How to save money on your train ticket?

Written by Louise Sevin

Published on June 27, 2023, modified on November 20, 2024

This year, you've made your good resolutions: you've decided to take the train more often. Congratulations, it's an ecological, practical and comfortable mode of transport! The problem is, unlike your desire to travel ecologically, your wallet isn't stretchable... Don't give up hope, it's perfectly possible to travel by rail without breaking the bank. Read on for our top tips on how to save on train fares and get your trip off on the right foot!

1. Book your tickets well in advance

Saving money means anticipating! It's not always easy, but if you want to find low-cost tickets, booking well in advance is the best option.

Most tickets can be booked several months in advance (for TGV Inoui and INTERCITÉS, SNCF generally puts its tickets on sale 4 months in advance). For low-cost trains, you can book even earlier! And for journeys during school vacations, the SNCF announces an opening date for sales.

To find out when to book your tickets, visit our dedicated article!

Page 258 of our book "Travel by train with HOURRAIL!"

2. Be flexible about your departure days and times

As you can imagine, if you want to pay less, it's best not to leave at the same time as everyone else. We therefore advise you to avoid, as far as possible, busy periods (Friday and Sunday evenings, school vacation periods...). For example, Saturday morning trains (excluding school vacations) are often less expensive than Friday evening trains. If your situation allows it, it's worth a try!

The spread of telecommuting encourages this flexibility: it's now possible to work on TGVs, which are practically all equipped with WiFi and an electrical socket (a few euros extra for low-cost trains).

Instead of leaving on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m., why not take the 3 p.m. train?

Please note: early morning trains to major cities are not always the cheapest, as many employees use them to get to work.

We decline all responsibility for teleworkers who find other things to do on the train!

Pro tip: some airlines even offer special deals for travellers who can be flexible. Such is the case with Eurostar's last minute Eurostar Snap offer. How does it work? You choose your vacation dates (you can book 14 days before departure for London and a few days before for other cities), take advantage of tickets at 50% off and, in exchange, Eurostar takes care of the rest: you receive your train timetable at least 48 hours before your journey. A great deal if you can be flexible with your timetables!

3. Choose a low-cost train to save money (OUIGO, TER...)

You're probably already familiar with Ouigo, the low-cost commercial service launched by SNCF in 2013. The subsidiary claims to have carried more than 110 million passengers since its creation more than 10 years ago! More than 50 destinations are now available for low-cost travel.

But don't forget the OUIGO Train Classique option. It may be slower, but it gets you to Paris, Rennes, Nantes, Lyon and a dozen other destinations for tickets between €10 and €49!

These TER or Corail trains stamped “OUIGO” will get you to your destination for a very low price, in exchange for a longer journey time.

Another advantage: the price remains fixed from the opening of sales to the departure of the train. Discover all the destinations served by this offer.

For this unbeatable price, the service offered is inevitably different from that of the TGV:

• 1 piece of hand luggage included,
• electric socket extra,
• no catering service on board,
• no first class available.

But if your first concern is to pay less, then this is the offer for you!

And don't forget TER or INTERCITÉS, which generally cost less than TGVs because they are operated under a public service contract.

4. Thou shalt use price comparators

Think about price comparison! If you only use SNCF Connect, you won't have access to offers from other carriers, who may sometimes have better fares and different timetables.

On certain routes open to competition (such as Paris-Milan or Marseille-Barcelona), we recommend comparators such as :

• Tictactrip,
• Kombo,
• ou encore Trainline.

5. Buy an SNCF discount card or season ticket

The Avantage card

If low-cost trains aren't for you, SNCF's Avantage discount cards are a great way to get a bargain. If you take the train more than three times a year, don't miss out, because your card will quickly pay for itself!

À chaque profil sa carte de réduction

The €49 price is the same for all cards (except the Liberté card). The principle is simple: a 30% discount is offered on journeys, and prices are capped in second class, but the terms and conditions differ according to your profile.

In any case, if you take the TGV for more than 3 hours, the cost of the card is recovered in just 1 round trip! And best of all, you can pass on the same discount to the person accompanying you.

The only drawbacks: the card is not valid for OUIGO trains or certain TER trains, and is limited if you're aged between 27 and 59 (only round-trip journeys including a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night entitle you to discounts).

Good to know: during “black week” in November, advantage cards are sold at half price! Alternatively, you can wait until late summer or May, when they're usually sold at half price (bearing in mind that if you already have a valid Avantage card, you have up to 5 months to activate the new one).

Find out more about Avantage discount cards here.

MAX JEUNE SUBSCRIPTION

Are you aged between 16 and 27? Do you take the train at least 2 or 3 times a month, and are you flexible about your journeys? For heavy train users, SNCF also has an offer that lets you travel without burdening your wallet NI your carbon footprint for €79/month.

The idea? 25% off your TGV inOui, TER or INTERCITÉS tickets once a year. All you have to do is fill in an online form.

Find out more about the MAX JEUNE offer here.

6. The different European passes you'll know (Interrail, Pass rail...)

You've probably already heard of the Interrail pass, which is very useful if you're planning to travel in Europe by train. There are multi-country passes and passes valid only in one country.

The advantage of this pass? Flexibility! You can change your itinerary at any time. However, some trains have to be booked in advance: in this case, you'll have to pay an additional fee to validate your reservation.

To find out more, visit the Interrail website.

But there are other lesser-known passes for unlimited or almost unlimited travel across Europe! These include the German D-Ticket, the Trenitalia Pass, the French Pass Rail... Find out more in our article dedicated to the different Passes for traveling in Europe.

And because even we sometimes have trouble finding our way around, we're sharing a summary table in our book Traveling by train with HOURRAIL !. It's a gift:

Pages 260 et 261, section "Carnet pratique" de notre livre "Voyager en train avec HOURRAIL !" aux éditions Hachette.

7. Take advantage of the annual leave offer

This little-known offer, available to all (except students), gives you 25% off a return train ticket every year.

Inherited from the struggle for paid vacations, this annual leave offer had become obsolete. In fact, you had to go to the station to apply.

This is no longer the case! All you have to do is fill in an online form here to submit your request. The only condition: the distance of the journey must exceed 200 km to be eligible for the scheme.

8. Keep up to date with train company promotions

Bargains are a dime a dozen... you just have to know where to find them! Here are a few accounts to follow to keep abreast of promotions:

HOURRAIL !

Your low-carbon media is available on social platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, Linkedin...): we try to list as many good deals as possible to reduce the carbon footprint of your travels.

And to keep up with all the latest tips, don't forget to suscribe. tothe Locomissive, our newsetter to help you travel without damaging your carbon footprint or your wallet!

TGV inoui ou SNCF Connect

What could be better than the SNCF's instagram accounts to keep you up to date with promotions? Good to know: there are also regular promotions on advantage cards.

Money Turfu

An Instagram account of good deals in everyday life, especially for saving money when traveling.

To take things a step further, we've written an article listing our top recommendations for accounts and newsletters to follow to keep up to date.

Now there's no excuse not to take the train. With these tips, you're bound to find a way to pay less for your train ticket. It's time to pack, and don't forget to tell HOURRAIL! about your next trip (media@hourrail.voyage) if you feel like it!