Paris - Biarritz?

Question

Hi,

I will be traveling on Saturday July 12 from Paris to Biarritz and returning Saturday July 19 to Paris. The only problem is that train tickets when traveling on those dates are very expensive (Almost 150 Euros roundtrip!). Is there ANY other mode of transportation to get there that would be cheaper? Bus, small/slow train? Also, I can't travel on any other dates.

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Answer 1

If you can take a night train on Friday night instead of a day train on Saturday, it will cost you 70 € round trip (54.90 there and 15 back) and only 54 € total if you take the night train on Saturday night. http://idnight.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/...

Otherwise, yes, it is expensive and there is no way around it, you are traveling on a Saturday in July, that's peak season (especially to a southern France seaside resort) and the busiest day of the week for any form of travel (weekly vacation home rentals run from Saturday to Saturday).

Bus travel is not allowed from city to city in France and road travel would take 10 hours minimum without any traffic jams (unlikely on one of the busiest weekends of the year). Car pooling would cost you just as much: a round trip by car is 220 € between gas and tolls (to share between the number of travelers) = not worth it and the train is much safer.

To get the best train fares you must book your ticket 90 days ahead but on a Saturday in the summer you don't get great fares anyway. And when you think of the distance and the quality of service, it's actually not that expensive. Outside these dates there are many TGVs for as low as 38 € round trip but not on summer weekends, sorry!

What you can do if you can only travel by day is go to www.kelbillet.com and try to buy a ticket from someone who bought one at the best non refundable fare and has to cancel their trip: http://www.kelbillet.com/rechercher-bill...

They'll either sell it at the price they bought it or at a lower price. But so far there aren't any available for the dates you want.