How can I buy train tickets for the route between Amsterdam and Paris online?

Question

www.Thalys.com sells tickets but apparently only to The Netherlands (I am in America) -- their online ordering system is in Dutch. www.RailEurope.com and some affiliate sites seem to sell Thalys tickets to Americans, but they charge nearly 50% more than the European cost (Thalys = 97.50 euros - or appx $125 US - compared to RailEurope.com's $191 US).

Help, please! There's got to be a more fair of buying this without paying way more than is necessary! (I hope!)

Answer 1

This is an interesting problem... it looks like it is indeed impossible to do what you want to do.

Go to the English homepage of Voyages SNCF:

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/_SvH...

This will allow you to book the Thalys ticket from Amsterdam to Paris for the normal 97,50 tariff. Tickets are delivered by mail [postal mail] arouns the world free of charge, including countries like Lebanon, Iraq and Liberia (you simply select the country you want the tickets delivered to and fill out the address in that country later on).

But... for some obscure reason (probably a preferential treatment agreement with raileurope.com is my best guess!!) they do not provide this service for the US! Extremely weird huh!

So: what I would do is rely on a friend who lives in a country that is on the list to have your ticket delivered there. Perhaps you know somebody in the Netherlands or somewhere else in Europe who can serve as a proxy and then send you your ticket. If you already have a hotel booked in Amsterdam, you could probably have the ticket sent there and ask the reception desk to keep it for you. Any reasonable hotel above bare-budget level should be willing to do this for you.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Go to the French Railways site." SNCF". You need to understand French. If you can negotiate the lingo, you will get the best deal. Helps if you have friends in France to facilitate the deal.  Why don't you just show up and buy it at the railway station. Usually you can. Just make sure its the right ticket. Sometimes they have special nite train tix and heaven help you if you have wrong ticket. Well they'll just kick you off the train ! Good luck.