supertraveler

Hi all,

I will be traveling from Paris to Barcelona and from Barcelona to Madrid in June. So far, i am able to get tickets from Renfe for Barcelona to Madrid but i am not able to find a suitable one for Paris to Barca.

Would you suggest flying from Paris to Barca or by train ? Can anyone advise ?

Secondly has anyone tried using the Renfe website to book tickets? Will it be like Trenitalia where they give you a ticketless option or do you print or tickets online or collect them at the ticket stand there ?

Thanks for your help in advance!

traveller1959

The train from Paris to Barcelona takes over 9 hours.

I would fly. Try www.clickair.com or www.vueling.com.

The one-way fare should be 40 to 60 Euros for the route Orly-BCN. Book ASAP as fares go up with time.

ira

Hi ST,

For P to B see www.voyages-sncf.com.

If you can get a PREMS fare, you print the ticket at home. Otherwise, you collect it at a train station or SNCF boutique OR have it delivered to your Paris hotel.

Aduchamp1

I have not taken the Paris/Barcelona train in many years. Do you still have to change trains at the frontier due to the difference in the track gauge?

supertraveler

Hi everyone thanks for the help. I think train travel is too expensive so i might have to fly.

I tried looking for fares on ryanair and easyjet too. Ryan air was the cheapest option about EUR 41 with everything inclusive. However the connections to and from the airports cost 25 EUR! 13 EUR from Paris City to Paris (Beauvais) and 12 EUR from Barcelona (Girona) to city.

Does anyone know of a better alternative?

Palenque

aduchamp - yes and no on the border train switch

Tracks are wider in Spain than in France - broad gauge vs standard gauge so most trains physically cannot go thru and you must change - but the direct Paris-Austerlitz overnight Talgo trains to Barcelona/Madrid have wheels that can be cranked apart or together to accommodate running on tracks in both countries. Ditto for the daytime Catalan Talgos from Barcelona (and other towns) to Montpellier, where they connect with French TGVs for Paris. As for the overnight train these have what is called a Global Marketing pricing - meaning airline-type pricing with several varying fares sold in allotments - usually www.voyages-sncf.com is the best to get the lower fares but actually RailEurope (owned in large part by French SNCF Railways) has started introducing advance discounts as well. www.raileurope.com - but for any RE product i always suggest www.budgeteuropetravel.com for their sheer competence and where you can talk on phone to experts. But try sncf-voyages.com first. (Or renfe.es if originating in Spain - though this site is even more fickle than the sncf.com site).

BigRuss

Hmm, 66E by air, which takes about 3 hours total (maximum) or 40-60E for 9 hours on a train. This is a no-brainer unless your time is worth only 1-4E per hour (the difference between the train and the plane) and you don't mind losing a day of seeing Barca.

Even on vacation my time is worth far more than 4E per hour.

supertraveler

Actually i cant find train tickets that go from Paris to Barcelona for 40-60E so traveling by air is the cheaper option.

But 9 hours isnt so so bad if you travel by night. Say 10 pm to 7 am. Save money on hotel too.

thursdaysd

But if you take the night train you get to offset the cost of the train by the cost of a hotel room, plus you do the travel overnight, when I doubt you'd be doing too much sightseeing. (Drinking, maybe?) You also don't have to mess with all that annoying airport security.

Since the flight time alone is an hour and a half, I think your three hours is optimistic. If ryanair is anything like easyjet, you have to be checked-in well before the flight, plus you've got to get to and from the airports - the shuttle to Paris Beauvais is an hour and a quarter.

suec1

We did the overnight train from Barcelona to Paris last spring - we got a PREMS fare - I think of 69E per person - I thought it was a bargain. I enjoy doing an overnight on a train, about once a trip. We did not have to change trains at the boarder (did that about 10 years ago tho). I booked my tickets on the sncf website and printed them out at home.

thursdaysd

super - we were posting at the same time, same thought! Check elipsos.com, the Trenhotel site - they have some kind of offer for 70 euros right now.

traveller1959

supertraveler, Ryanair is a cheater airline. The airport is in Girona, not in Barcelona. Traveling time from Girona Airport into Barcelona is one and a half hour.

Same with Beauvais which is far away from Paris. From Paris to Beauvais, traveling time would also be one and a half hour - without congestions, which are frequent in the area.

The code of Barcelona Airport is BCN, and in Paris you can take either Orly (ORY, prefered) or Charles de Gaulle (CDG). Both have good public transportation connections via RER.

If you take the Ryanair connection, total traveling time will be not less than 8 hours.

I would spend 10 Euros more and fly from Orly to BCN. But it's up to you.

BigRuss

Traveller1959 brings up two excellent points regarding the ryanair flights.

I just don't trust safety on overnight trains and I'm not in my 20s anymore so they're not for me. If you're young and can get a good overnight train, thursdaysd is correct that it will offset the hotel/hostel costs.

thursdaysd

I'm no longer young, alas, but I've taken a number of overnight trains (since getting old!), and the Trenhotel from Barcelona to Milan, which should be similar to the Paris to Barcelona train, was really very good.

Palenque

Crime on overnight trains is a problem in some areas but not much i would think on these Hotel Trains where staff monitors everyone boarding to make sure folks with reservations only get on. But even then due to the spate of thefts some years ago most overnight trains now have multiple locks on the inside of the compartment that even the conductor cannot unlock - no no more 'conductor' keys - talking about bolt locks done from the inside. Keep your compartment locked and theft is impossible.

Aduchamp1

Palenque
Thank you for the detailed answer.

GeoffHamer

I used the Madrid-Paris hotel train last December in a two-berth "Gran Clase" compartment with shower and toilet. The fare includes dinner with wine and breakfast, served in the restaurant car. There are also two-berth and four-berth compartments with wash basins. The Paris-Barcelona train is similar. These are amongst the best overnight trains in Europe and do not have any safety problems. There are pictures, a video and descriptions on www.seat61.com/Spain.htm

Palenque

The safety 'problems' would only be when you get off the train in Madrid, one of Europe's most street crime-ridden places. Unlikely in the station itself but be leery of any coming up to you.

Robert Reich, ex Sec of Labor for Clinton, recently was robbed of his luggage right at the check-in counter in Barcelona's airport - including his passport - he had to go to the embassy but had no money to get a new passport to leave the next day. Anywhere in Madrid or Barcelona IME be very careful.