Amsterdam to Barcelona - Train?
 

We will be in Europe over Christmas and have to get from Amsterdam to Barcelona. I know that we can hop on a flight, but we're contemplating taking the train. Either the day train or the hotel train (there are 3 of us traveling).

Has anyone done this? Is it worth it in the dead of winter?

You would need to go via Paris. The easiest by train is an early afternoon Thalys to Paris, then change stations and get the night train to Barcelona, which gets you in the following morning at 8.30ish.
Since it would be a night train it doesn't matter that days are short and the journey will be in the dark.


Or just fly ;).

IMO, it can be fun if you see it as a small extra vacation.
Take one of the first direct high speed to Paris, metro from Nord to Austerlitz. Store luggage.
If you take the 8.16 from Amsterdam, you'll have appr. 6 hours in Paris from noon till 7 until the EuroNight train leaves, and even a bit more if you go for the Elipsos at 8.30.
Check if trains run on the dates you plan to travel, though!

You can have lunch in the 5th, visit one of the smaller museums, pop into Galleries Lafayette.. If want you plan to see is open over Christmas.
Lots to do even if weather will be nasty. Which will most probably be the case.
Night train makes more sense because of that and short days. And the night trains are the only direct trains anyway. So more convenient.

Would I do that? Never ever.
Will you love it? You won't know until you've done it. Chances are good IMO that it can be an unexpected highlight of your trip. Unless you hate Paris ;-)

Thanks Cowboy....but we'll actually be in Paris for a few days before we go to Amsterdam (unless we switch the dates around).

I'd switch the dates around in that case twiggers ;).

Hetis - We're arriving in London and then I was going to train to Paris, spend a few days, and then train to Amsterdam. So I thought it made sense to do Paris first and then get to Barcelona from Amsterdam.

You could train from London to Brussels (2 hours) and then on to Amsterdam (2-3 hours). Visit Paris after Amsterdam.

The point of a train trip is to be able to gaze out of the window and watch the changing landscape go by, or it's because you hate flying, or to get a night's sleep while changing cities and I'm sure that others will come up with other reasons.

However, it's such a short flight from AMS to BCN that I'd fly down and gain time in Barcelona.