Ouigo

If you log onto RailEurope for a trip from Marne La Vallee to Marseille on Aug. 20, the best standard class fare you get is $88 one-way. However, if you log onto Ouigo, the independent high-speed train operator, you find tickets for 25 Euros (about $28). Ouigo operates single-class budget high-speed trains between Marne La Vallee (Paris Disneyland) and Marseille or Montpellier, via Lyon St. Exupury (airport), Valence, Avignon, Aix en Provence, or Nimes as well as from Marne La Vallee to downtown Lyon.

For some reason, these low-fare trains don’t show up on RailEurope searches or in the printed European Rail Timetable, but you can book them directly with Ouigo at ventes.ouigo.com/. As far as I can tell, they use the same high-speed trainsets as the regular TGV services; the difference is in somewhat higher density seating and no dining cars. Also, although the home page is available in English, the page on methods of payments is in French.

— Ed Perkins, editor