Pass for eurorail, interrail travel for american living in france

April 4, 2011 8:27 PM

Eurorail, Interrail Travel: Is there any pass I can use in France as an American living in France?

I've been temporarily living in France for 7 months and would like to travel for a month before going back to the States. I want to travel in France and Italy-- for Italy I can buy an Interrail Pass, but you are not allowed to buy one for your country of residence. I also can't buy a Eurorail pass because I haven't lived in the U.S. for the past 6 months. IF I bought a Eurorail pass and tried to use it, would they look at my American passport and then look at my work French work VISA (which expires during my trip, so technically I'm a tourist again) and know that I've been living there? Is there any way around this? Thanks!

posted by meta87 to Travel & Transportation around France (4 answers total)

My experience last fall with an interrail pass was that nobody looked at much of anything the entire time. I'd imagine you'd be just fine if you bought an interrail pass from a travel agent in the states and had it shipped to a friend or relative and then forwarded to you in France.
posted by foodgeek at 9:53 PM on April 4, 2011

Aside from a pass, Voyages-SNCF has a lot of deals in their "Prems" section; presumably you speak enough French to navigate this. You may find for the amount of travel you'd like to do, it works out a lot cheaper.
posted by mdonley at 11:08 PM on April 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

I don't know how much you're going to travel in either country, but you'll probably get the best deals by booking Italian trains a month ahead of time (something like 50% discount) and for France (if you've been living there) either a 12-25 card or carte escapades (I think that's what the later is called. The first is if you're between those ages, and there's a 25 -50% reduction for a 50 euro layout at the beginning and the later is if you're over 35 and there's a 70 euro fee at the beginning).

If you want to deal with the europass, go for it, but it probably won't be cheaper.

Have fun on your travels!
posted by raccoon409 at 11:57 PM on April 4, 2011

Don't rule out buses while in southern France, either – you can travel on Antibes, Grasse, Cannes, Nice and Monaco lines for the low price of 1 (one) euro per trip, including correspondances (for a one-way trip with no more than 74 minutes between first and last buses taken). In other words, you could go all the way from Grasse to Monaco for a single euro.

Regarding trains in France, if you're a student or between the ages of 12-25, there are 25% discounts for which you don't even need a card (the card allows you steeper reductions). You just need to be sure to select them when buying your tickets, and have ID on you (they will check your age if there's a contrôle).

Also good to know: the TGV does not run full speed between Toulon and Nice-Monaco-Menton. So if it's cheaper to take a regional train, don't worry about it being much slower. Some regional trains make more stops than others, but those that don't, go the same speed as the TGV along that stretch.

The Nice-Ventimiglia train goes along a gorgeous stretch of coastline. And from Ventimiglia to Genoa, the Italian Riviera is beautiful as well, with loads of charming open-air markets in the towns along the coast.
posted by fraula at 12:53 AM on April 5, 2011