TGV Offer Paris/Dijon

Transportation, Travel and Trips
1
Until tomorrow you got a chance to buy a ticket to paris or dijon for 25 sfr one way.

TGV Lyria bietet Ihnen zwei Tage lang die einmalige Gelegenheit, vom besten Tarif des Jahres zu profitieren!

Buchen Sie bis zum 1. Juni Ihre Billette zum Spezialpreis von 25 CHF nach Paris oder Dijon, für Reisen am Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag oder Samstag zwischen dem 20. Juni und dem 21. September.

2
The famous mystical TGV Lyria promotions that are actually almost impossible to find. First you have to navigate the TGV-Lyria website, the most buggy and slow travel website ever designed by man, then you actually have to find the fares which it turns out doesn't actually exist on the days they advertise bar a single departure time at the most inconvenient time of the day.

I do like to travel to Paris by train, you're there quickly and right in the centre of the city. Recently though, I've just given up on the TGV Lyria. Even if by some miracle you do manage to add some tickets to your basket, it turns out that flying is still cheaper.

3
And how much to come back?

4
The return trip is 25 sfr as well ( i managed to buy the return trip for 50 sfr).

It was pretty easy to buy this ticket (trough the sbb website).

Even if by some miracle you do manage to add some tickets to your basket, it turns out that flying is still cheaper.

I doubt, you will find a return ticket to paris incl. taxes for 50 sfr .

5

Just the cost of Paris to bear afterwards.....

6
I meant the normal ticket prices, not the offer. They used to be a lot more reasonable. If you are able to find and purchase the 25chf tickets then it is a very good offer.

7
Too late I guess

8
The offer is still available for the remainder of today.

The TGV Lyria website is a bit of a bombsite though - what is it with Europe and terrible websites??

The tickets also only appear to be on VERY specific trains / times. E.g. I wanted to go for the weekend of 30th June. The only ticket I can find around that time for the offered 25 CHFs is one departing Zurich at 18:34 on Wednesday 28th June.

Note that the offer will only be visible for SINGLE tickets, i.e. you must purchase 2 x one-way trips. It doesn't seem to work if you try to book a return journey.

Lastly, the terms and conditions are weird, in particular:

Offer valid 'mainly for'?? How is this acceptable in a T&Cs?

9
So, I did a timetable search on the SBB website, and then clicked on the “compare prices” button. This gives a decent overview of the available discounted tickets (not only the Fr.25 ones), over a few days and you can easily scroll through the times and days. Then I repeated it for the inward journey. When I found the trains that I wanted, I went thru the normal booking process. Not sure if there is a better way.

I couldn’t get the fr.25 for both ways due to train timings, but managed to get Fr49 + Fr.25 =Fr.75 return, which is decent enough.

10
is this your only aspect?

11
Just had a wee look, but damn that website is bad. I'm used to the abysmal quality of French websites, but that goes down to a whole new level of bad. I wonder if people just get so lose the will to live trying to source deals, then give up and drive?

12
I shouldn't think so otherwise he would take a bus.

But I understand the point you are making.

Environmental considerations aside, anyone who thinks travelling (by train) out to an airport, waiting around for a couple of hours, flying (cramped in a tiny seat) and then getting a train or bus into the city at the other end when instead, they could just jump on a train and be done with it really ought to think about it a little more.

13
but I've earned my airline Gold status and therefore deserve to binge in the lounge before the flight!!

14

Which website are we referring to?

I Googled Basel Paris Train and the first link I got was https://www.sncf-connect.com/ and I was presented with various options for the journey.

I added the chosen ticket to my shopping basket and the next step is to pay.

Is it the payment that is cumbersome?

15
I assume you are alluding to environmental considerations? I'm afraid for me this doesn't even the equation. I only care about convenience and cost.

That said, I do prefer travelling by train to flying. Especially the convenience of travelling from city centre to city centre. If Europe had a high speed rail network to rival that of China then I would much prefer to travel in this way than flying.