Traveling in France by train

[Miekos]

Hopefully some people can help me!

 

So I'm going to France next month, and since I don't have a driver's license, I'll have to travel by train. First I'm going to stay in Arles for 3 nights, on the first day I'm going to explore Arles and on the second day I'm planning to visit Orange and Avignon, after that I'm going to stay in Nîmes for 2 nights.

 

First I was thinking about buying my train tickets online, but now I've read there are also SNCF Self Service Machines. Does anyone have any experiences with them? Are they easy to use?

[Saint Ren]

They are fairly straight forward I would definitely suggest buying your tickets online unless you're uncertain about what time you want to leave as online means you have your itinerary all set to go and you get some discounts as well but the self service machine comes in a variety of languages at least the ones in Paris, Nice and Strasbourg do so I'm assuming it's the same for the rest of the country and they're pretty easy to use.  

[Poetry]

Buying online is better.  Get the OUI.sncf app.

[pinkpanda_spirit]

yes usually when the cities are quite close to each other you can take a TER (the train is called like this) which is cheaper and has its own schedule like buses (usually it's an hour between every TER). you can directly buy your ticket using the self service machine yes. I haven't used it a lot but it's easy to use. the one where I live only accepted cash iirc though so make sure to have some with you. (I think they accept cards now, otherwise they would lose customers, idk...)

 

PS: I just checked for you and it's possible to travel using a TER between these cities. you can check the schedule here (change the date and the destination)

https://en.oui.sncf/en/results/?wishId=5cba0a09df35850c3170f741&interstitial#!/

 

PS2: like users above me said it might be better to buy your tickets online since you can wait more than an hour there after getting your tickets (if you come too early or too late)... but if you already saw the TER schedules then I don't see any problem. just make sure to come a lil bit early so you can get your tickets on time, sometimes there is a lot of people queuing so you might miss the train while waiting...

[Miekos]

Thanks everyone! I'm thinking about buying my train tickets for Marseille Airport to Arles and Nimes back to Marseille Airport online, and then I guess use the Self-Service Machines for when I want to visit Orange and Avignon, because I of course don't know how long I'm going to visit Orange or Avignon. 

 

I'll also bring some cash with me just in case.

[Guest]

those destinations are a nice choice!
 
since the citites are close you'll most likely travel by TER (regional trains) and not TGV (high speed trains). TER are cheaper and you don't have to buy a ticket for a given scheduled train, you just have to choose a day and you'll be able to use the ticket the whole day for the itinerary you chose.
 
this is the site you have to use to buy tickets for TER : 
https://www.ter.sncf.com/paca
 
you can also buy them on the OUI.sncf site but be careful about the propositions you get on there because it'll display TGVs in priority and although TGV are faster : 
1) you'll have to choose a /scheduled/ train
2) sometimes the stations are not the same! avignon has 2 stations : one for TER iwthin the city (Avignon centre) and another for TGV outside the city (Avignon TGV)
3) the prices fluctuate with time
 
you don't have to stress yourself out when buying tickets for TER i used to travel by TER from my hometown to the city where i studied, sometimes i bought tickets online one week ahead on the site i linked you, sometimes i bought them a few minutes before boarding at the train station. 
the only problem with buying them at the train station is the machine can be a bit confusing for foreigners i think, but if you really want to buy them from the self sevice machine look for this one : 
 

 

 

and not this one : 

 

 

 

because it's meant for TGV and not TER

 

 

enjoy your trip!

[lumimochi]

I used Rome2Rio a lot when I was in France, could be helpful for you as well :-)

[Miekos]

those destinations are a nice choice!

 

since the citites are close you'll most likely travel by TER (regional trains) and not TGV (high speed trains). TER are cheaper and you don't have to buy a ticket for a given scheduled train, you just have to choose a day and you'll be able to use the ticket the whole day for the itinerary you chose.

 

this is the site you have to use to buy tickets for TER : 

https://www.ter.sncf.com/paca

 

you can also buy them on the OUI.sncf site but be careful about the propositions you get on there because it'll display TGVs in priority and although TGV are faster : 

1) you'll have to choose a /scheduled/ train

2) sometimes the stations are not the same! avignon has 2 stations : one for TER iwthin the city (Avignon centre) and another for TGV outside the city (Avignon TGV)

3) the prices fluctuate with time

 

you don't have to stress yourself out when buying tickets for TER i used to travel by TER from my hometown to the city where i studied, sometimes i bought tickets online one week ahead on the site i linked you, sometimes i bought them a few minutes before boarding at the train station. 

the only problem with buying them at the train station is the machine can be a bit confusing for foreigners i think, but if you really want to buy them from the self sevice machine look for this one : 

 

 

 

 

 

and not this one : 

 

 

 

because it's meant for TGV and not TER

 

 

enjoy your trip!

 

Very helpful, thank you!