Parigi
100+ Posts
For our trip to Nice in June, we had signed up with SNCF for the ticket purchase opening alert, which informs us immediately when the tickets for our travel day are available.
To our dismay, when the alert came, we found that the Saturday fare was much more expensive than we thought, at 189 euro 1st class, although the June period is not a special peak period like Xmas-new year or Easter, etc.
So we checked the fares for the day before and the day after, and found the fares aremuch lower. If we take the train on Friday, the fare is 100 euro less, which amounts to a reduction of more than 50%.
First, we asked our Nice landlord if we could arrive one day early and leave one day early. His reply was yes !
So we changed our reservations, and are saving 400 euro for the 2 sets of round-trip stickets.
Btw, this is the second time we encountered prohibitive fares on a Saturday, and resorted to changing our itiinerary by one day and saving a lot.
Conclusion:
1. Try to avoid renting from Saturday-to-Saturday rentals if you have the choice.
2. If you rental is obligatorily from Saturday-to-Saturday, try to leave earlier and return later.
For example, whenever we go to Provence or Ardèche, we always spend 2 days in Burgundy on the way down, and 2 days again on the return (usually around Vézelay for 2 days, and also Cluny for 2 days)), breaking up the long day's driving and enjoying the beauty and good food and wines of Burgundy. What not to like?
(Now the Oscar, the Nobel, of all 1st-world problemes: What oh what to do with tihs windfall? I'm like the late Alice Trillin on this: don't think of the saving of 400 euro as a saving. Think of it as a credit. Think of it as money already spent. Where oh where should we claim this "credit"? Am thinking Mirazur in Menton during our stay, and the new Train Bleu on our return home… What would you do?)
To our dismay, when the alert came, we found that the Saturday fare was much more expensive than we thought, at 189 euro 1st class, although the June period is not a special peak period like Xmas-new year or Easter, etc.
So we checked the fares for the day before and the day after, and found the fares aremuch lower. If we take the train on Friday, the fare is 100 euro less, which amounts to a reduction of more than 50%.
First, we asked our Nice landlord if we could arrive one day early and leave one day early. His reply was yes !
So we changed our reservations, and are saving 400 euro for the 2 sets of round-trip stickets.
Btw, this is the second time we encountered prohibitive fares on a Saturday, and resorted to changing our itiinerary by one day and saving a lot.
Conclusion:
1. Try to avoid renting from Saturday-to-Saturday rentals if you have the choice.
2. If you rental is obligatorily from Saturday-to-Saturday, try to leave earlier and return later.
For example, whenever we go to Provence or Ardèche, we always spend 2 days in Burgundy on the way down, and 2 days again on the return (usually around Vézelay for 2 days, and also Cluny for 2 days)), breaking up the long day's driving and enjoying the beauty and good food and wines of Burgundy. What not to like?
(Now the Oscar, the Nobel, of all 1st-world problemes: What oh what to do with tihs windfall? I'm like the late Alice Trillin on this: don't think of the saving of 400 euro as a saving. Think of it as a credit. Think of it as money already spent. Where oh where should we claim this "credit"? Am thinking Mirazur in Menton during our stay, and the new Train Bleu on our return home… What would you do?)