We would like to travel from Barcelona to Paris. What transportation is available? We will be returning from a cruise and would like to spend some time in Paris before returning to the US.
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I%26#39;d have a look into Easyjet. They fly from Barcelona to Paris (Orly).
www.easyjet.com
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Or vueling (www.vueling.com) another low cost, reliable option. That said, if you are flying return, the traditional carriers, AF and Iberia, will be almost as cheap as low cost ones with much more flights to choose from. By all means don%26#39;t use Ryanair, whose %26quot;Barcelona-Paris%26quot; flight is actually a %26quot;Gerona-Beauvais%26quot; one.
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You could take the overnight train - with both countries being within the %26quot;Schengen%26quot; community you won%26#39;t get woken for passport check.
I haven%26#39;t done the whole route myself but did go as far as Rosas one year. Now I love overnight trains (many%26#39;s the time I%26#39;ve advocated this method for the Paris Venice route) you start and finish in the city - no costly transport to %26amp; from the airport, no time %26#39;wasted%26#39; hanging around the airport once you%26#39;re there; you can take as much luggage as you like with no risk of penalties and the price you see is the price you pay (no hidden taxes).
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Believe me, kg, the night train (ex %26quot;Talgo%26quot;, now %26quot;Elipsos%26quot;) is not this romantic experience too many non-train-riding Americans fantasize about:
%26quot;You could take the overnight train - with both countries being within the %26quot;Schengen%26quot; community you won%26#39;t get woken for passport check%26quot;: It is irrelevant, you were not woken up before Schengen either, the conductor would just collect the passports at the beginning of the trip, deal with border police during your sleep, and give them to the passengers before arrival.
%26quot;no costly transport to %26amp; from the airport%26quot; : CDG is €8 by RER or bus from Paris, and Barcelona%26#39;s airport is close to the city and linked by a €3 or something frequent shuttle bus.
%26quot;no time %26#39;wasted%26#39; hanging around the airport once you%26#39;re there%26quot;: I%26#39;d rather %26#39;waste%26#39; one hour at the airport than twelve hours on this bloody train that stops all the time, all this amidst my 3 neighbors%26#39; snoring noise and sock odours (you can choose to only share with another person, but that%26#39;ll be € 195 each)
%26quot;you can take as much luggage as you like with no risk of penalties%26quot;: Vueling%26#39;s allowance is 20 kg (more than enough if you ask me), and each extra kg is invoiced €6. So if you fly with 25 kg checked luggage, you%26#39;ll pay € 30 extra, much less than the price difference between train and plane.
%26quot;and the price you see is the price you pay (no hidden taxes).%26quot;: it%26#39;d better be, since the train is so expensive: the cheapest one way fare (that%26#39;s a four sleeper compartment) is €132 off season and mid week. A June mid week one way ticket on Vueling is now €59, all taxes included. And it%26#39;s an 80 mn flight, not a 12 hour ride.
So there is really no comparison. All we regular Paris-Barcelona %26quot;pleasure commuters%26quot; had to put up with this awful train so much before the low cost airlines arrived that as soon as the word spread that Vueling and Easyjet were planning to open a Paris-Barcelona route, we kept lighting candles for these flights to materialise. So now there is no turning back to the train from hell.
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Hi,
I%26#39;m no expert but I thought I%26#39;d add my experience so far....
I%26#39;m travelling from paris to madrid in May 2006. When I looked up the one way fare on Iberia, it was something ridiculous like 800Euro. I was better off buying a return fare. But since I am then travelling on to London, when I put in my travel option of Paris to Madrid to London I got a really good deal of 150Euro. Easyjet would have been slightly cheaper but since I have no experience of discount airlines and if I travelled on Iberia I would get points, I ended up taking that option.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Ozgirl
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Ease off Bob !!
kg810 asked what options (note the plural) are available - I added a second travel option (rather than choice of operator) %26amp; tried to make my reply relevant to THEM, (I was not replying to you).
Passports - I was not aware of the pre-Schengen agreement but I have experienced night-trains when you are woken for customs and passport checks so I thought I would reassure kg810 that this would not be an issue. If they have not travelled by train within the European Union before this information IS relevant IMHO.
Transport too and from the airport - you may have noticed that several people who post here prefer to avoid public transport on arrival in a new city when they are tired after a journey. In both cities new arrivals may be the target of pick-pockets.
OK, it costs you €8 by RER, congratulations. For a couple this doubles automatically. You are familiar with and relaxed about using the metro %26amp; RER, you speak the language and may already have your ticket when you land - it can be confusing, there are often long queues for tickets and it is not ideal if you have to make a change and have heavy bags and/or have any mobility problems.
Time wasted - personal preference, I don%26#39;t much like hanging around airports, especially if there are delays (took a cheap flight to Italy this year, going by train again this year). I don%26#39;t think I%26#39;ve ever had real problems with other passengers%26#39; snores or socks. There were some chatty young American college girls one time, but you know that%26#39;s life - you could end up next to Mr. Smelly Socks man on the plane with his head lolling on you as he snores and drools the flight away. On the other hand I%26#39;ve had some pretty cool exchanges with people (of both sexes, a variety of ages / nationalities) on overnight trains.
luggage - 20kg may be %26quot;more than enough%26quot; for you but then, from what you say, you are a frequent visitor from Paris and obviously not returning from a cruise, during which you may have bought some souvenirs/presents and may well have started off with more than 20kg of stuff anyway. Also some airlines are starting to charge for ANY luggage put in the hold on short haul flights.
When you enquire about price that is what you pay - there is no %26quot;Yeah this is really cheap, oh it doubles once I see the airport tax!%26quot; moment, no need to factor in the price of any airport transfers etc. (Just an example and not relevant here I agree, but Ryaniar transfers are notoriously expensive and can up to about 30 euros to a journey for two people). True train travel is not the cheapest option but then it does include a night%26#39;s accommodation ;-)
TRain for hell - as night trains go I found this one to be no better but etainly no worse than others I%26#39;ve taken.
So there we are kg810 - I love travelling by train, Bob, clearly, does not. You know yourselves; you know your budget, your likes and dislikes. You have some information. Now you make your decision. Whatever you do I hope you enjoy yourselves.
CeeJay
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PS This thread has some of my tips for overnight train travel
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187147-i14-k25169…
BTW, Bob %26amp; I have crossed swords on this issue before so don%26#39;t be alarmed!
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I love travelling by train too, day train of course. Somewhere circa 2012, the 100 % TGV link will be completed between Paris and Barcelona, and it%26#39;ll only take 5 hours. Then I might consider the train again.
And BTW when I wrote that 20 kg is more than enough to me, I was meaning for an inter continental journey of course; 20 kg for a week-end: you must be out of your mind! Who are you? Divine? Liza Minelli?
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