Hello,
Traveling from Barcelona to Provence.
We will hire a car after our 4 day visit to Barcelona. We will drive to costa brava, ending in cadaques. We would like to then leave our car and take a train to Provence. So, I need advise on where to drop off a rental car near cadaques and catch a train going to pardou Provence where we will hire another car?
Thanks for your time!!!
Costa brava to Provence
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I think you can get an SNCF train in Portbou, Spain (less than an hour north of Cadaques) that would take you more directly to Provence. Use www.voyages-sncf.com to check this out and others with more accurate directions will probably post to help out with this.
Drop your car in Figueres and take the TGV to Montpellier.
From Montpellier take another train to Provence.
www.tgv-europe.com
P.S. See if you can drop it at the new TGV station in Figueres-Vilafant. If not, drop it in town - there is a bus between the old station and the new one.
Another, slightly different option:
- Drop your car at the Figueres TGV train station
- Take the TGV, direct, to Nîmes (no train changes)
- Hire a car at the Nîmes TGV station & drive to Paradou
Nîmes is closer to Paradou than Montpellier. Since you're planning on hiring a car in Provence anyway, it would be far easier to hire it at the Nîmes TGV station and drive. Paradou should be about an hour or so from Nîmes by car.
Alternatively, you could take a train to Arles (even closer to Paradou; about 30 mins away), but this would require a change of trains in Nimes or somewhere else anyway.
Such great advice. I love this forum!!!
I like not having any train changes, so sounds like Nimes would be the place to go.
On a side note. We will spend 3-4 nights in paradou. Is that a good location for seeing Provence? I chose it because of the hotel I found there.
Sorry, one more question. How long is the train ride from Figueres to Nimes?
Ok, I think I'm now having a conversation with myself. Never mind the above question. I figured that out. My new question is, do I rent a car at the train station, and if so, which company do you recommend I use.
Thanks again!!!!
You can get all the train itineraries and purchase tickets at: http://www.voyages-sncf.com
You can normally rent cars at the larger train stations. (i.e. Nîmes)
As for car rental companies, Avis is partners with the French Railway (SNCF), so that's probably easiest. You can even reserve your train and car at the same time via the link above. That said, there may be other rental companies with counters at the Nîmes station, if you prefer other rental companies.
And yes, Paradou is fine location for seeing Provence. Besides the area immediately around Paradou, you might want to go see the Luberon valley as well. There are lots of posts on this website about what to see and do in Provence to help you with ideas.
Have fun!