Layout of the TGV

Hi,

When you buy a train ticket online via voyages SNCF, you get to choose a seat. But, does anyone know, where I can find this layout?

Thanks!

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Scroll down to %26quot;What are French trains like%26quot;

http://www.seat61.com/France-trains.htm

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You can see your seat BUT it does not mean it will be facing the direction you want. At train station or boutiques SNCF they cannot give you that info either. It always bothers me to go backwards.

Also avoid what is called a CARRE as you will be sitting in an arrangement of 4 seats (2 facing the other 2) and there is no room leg. Those are good only for 4 friends and family traveling together.

Best seats are the SOLO ones if you are traveling alone.

Also note that many TGVs have an upstairs and a downstairs. View from upstairs is better but it not easy to drag luggage up there if you have a large one.

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Excellent advice la_photographe. We haven%26#39;t figured out how to nail down a forward-facing seat without begging at the ticket window just before departure.

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I doubt even the ticket window knows which way round a train is. The seats that face forward as the train comes in will face backward as it goes out. Trains can get turned in service (by going round a loop, for example), so it%26#39;s not always the same end of the train that%26#39;s nearest Paris.

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Hey guys,

Thanks for all the advise.

Yeah I don%26#39;t enjoy going backwards too. They should have the reversible seats, like in Japan =P

Ok I%26#39;ll take a gamble and try to find a good seat.

I was lucky the last time round to get a forward seats for my Paris Nice trip.

Ok, there%26#39;s one more diff, the last time I went from Paris to Nice, I got an e-ticet. meaning, I just printed it and it%26#39;s settled.

But for Paris to Lausanne.

If my French is not failing me too badly, it says you go to any SNCF automated machine and put in the same credit card you used to buy the ticket online. And key in a password... Now.. What%26#39;s this password.

I got a reply fro,m SNCF saying it%26#39;s your password of your %26#39;carte bleue%26#39; which doesn%26#39;t help either. What%26#39;s carte bleue??

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Carte bleue is the common term for Visa cards in France. There is an option to pick up your ticket from a machine, but these machines do not work (or very rarely) with non-French cards. You can choose the option to pick it up at a SNCF boutique or from a manned ticket window at the station, in which case you will need the card used to pay for the ticket.