elenewton

Hello Fodorians! need help to decide if we should get a train pass or just rent a car.
We will be dragging our asses from Paris to Barcelona through some towns. We are a bit too crazy about quaint villages and castles and landscapes. It means we will need to get out of towns and spend money on tours? The train pass is quite expensive plus taxi/uber plus tours. Would it make more sense to drive a car? We are a Californian and a New Yorker, definitely not afraid of driving, but I heard that parking might be an issue? Any advice is appreciated.

The trip is late September. Thanks!

PalenQ

Car will be best but you may want to take train Barcelona to France and rent car there to avoid steep drop-off charges for picking up car in one country and returning in another. How long do you have for that journey? Take train maybe Barcelona to wherever you want to start driving - like Perpignan or Avignon - direct high-speed trains - check www.oui.sncf for fares and booking discounted tickets if early enough to get them as they are sold in limited numbers but much cheaper than full fare. Forget anything about any train pass even if going by train - for lots on info on trains and booking tickets check www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

I'd especially suggest taking train to Avignon TGV station and renting car and spending however many days in that wonderful area and return car and blast to Paris on TGVs and enter Paris car-free. Again www.oui.sncf for booking own tickets.

kja

I think it would depend on your exact itinerary, and -- unless you are willing to spend an arm and a leg for dropping a rental car off in a different country than the one in which you rented it -- what you would do to make it from France to Spain.

StCirq

Picking up a car in France and dropping it off in Spain will cost you a king's ransom (someone has to drive the thing back), so that's a dumb plan. There's no train pass that makes any sense, either. SO...you either rent a car in France (and why are you starting in Paris? You don't have to, you know), and drop it at the Spanish border and rent another car, or you teach yourself how to get the best deals on train tickets in each country. Since you seem to be on a hunt for "quaint," the two-car-rental plan probably makes the more sense.

Can't address the parking issue without knowing where you're going. I live in France and have no problems parking as a general rule. And if you're on a hunt for "quaint," I don't think parking will figure into the picture. Perhaps you are thinking about the ZTLs in Italy?

neckervd

Tell us which places you plan to visit, then we can answer your question.

PalenQ

You have 10 days Barcelona to Paris - endless possibilities of course but we all need some guidance on what type of places you wish to see. I could see a train trip to Avignon and some days there and driving up thru Burgundy and its famous wine district and say ending in Dijon and taking train to Paris. But there are unlimited possibilities - have you done any research and have any thoughts? The Loire Valley and its ballyhooed chateaux could be a good place to drive to and then train to Paris. anyway cars are much better for this than trains except to get to France and then to Paris.

Christina

I gather you want to spend 10 days just getting between Paris to Barcelona. There isn't any reason at all that you would need a train pass, they are very expensive. Just forget that. If you made a stop or two along the way, you'd just have to buy a couple tickets between points, that's all, there isn't any way it could cost as much as a Eurail pass.

I don't know why you'd need taxis/Uber or where. Maybe just to get from a train station to a hotel a few miles away? okay, that could cost 10 euro. But if you want to drive around the countryside, yeah, I think you need a car rather than a tour (and you won't find tours except running out of the larger cities, probably).

I also don't understand the parking issue if you do intend just to drive in the countryside. Parking will be a problem in the cities. Now there is one exception, some of the real popular touristy perched villages in the Luberon have no access to cars in the center, but parking isn't exactly a problem, just that the designated lot is at the bottom and you will have to walk up a bit to get to the village or town.

At best, rent a car for the France part and drop it in Perpignan, then take the train to Barcelona.

PalenQ

Oops Paris to Barcelona - just reverse my possibilities - TGV to say Avignon and yes as Christina says maybe drive to Perpignan and hop on train. Could be delightful 10-day trip.