Pre-purchase train tickets in Cannes?

[cheffip]

Any advice on whether it would be a good idea or unnecessary to pre-purchase tickets on-line from Cannes to the east (Beaulieu or Monte Carlo)?

The ship (Century) tenders in Cannes at 10 am and the train I would like to catch is 11:35 am. Will I have enough time to get to the station and stand in line for tickets or should I pre-purchase?

[Hlitner]

These trains are like commuter trains (no reservations) and you will pay a premium if you can purchase them on-line through RailEurope. The Cannes train station is pretty efficient and we have never stood in line more than 2 or 3 min to get a ticket. They also have some automatic ticket vending machines, but those darn things never want to work with our credit card.

 

Hank

[moyaroo]

Agree on the machines, even if your French is good enough they don't seem to like US based credit cards.

 

On line, as Hank said, is an unnecessary expense.

[cheffip]

Thanks for information on the trains. I was originally thinking of taking the train to Beaulieu and hiking or busing down to Cap Ferrat. But since I don't have a long day ashore (ie 10 am- 8 pm on a Sunday) and because Cannes is a tender port, now I wondering if I should stay closer to Cannes and maybe just do a relaxing day in Cannes and Antibes with a leisurely seaside meal?

Any advice??

[Hlitner]

Thanks for information on the trains. I was originally thinking of taking the train to Beaulieu and hiking or busing down to Cap Ferrat. But since I don't have a long day ashore (ie 10 am- 8 pm on a Sunday) and because Cannes is a tender port, now I wondering if I should stay closer to Cannes and maybe just do a relaxing day in Cannes and Antibes with a leisurely seaside meal?

Any advice??

 

Sounds about right to me. We always suggest cruisers should not over plan and just do what feels right at the time. If the weather is good, we always enjoy having lunch in Antibes on the quai that faces the marina. There are many decent restaurants and cafes in this scenic part of Antibes. That being said, there are also quite a few nice restaurants in Cannes. We like to get off the main streets of Cannes (Croisette) and eat lunch (or dinner) at one of the small restaurants that line the Rue Saint Antoine. This is a small street (goes up a hill) that is not far from the port and has more than a dozen small restaurants that are very good and more reasonably priced than the places along the Croisette. Either this area or Antibes would make my wife very happy for lunch.

 

Hank

[cheffip]

Thanks for the reply Hank. I'm really starting to like the idea of a flexible day and doing what appeals most at the time, weather permitting. There will be other days eg Florence where I will have to adhere to a more fixed schedule.

[HeinBloed]

I just booked my tickets on the website of the French Railways SNCF:

 

http://www.voyages-sncf.com

 

We are doing Cannes - Grasse by bus

Grasse - Nice by train

Nice - Cannes by bus

 

while we are calling Cannes on NORWEGIAN GEM in November this year.

 

We booked 1st class tickets for collection at the ticket machine.

 

12.90 EUR for Grasse to Nice Ville - regular SNCF fare without premium.

 

But I am requesting French Railways SNCF to deliver an E-Ticket for self-print-out at home.

 

I will let you know if I was successful.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[HeinBloed]

Honestly: there is no mayor advantage to purchase tickets of French Railways SNCF online... BUT

 

Let's find out if this is true - or not...

 

We are going on NORWEGIAN GEM in November 2009. The ship will call Cannes and we need tickets from Grasse to Nice. We love comfort and want to sit 1st class.

 

Of course I do not purchase tickets with the European Rail Ticket Agency in the United States (raileurope) or with German Railways who is able to sell such tickets but on full-fare-base.

 

I want to use the domestic bargains etc.

 

Let's visit http://www.voyages-sncf.com - the website for travelling with SNCF.

 

Unfortunately this website is only in French available.

 

There is a English website available which is called http://www.tgv-europe.com but with some strange functions. So I prefer to buy in French with a ticket release in France.

 

 

Step 1: Click on "Réservez un billet de train"

 

Step 2: Scroll down and insert

 

Départ: Place of Origin

Arrivée: Place of Destination

Voyage allez: Outward journey

Aller le: Going on (Date in DD/MM/YYYY-Format)

à partir de: after (Hour: 24h-format)

Voyage retour: Return journey

Type de voyage: Journey type

Aller simple: Single ride

Aller-Retour: Return ride

Type de Train: Train category

Tous les trains: all trains

Trajet direct: direct line

Trajet via: line via (insert the place you like to have an additional stop)

 

 

 

Step 3: Scroll down and insert

 

Nombre des passagers: number of passengers

Voyageur 1: passenger 1

Age du passager: Aae of passenger

The rest of the box you can ignore beside you are French residents and you are entitled to buy discounted tickets as you have some discount passes...

 

Scroll down and continue with next passenger etc.

 

Step 4: Scroll down and insert

 

Confort: comfort

Votre confort: class of travel

2e class: 2nd class

1e class: 1st class

 

Sélectionez le pays de réception ou de retrait des billets:

 

Choose "FRANCE"!!! Otherwise the system will redirect you to other pages like raileurope or tgv-europe again...

 

The next box ("Je suis flexible...") is only important if you are doing maybe a pre-cruise in Paris and need to go to Barcelona to get your ship and you do not fixed to one single connection. Then you tick the box.

 

 

 

Step 5: Your options are available! Click on the departure time you are interested in.

 

(By mistake it's September 21 instead of November 21 but we changed it...)

 

Départ à: departure time

A partir de: cheapest ticket

Durée: transit time

Voyagez avec: type of train (TER = local trains / TGV = high-speed trains)

 

We clicked on 10.34 hrs as we want to use this train.

 

Step 6: We choosed 2 passengers in 1st class in TER-train 81177 leaving 10.34 hrs in Grasse and arrives 11.43 hrs in Nice Ville (Nice City Station).

 

Each of us pays 12.90 EUR. Changeable and refundable against fee (2.50 EUR).

 

Click the price.

 

Click on "Choisir ma place" (Select my seat) - but here you get the answer that there is no seat reservation in this train available.

 

Click on "Valider cette aller" to confirm this outward journey.

 

[HeinBloed]

 

Step 7: Just the warning that there is no seat reservation available.

 

Click on "Valider cette réservation" to confirm this booking.

 

Step 8: Scroll down and select mode of ticket collection:

 

Borne Libre Service: You just insert your card you paid with in a ticket machine (available on major train stations) and you take out the tickets. BUT no American Express and in some cases no international credit cards.

 

Envoi gratuit par courrier: mailing - if you like to have it delivered to your hotel if you have a pre-cruise in France but need four days.

 

Gare ou boutique: just show your credit card and your booking reference and collect it at the ticket counter.

 

Honestly spoken: sometimes you are under time pressure and you do not want to have a fight with a ticket machine to find the right fare etc. I think it's more comfortable to prepare everything home and just show your credit card and booking confirmation then explaining what you want and you miss your train...

 

But maybe for a shore excursion trip it's less interesting then for travels to a port as you can buy the bargains you might on get on raileurope.

 

 

 

Step 9: Scroll down and insert:

 

Civilité: address

Nom: last name

Prénom: first name

Confirmez votr e-mail: confirm your e-mail-address

Format de réception: type of e-mail-format

 

Clicke the box starting "En cochant..." to confirm their terms.

 

Step 10: is self-explaining.

 

Code de securité: security code on the back side of your credit card.

 

Click on "Validez votre paiement" to confirm your payment.

 

 

 

Step 11: Your final confirmation

 

Référence du dossier: booking record number

Nom associé: related name

 

Step 12: Check your e-mail for the booking confirmation.

 

 

We will let you know in November 2009 how it worked and how 1st class in regional trains was.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

 

N.B. French Railways SNCF has answered my request regarding E-Tickets within two hours... Not available for this journey. But it's very smooth to collect the tickets they told. Wondering that my French was so good that they did not delivered a Baguette instead...

[cheffip]

Heinblod

Thanks for walking us through that. However, out of interest, for my Cannes to Beaulieu itinerary, I used your link and compared it to www.tgv-europe.com/en/home and got the very same options and rates but was able to do it in English.

[HeinBloed]

Heinblod

Thanks for walking us through that. However, out of interest, for my Cannes to Beaulieu itinerary, I used your link and compared it to www.tgv-europe.com/en/home and got the very same options and rates but was able to do it in English.

 

I was unlucky with tgv-europe...

 

In this moment when I wanted to pay... I got an error message!!!

 

So I did all in French again.

 

Good Luck!!!

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[Hlitner]

I might be showing my ignorance, but we were not aware that the TGV trains ran to Beaulieu. On that TGV site you can only book the high speed TGV trains which only stop in a limited number of stations. Since you are all talking about very short distances, the best way is normally to take the regional TER trains. They are slower, but run much more frequently than any of the higher speed trains. Many of these trains only have a single class (they are similar to commuter trains) and most of these journeys are under an hour...such as Cannes to Nice.

 

Hank

[cheffip]

Hank - you are right - the trains from Cannes to Beaulieu are all TER trains but the TGV site that I put in my post allows you to book them, and they seem to be available in first or second class.

 

-Phil

[HeinBloed]

I might be showing my ignorance, but we were not aware that the TGV trains ran to Beaulieu. On that TGV site you can only book the high speed TGV trains which only stop in a limited number of stations. Since you are all talking about very short distances, the best way is normally to take the regional TER trains. They are slower, but run much more frequently than any of the higher speed trains. Many of these trains only have a single class (they are similar to commuter trains) and most of these journeys are under an hour...such as Cannes to Nice.

 

Hank

 

Sorry - the tgv-europe-website might confuse the users but it's the normal French Railways offer - only in broken English.

 

When i booked from Grasse to Nice all options were offered

 

direct TER trains

but

also in connection TER to TGV in Cannes

 

All options and all prices were shown.

 

If you enter a big city like Nice

 

they even show all options to all stations in Nice if you have not added the information Nice Ville.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[littlear]

Is it possible to take the train from Cannes to Cap-Ferrat? How often to they run? We have a long time in port 8-8. We want to hike in Cap Ferrat and then go to the beach.

We need to be back on the ship to sail at 8. Thanks for the help littlear

[Hlitner]

Let me try and put to rest some of the train concerns. The line that spans the coast does not accept reservations and there is absolutely no reason to buy tickets in advance. It would be like buying a subway ticket in advance. Also, the price you would pay on-line will be higher than the actual price if you simply buy your ticket at the station (in a vending machine or at the ticket booth). As to Cap Ferrat, if you look carefully at a map you will notice that Cap Ferrat juts out on a small penninsula. The train line goes along the coast and would leave you quite a distance from your destination. Although we have never personally gone out to Cap Ferat I believe your best bet would be to take the train from Cannes to the Villefranche stop (This is the same train line that goes on to Monte Carlo) and than catch the #81 bus out to Cap Ferat. That bus runs about every 20 minutes and leaves from the Gare Routiere bus station (Nice) and makes several stops in Villefranche before heading south to Cap Feret.

 

Hank

[HeinBloed]

Also, the price you would pay on-line will be higher than the actual price if you simply buy your ticket at the station (in a vending machine or at the ticket booth).

 

I am booking my train tickets over the website of SNCF French Railways and it's the same amount like booking it at the machine or at the counter.

 

Only if I book them over raileurope.com it's higher than in France.

 

I had no fight with the machines in Cannes which only can be operated in French for TER-Local Traffic with the stupid wheel. I would be able to buy them there as I speak French but I doubt that someone who does not speak French will be able to run the pure French local ticket machines in Cannes...

 

 

 

 

Maybe the touchscreen version left can be operated in English. But the right one which I also found in Le Havre with the wheel definately cannot.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[moyaroo]

"I am booking my train tickets over the website of SNCF French Railways and it's the same amount like booking it at the machine or at the counter.

 

Only if I book them over raileurope.com it's higher than in France.

 

I had no fight with the machines in Cannes which only can be operated in French for TER-Local Traffic with the stupid wheel. I would be able to buy them there as I speak French but I doubt that someone who does not speak French will be able to run the pure French local ticket machines in "

 

The problem of course is that Americans tend to say "Hey, I'm an American!" to the internet and get referred to the Raileurope site. The key to using the rail sites in Europe and getting good prices is to tell the website that you are, in this case, French, but speak English! the web site doesn't find that odd a bit and processes your request.

 

On a side note it appears that sncf has made it's site more difficult to navigate in recent years, requiring one to know which region they are traveling in (and the real trick is knowing how to get from one region to another via TER) I have had limited sucess and am still not sure how to get my train short of looking it up first on the duetsche bahn site and then using that information to help find a fare in France.

[Hlitner]

At the risk of sounding like a "contrarian" we believe in keeping others well informed of their options and pros and cons. The last time we were in Cannes we went to the train station only to discover that there was a one-day strike on the line running between Cannes and Monte Carlo. If we had spent money on tickets it would have been lost money. If one has an issue with the vending machines at the train station it is also easy to simply walk up to a ticket window (we have never seen lines at this station) and buy a ticket. As to the train schedule, the trains on this line generally run about twice an hour so its just a matter of showing-up at the station, buying a ticket, and getting on the next train. This is about as difficult as getting on a subway. There is no reason to fret about being at the station at a specific time since it is never long to the next train. By the way, we should also mention that it is necessary to always validate your train ticket by inserting it in the validation machine (time/date stamp) located near the platform entrance (in some stations the machines are located on the platform). Failure to validate a ticket can get you a hefty fine assessed on the spot by the conductor. This is the normal practice throughout Europe.

 

Hank