I've been lucky enough to get a ticket for the England v Russia match in Marseille on Saturday 11th June but arranging travel is a bit of a headache, so I was wondering if any kind people here might be able to educate/enlighten me as to the most economic way of getting there.
From the research I've done so far it seems hopeless trying to travel to Marseille on Friday or Saturday (air fare for the outward leg is over £350 for these days, and another £3590 to come back on Sunday and in any case it would be good to have a day or two to sightsee), so we will probably travel out say on Thursday and then come back Sunday or Monday - either travel by train all the way or fly to somewhere not too far away (like Nimes which would cost £19.99 to get to on Wednesday morning from Luton, for instance, and then travel from there to Marseille by train.
I can't find anywhere that explains the SNCF ticketing system though, is it as complicated as the UK? Looking at uk.voyages-sncf.com, it looks that they publish advance fares as they vary quite a lot depending on what train you use. How do the fares compare with buying a ticket at the station on the day, is doing that a lot more expensive? and do they do an equivalent of off peak, super off peak etc?
Also, as far as I can see, the fares on uk.voyages-sncf.com seem to be by TGV - would it be cheaper to travel via conventional lines and if so, how do I go about arranging that? Is there any discount for over 60s or 0ver 65s and would you need to buy a railcard? Also, if you get a return ticket, is the return portion considerably cheaper than the outward part like it is here, assuming you don't get an advance ticket, as we could fly in to one airport and leave from another, or say fly there and train back if it paid us to do so.
And finally...unless I think of something else....is there any way you can make sure that you get a window seat as opposed to having a seat against a wall with no window to look out of?
We could if necessary travel via Dover and ferry rather than Eurostar, if that would save a few quid
Any help will be greatfully received, so thanks in advance!
From the research I've done so far it seems hopeless trying to travel to Marseille on Friday or Saturday (air fare for the outward leg is over £350 for these days, and another £3590 to come back on Sunday and in any case it would be good to have a day or two to sightsee), so we will probably travel out say on Thursday and then come back Sunday or Monday - either travel by train all the way or fly to somewhere not too far away (like Nimes which would cost £19.99 to get to on Wednesday morning from Luton, for instance, and then travel from there to Marseille by train.
I can't find anywhere that explains the SNCF ticketing system though, is it as complicated as the UK? Looking at uk.voyages-sncf.com, it looks that they publish advance fares as they vary quite a lot depending on what train you use. How do the fares compare with buying a ticket at the station on the day, is doing that a lot more expensive? and do they do an equivalent of off peak, super off peak etc?
Also, as far as I can see, the fares on uk.voyages-sncf.com seem to be by TGV - would it be cheaper to travel via conventional lines and if so, how do I go about arranging that? Is there any discount for over 60s or 0ver 65s and would you need to buy a railcard? Also, if you get a return ticket, is the return portion considerably cheaper than the outward part like it is here, assuming you don't get an advance ticket, as we could fly in to one airport and leave from another, or say fly there and train back if it paid us to do so.
And finally...unless I think of something else....is there any way you can make sure that you get a window seat as opposed to having a seat against a wall with no window to look out of?
We could if necessary travel via Dover and ferry rather than Eurostar, if that would save a few quid
Any help will be greatfully received, so thanks in advance!
