Pre-booking Rail Tickets

Hi Travel Lovers!

Was wondering if there was an absolute need to pre-book return rail tickets between Paris and Lucerne?

My wife and I will be there in late Sep 09.. Will it be remotely possible to purchase tickets over the counter for the same day of departure??

Looking forward to your advice..

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I%26#39;ve just checked tickets for this afternoon, to get an idea. One train is booked out (it%26#39;s a holiday weekend, so not surprising, perhaps), but there are still seats on the 14.24 TGV service, cost one way is about 110€.

The reason pre-booking is recommended is that there will be cheaper fares - for the end of September, the comparable one-way ticket is 81.20€. I didn%26#39;t check return prices, but you can do it on either of the SNCF websites and decide whether the savings are worth it to you:

http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/home/

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/billet-train

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I just looked at the date of September 1st, not even all that far off, and there are tickets for 55€.

The walk up fare is 106€ today and tomorrow.

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Tickets go on sale 90 days before travel, and are cheaper if you book early. You can book in English at www.tgv-europe.com but say you are from Great Britain. If you say you are from other countries you may find you get higher prices or that not all the trains are listed.

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Check website seat61.com for advice on booking tickets from the US without using raileurope.

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great stuff, thanks to everyone for your advice.. esp sydneynick for the extra tip ;)

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wow, seat61.com is real neat..

Saw this on the website -

You can check fares and train times at www.sbb.ch, and buy tickets online. However, apart from a few tourist trains such as the Glacier Express, Swiss trains don%26#39;t require seat reservations, you just buy a ticket at the station and hop on, so no need to book in advance. The price is a kilometric tariff, so the price is the same even if you buy tickets at the station on the day of travel.

Is this true?

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Ok... I know this has been asked before, but do not remember and have never done it...

Can I buy from the SNCF site and live in USA? If so, how? Put in my country as FRANCE and pick up at train station? Or is there another way?

Help would be MOSTLY appreciated, especially since these rates are 1/2 of what RailEurope is.

Thanks so much.

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As I stated above, check seat61.com for advice on doing that. I followed the directions in June and booked my ticket for pickup in France successfully.

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Excellent! Thank you. I have been on this site before... some time. I bookmarked it this time and saved the SNFC instructions. I am definitely going to go this route. I hope it works because it seriously shaved $500 off my travels when compared to the RailEurope itinerary.

Thanks.

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Hylasgirl: As I said above, use www.tgv-europe.com but say you are from Great Britain. If you say you are from USA, you get switched to RailEurope. If you say you are from France, the site does not show all the local trains.