thing is we're going out on Wednesday 8th Jan- that's not a peak holiday week is it? So why can we get the night service out.. I suppose we might just have to get TGV back during the day- either that or travel on a Friday.
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Hi Clong, I've been through all the timetables and put them on the Journey Planner for each ski resort on www.snowcarbon.co.uk (my site). Usually the Paris - Briancon are every night - in the first week of Jan (low season) they are, for example.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The tickets for the February holidays are now on sale according to this latest update from Rail Europe.
Good news - tickets are now on sale for French domestic and international services between France and Switzerland for travel between 16 February and 18 March 2013 inclusive.
Half term is a great time to visit the Continent - enjoy some quality ski time or a relaxing city break.
Fares on the Continent start from just £13.50 one way high speed.
Don't miss out on the best fares - book early.
The Rail Europe team.
Tickets can be booked either with Rail Europe or directly at www.sncf.fr
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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clong: if the tickets aren't on sale for your return journey there's a chance they have scheduled some engineering works for that night. Or that they're still deciding when to do the engineering works and so aren't putting tickets on sale for the various nights they're choosing between. You may find that they suddenly appear and become bookable nearer the time. Or you may find that they don't. This is my main gripe with the continental train system: there is no visibility of whether a train may be running (but you can't buy a ticket yet) vs. there is definitely no train running on this date.
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FAQ
