Hello, I would like to travel from lorient to varenna tomorrow and be there the next day on the 17th early if possible but when i check to book it says there is no trains that are available it's all fully booked, so far on this journey i paid extra for making certain routes with uber alternative bus and so on, could you give me an alternative travel with bus or something for free since i already have the interail and need to get to varenna on the 17th or what can you help to do
problem with traveling
Leaving that journey to the night before to book is rather risky.
It is just possible but with some very tight connections.
09.50 Lorient - Paris Montparnasse 13.15 TGV Only 1st class seat left, €20 if you have a 1st class pass, €63 upgrade if you have a 2nd class pass, both plus booking fee
An alternative is
10.39 Lorient - Rennes 12.17 TER No reservations required
13.03 Rennes - Paris Montparnasse 14.32 TGV €20 plus fee
But the Paris connection is too tight for my liking, it is given as 31 min by metro with long walks each side, it may take longer if you don’t know the way and leaves no margin for delays. .
15.25 Paris Gare De Lyon - Milan Centrale 22.07 Frecciarossa €13 plus fee
22.20 Milan Centrale - Varenna-Esino 23.24 Regional No reservations required
The Milan connection is very tight and is the last train of the day. A more sensible option would be to stay overnight in Milan.
There would be no need to use a pass day just for Milan - Varenna, a single bought online or at the station is €7.40
Book the 09.50 on https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass
Book the 15.25 on https://www.raileurope.com/
+7So looks like the TGVs from Lorient towards Paris or strasbourg are all booked out. (there is one at 14:42 but that is too late to reach your destination on the same day., but it seems like you could make it to Germany or Switzerland and reach your destination ont the next day) Not sure if reservation free trains are even an option or if there is an alternative route through france that could be an option. (But all the suggestions from route planners seem to contain booked out trains, and i dont know too much about the french train network as i mostly avoided it because of the expensive mandatory reservations)
For the next time you should reserve trains with mandatory reservation in advance. (especially for sundays during the french school holidays in the summer)
+7Leaving that journey to the night before to book is rather risky.
It is just possible but with some very tight connections.
09.50 Lorient - Paris Montparnasse 13.15 TGV Only 1st class seat left, €20 if you have a 1st class pass, €63 upgrade if you have a 2nd class pass, both plus booking fee
An alternative is
10.39 Lorient - Rennes 12.17 TER No reservations
13.03 Rennes - Paris Montparnasse 14.32 TGV €20 plus fee
But the Paris connection is too tight for my liking, it is given as 31 min by metro with long walks each side, it may take longer if you don’t know the way and leaves no margin for delays. .
15.25 Paris Gare De Lyon - Milan Centrale 22.07 Frecciarossa €13 plus fee
22.20 Milan Centrale - Varenna-Esino 23.24 Regional No reservations
The Milan connection is very tight and is the last train of the day. A more sensible option would be to stay overnight in Milan.
There would be no need to use a pass day just for Milan - Varenna, a single bought online or at the station is €7.40
Book the 09.50 on https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass
Book the 15.25 on https://www.raileurope.com/
seems like you were more sucessfull then i was.(But my experience and knowledge is mostly just the part of france that is close to Germany)
I've also played around a bit. Sometimes you see 1 seat in a certain TGV and then a few minutes later it's gone again. There are more people looking to book.
The difficulty is getting to Lyon to catch the 17:23 Frecciarossa. It doesn't help that there are no early trains from Lorient on a Sunday. There is a convenient TGV at 12:31 from Rennes to Lyon 16:30 but of course it's fully booked.
seems like you were more sucessfull then i was.(But my experience and knowledge is mostly just the part of france that is close to Germany)
For some reason Rail Europe refused to show availabilty for that direct TGV but it was on SNCF (for €147) so I tried b-europe and it was there.
On the flipside SNCF Connect is showing the Lorient - Rennes as fully booked even though it is a TER???
On the flipside SNCF Connect is showing the Lorient - Rennes as fully booked even though it is a TER???
That's SNCF trying to fool you. Just ignore.
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