Interrailing in France - questions for anyone who has done it before!

[Titsywoo]

I'm looking at interrailing for a week at the end of August with my two DC (13 and 11 years old). The plan was to get the Eurostar to Paris and spend one day and night there then head down to Nice for a few days before heading back to Paris (and taking in a quick trip to Disney) before heading home. I can get the interrail passes for £360 at the moment but I'm feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing - I can speak a little French but only really what I can remember from my GCSE 20 odd years ago! I'm pretty sure I can reserve my seats on the Eurostar and the train to and from Nice but when it comes to little journeys like Paris to Marne-La-Valle (where Disneyland is) do I just show our passes? Or do we have to go to a ticket desk and show them to get tickets? Are the trains airconditioned? I don't fancy 5 hours on a boiling hot train in August! Any advice and tips would be appreciated! Thanks :)

on little journeys where you don't need to book a seat you just get on the train and write the journey into the ticket, as I recall.

I think you just show the pass, but it is very long time since I used one . Trains are air conditioned, but I would book the Paris -Nice TGV well in advance if you can, it is very busy in the summer. Also from now until June there are national rail strikes in France for 2 days a week. The dispute may be over by the time of your holiday but I would keep an eye on the situation. If you can arrange it, travel in daylight all the way to Nice, the last hour of the journey is very scenic. It may be worth paying a first class supplement if not too expensive, if you dont like very noisy and crowded trains.

Dont worry about not speaking French. Most of the conductors speak some English. When you get the TGV from Paris don't worry if the platform number isn't there until 10 minutes before departure, that's normal. When you leave from Nice have a look at the information board on the platform to see where you should stand for the carriage you are in. For the best views book in the upper deck of the train.

Dd did this last year. I think there are now a lot of trains that don't take interrail passes or cost extra. If you are just in France it may not save you anything. The interrail web site has a lot of timetables that make it clear. The deutschebahn web site and thetrainline European version will also help up you explore timetables, prices etc so you can cost up going without the interrail pass.

That is very true, if you book in advance for TGV and Eurostar interrail may not ne cheaper.

If I buy now midgebabe it is 15% off - just for the Eurostar and Nice return it is cheaper than booking direct and I'm booking a 1st class pass.

As said many conductors and ticket offices will speak some English but it may be handy to have a sheet with typed names of the destinations as your pronunciation will not be the way the French say it.
Keep an eye on departure boards as has been noted things change.
I was in Montparnasse recently and there were two or 3 trains apparently going to the same place all leaving and arriving within a couple of minutes or each other (presumably via different routes) but tickets show the train number and often carriage and seat numbers.