Barcelona to Marseille (Toulon)
 

DH is going to a conference in Barcelona in the beginning of July and I have decided to join him there. I want to tack on a visit to a friend in Toulon at either the beginning or the end of the week. I looked into open jaw flights (prohibitive) but am leaning towards flying RT to Barcelona a day or two before he does, and then getting from there to Toulon and back. Is it worth it to fly to Marseille and then take the train, or should I take a train from Barcelona? Unfortunately we couldn't commit to doing this earlier, and now I have to decide quickly.

Can your friend drive to the Marseille train station and pick you up?

Barcelona to Marseille to Toulon
lv 8:25 arrive 13:42 1 train change arrive Toulon 15:07
lv 16:48 arrive 21:20 no train changes

Marseille to Barcelona
lv 8:02 arrive 12:36 no train changes
lv 14:18 arrive 19:28 1 train change



Barcelona to Toulon
Lv 16:48 arrive 21:20 1 train change

Toulon to Barcelona
Lv 6:55 arrive 12:36 1 train change
Lv 12:16 arrive 19:28 1 train change

These are weekday schedules. Weekends may be different

Stu Dudley

Oops

Barcelona to Marseille
lv 8:25 arrive 13:42 1 train change
lv 16:48 arrive 21:20 no train changes

5.5 hours by train is long for some folks but you get to see some lovely French countryside in between - all along the route and you ride one of the most modern trains in Europe - high-speed from Barcelona to Montpellier - up to almost 200 mph - now to get cheap train fares check www.voyages-sncf.com and www.capitainetrain.com - same trains different booking engines - the latter is said to be a lot easier to use.

But if you book way in advance you can get deep discounted tickets to make it more affordable than flying I would think and really not that much longer figuring the time you have to go to the airport - be there early - wait at other end - get into the city, etc.

Anyway for lots of great info on French trains (and Spanish too - there are direct trains Barcelona to Marseille - then an easy transfer to regional trains or TGVs to Toulon) - check out these IMO superb sites: www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

Discounted tickets are sold in limited numbers on each train and thus should be booked weeks in advance to guarantee then they are I believe non-changeable non-refundable so be very sure of your date and time.

Thanks! It looks like the train is feasible. I do need to get all the way to Toulon on my own, as the friend I am visiting is older and does not drive much any more.

Most rail links Barcelona - Toulon take between 65. and 8 hours - only one train does 5.5 hours that I could find - the late afternoon departure - a train around 8:30 am is the 2nd fastest.

If you book really early at www.voyages-sncf.com or www.capitainetrain.com you can get deep discounted tickets but these sell out early and are train-specific and cannot be refunded nor changed I believe but a lot cheaper than full fare.

Are you sure open jaws tickets are so expensive? Did you select the multi-city option on the airline web site? Usually open jaws fares are about the same as round trip.

Are you sure open jaw flights are prohibitive? I presume you mean into MRS and out of BCN. I just compared on kayak.com (granted hypothetical dates in July) and doing that vs. RT BCN only cost about $100 more (from TLH). Which would certainly be worth it compared to having to take the train that distance, which will cost also, of course. This was on American or Delta. Yeah, there were some really expensive fares around $6000 (not sure why), but there were others around $1600-1700 for both options.

certainly check for nearby Nice - well kind of nearby Nice Airport for open jaw returns too!

I have continued to check and additional open jaw options have appeared - thanks for that suggestion. So, as of tonight, the plan is to fly into Marseille and take a train to Toulon; then take a train from Toulon to Barcelona; and fly home from Barcelona. Thanks again.

Book the Toulon to Barcelona train ASAP - discounted tickets go quicly sometimes. Masreille to Toulon is a short train trip - just buy tickets once in Marseille - there are regional trains I believe that do not require reservtions in addition to TGVs that do.

I gather it is too late to say you could have flown cheaply from BCN to Marseilles on Vueling in an hour.

No, I saw that, Dukey. That was Plan B, actually. Thanks! This is a much more compressed trip than we usually try to take (DH has other work obligations before and after the Barcelona conference), so I like the idea of flying right to Marseille when I leave FL and then meeting him in Spain. Thanks! And I booked the TGV to Barcelona as well (Toulon-Montpelier-Barcelona). Now for the fun part - scouring trip reports and deciding how to spend my days while DH is talking about physics in a hotel conference room.
:)

flying as dukey suggests you see nothing but tarmcas and airports and not the Europe or Spain and France in this case lying in between.

and Dukey scolded me on another thread about warning folks about an 8-hour Glacier Express train trip - saying a long train trip was fine in his/her/its case - now he/she/it has changed his/her/its tune! Weird.

If you take the 12:16 TGV to Barcelona with a change in Montpellier - you'll have time to explore Montpellier. One of our favorites. The train station isn't far from the Place de la Comedie.

Stu Dudley

does the Montpellier train station have consignes or luggage storage - many French stations do not -= relatively few do - makes a difference for stopping off for a few hours.

My wife would pack a light overnight backpack/carry-on, and let me carry the "load" to Barcelona for her, when she meets me there. Pulling a wheeled carry-on around Montpellier for an hour isn't much different than pulling it around an airport for a hour.

Stu Dudley

I've pulled my wheelie bakcpack around many towns many miles - cobblestones would be the only problem and probably few of those in Montpellier.