Paris to Innsbruck by train.

Hi.

I intend to travel from London to Paris on Sunday the 5th of Feb, hopefully to arrive in the early afternoon.

Following that, I used the site http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ to find a suitable itinerary for a train trip to Innsbruck, Austria.

See, for example, the two trips offered:

http://tinyurl.com/abwux

PARIS EST

BASEL SBB

ZUERICH HB

INNSBRUCK HBF

or

PARIS EST

MULHOUSE VILLE

BASEL SBB

INNSBRUCK HBF

1) The Eurostar arrives at Paris Nord and the train to Innsbruck leaves from Paris Est. Judging from the map, they%26#39;re within walking distance of each other. Is this correct?

2) Would purchasing the ticket on this site (online) be a good idea? I would then pick up the ticket following my arrival from London.

3) Does this itinerary seem reasonable? Choosing the first option, and entering the fact that I am 24, I find that the cheapest ticket is available at almost € 90.

89.10 €

• PREM%26#39;S : Ticket non-exchangeable, non-refundable. Payment online. Free delivery by the post or print your own ticket .

• REGULAR FARE. : Exchangeable and Refundable.

choose this outward journey

97.10 €

• DISCOVERY 12-25 : Non exchangeable and non refundable ticket after departure. Between 12 and 25 years.

• REGULAR FARE. : Exchangeable and Refundable.

It would seem that %26quot;Discovery 12-25%26quot; is more expensive than %26quot;Prem%26#39;s%26quot;.

4) The Mullhouse Ville - Basel part says %26quot;No reservation required%26quot;. The journey time is short (30 min); I presume this is a frequent local service and therefore I will have no problem getting a seat?

5) Any other suggestions for doing the London-Innsbruck trip by train will be appreciated.

d.

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Another question: Are there any other routes that I may have missed?

Thanks.

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To answer a couple of your questions : The Gare du Nord and Gare de L@est in Paris are adjacent. It will take no more than 5 minutes to walk.

Mulhouse to Basle is a local TER (Train Express Regional) service and is as you surmise a frequent (by French standards) non-bookable service.

If you book on line using the SNCF website they will post the tickets to you in England - I have done so (but not for this journey) without problem.

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Cubsur, thanks for your reply.

I went ahead and bought the ticket online anyway, and precisely as you said: having it sent to England, since I really do not trust the postal system to deliver an important item in under two weeks to Chile.

It was interesting that no matter which option I selected from the two available (passing through Zurich or not), I was only offered the Mulhouse Ville route.

Thanks for the advice.

d.

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Durandal,

you were only offered one route because what you cited above is the same route, only with changes in different stations. Your only alternative to passing through Mulhouse and Basel is a direct TGV train Paris-Zürich, but I think it runs only once per day and is rather inconvenient for an onward connection to Innsbruck. So it doesn%26#39;t matter. Unless you got an online discount (a %26quot;prem%26quot; fare or such) you can take any train on the route, regardless of where you have to change along it.