France - Help with Public Transport for France Trip

I am hoping some people here familiar with rail/bus travel might help me figure out our best way of travel for our upcoming trip.

At this point our itinerary is basically firm for various reasons, and we'd like to find the most cost/time effective way to get to where we need to be. We will fly into Zurich Airport, and spend several days in/around Zurich.

There are 4 concerning days of travel:

1) Zurich to Arras, France. I believe best way to travel is via TGV.

2) Arras to Grenoble. Again TGV?

3) Grenoble to Cannes.

4) Cannes to Marsailles. Flying out of Marsailles.


Our initial plan was to get the eurail 2 country, 4 days pass, cost is
US$343 PP

Does that sound like a good choice? Will that cover our travel on those 4 days? Can/should travel be prebooked for all 4 legs?


Many thanks in advance!

I am hoping some people here familiar with rail/bus travel might help me figure out our best way of travel for our upcoming trip.

At this point our itinerary is basically firm for various reasons, and we'd like to find the most cost/time effective way to get to where we need to be. We will fly into Zurich Airport, and spend several days in/around Zurich.

There are 4 concerning days of travel:

1) Zurich to Arras, France. I believe best way to travel is via TGV.

2) Arras to Grenoble. Again TGV?

3) Grenoble to Cannes.

4) Cannes to Marsailles. Flying out of Marsailles.


Our initial plan was to get the eurail 2 country, 4 days pass, cost is
US$343 PP

Does that sound like a good choice? Will that cover our travel on those 4 days? Can/should travel be prebooked for all 4 legs?


Many thanks in advance!


The best rail travel resource om the internet:

http://www.seat61.com/

Wow that website is thorough! Thanks!

And for schedules, nothing comes close to bahn.de

Regarding railpasses in general, sometimes they're a good deal, particularly if you're booking close-in, but TGV fares can be very cheap if you book 60 days out... much cheaper than buying a rail pass.

Seems like if we booked the separate trips cost would be:

Trip 1
From: Zurich,
To: Arras, France

Travelers: 4
Price: $804


Trip 2
From: Arras,France
To: Grenoble, France

Travelers: 4
Price: $388


Trip 3
From: Grenoble,France
To: Cannes, France

Travelers: 4
Price: $368


Trip 4
From: Cannes,France
To: Marseille Airport,

Travelers: 4
Price: $140

$425 Per Person

If we booked a 2 country Eurail Pass: $343 per person (plus surcharges? I am still confused about this part)

OR if we purchased the French Saver pass from Rail Europe: $208 Per person (plus surcahrges) and ~$200 for the Zurich/Arras trip (there was mention of a discount for the switz trip but I am not sure where to find more info about that...)

What site are you using to get those prices? the raileurope.com site's prices are usually higher than the SNCF site (http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ in French or http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/ in English). Just be sure not to pick the US as your country, or you'll get pushed back on the raileurope site.

More details here: http://www.seat61.com/France-trains.htm#How%20to%20use%20voyages-sncf.com

What site are you using to get those prices? the raileurope.com site's prices are usually higher than the SNCF site (http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ in French or http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/ in English). Just be sure not to pick the US as your country, or you'll get pushed back on the raileurope site.

More details here: http://www.seat61.com/France-trains.htm#How%20to%20use%20voyages-sncf.com

Wow, yes, my MIL got those prices from Rail Europe. When I went through the details from the Seat61 site, they dropped in half! Fantastic!