Trains: Paris to Dusseldorf

Is there only one train to Dusseldorf to take?? I checked schedules over the last couple of months and now find it has changed? I need an early morning train on June 23 - a Friday - www.raileurope.com had it and now it doesn%26#39;t?? Any thoughts please from locals?

|||

I see a train that leaves at 6:55 am with one change. Thats looking on the sncf site. Not sure if you are trying to use some sort of rail pass. If you arent then single bookings are cheaper booked directly with the SNCF. Do a search for morganb sncf guide in the france forum for a step by step guide.

|||

Thanks - something was wrong with the website I believe because now that same train time has come back up where it wouldn%26#39;t for me all morning - and I did find the sncf as well. Whew!

|||

Or you can fly Air Berlin (air-berlin.com), there is a direct flight CDG-Düsseldorf dep 8h25- arr 9h35, € 37 all taxes included. Hard to beat...

|||

Oh - I hadn%26#39;t even considered flying! That IS a GREAT deal for 37 Euros ... I suppose part of it was to experience the train but we%26#39;ll be doing that elsewhere. What a great suggestion - thanks very much!

On another point however back on the trains - I see a large price difference (about 70 euro for 2 tickets) between raileurope.com and voyages-sncf.com for the same train trip. Any reason for this? Is there a reason to use one over the other?

|||

It%26#39;s %26quot;just%26quot; the mark up for poor American tourists too lazy to work their way through the user unfriendly maze of sncf.fr! Rail Europe is actually (partly? ) owned by SNCF. But Air Berlin is a very reliable airline.

|||

MarylinKK -

You are about to get a de-merit for not paying attention in class!

:%26gt;)

Practically every thread that has any remote connection with train travel includes the warning NOT to buy your tickets from RailEurope or any other third party vendor. The same goes for things like museum and metro passes.

Unless you just like over-paying for things, that is, of course...

|||

That%26#39;s because I thought Rail Europe WAS the train system - I didn%26#39;t realize they were a third-party.

When you %26quot;google%26quot; SNCF the first hit is Rail Europe, by the way, so yes, they seem to be connected in some way.

So booking with SNCF is booking direct...thanks for the enlightenment.

Even more to know about SNCF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCF