on/off train from Barcelona to Paris

Assuming that you don't want to chase a couple of hundred miles out of the way to get over to the Rivera, you've to general areas to look at along the high-speed train general track.

1. Coastal and nearby inland areas from the border to the Rhone Delta at about Arles.

2. The Avignon -- Lyon corridor along the Rhone itself.

Are you asking if you can do this on one ticket? Are you asking where does the train make stops? Or are you asking where you should go? It's not clear to me.

The TGV stops in Perpignan, Narbonne, Montpelier, and the rest I don't remember. Look on loco2 for the stops.
You might like Aigues Mortes with the kids.

How much time for the trip to Paris and how long at each place? Do you want to rent a car and get into the country?

We are hoping to take train to smallish place in southern France, spend the night and then take overnight train to Paris. Is this possible/practical? Thanks

Hop Along,

It isn't clear in your posts when you will traveling and often sleeper trains are or can be seasonal.

It also isn't clear from this post what you mean by Southern France. Do you mean the Cote d'Azur, western Provance or southwestern France on the Spanish border?

If you mean the Cote d'Azur, there is currently one sleeper train which starts in Nice and takes a very long time to reach Paris Austerlitz.

It does
Nice Ville 20:00

Antibes 20:19

Cannes 20:31

St-Raphael-Valescure 20:55

Fréjus Gare Autotrain 20:59

Les Arcs Draguignan 21:16

Toulon 21:53

and Paris Austerlitz 07:38

It varies a little for time depending when you are taking it. Is that sort of what you are looking for?

If so, it is couchettes as the only sleeping accommodation, you might like to fit (very tightly) your group of 6 into a six berth compartment.

By the way, when I say "sleeping", that is tongue in cheek. If you are a regular reader here you will know that most people who have tried to sleep on a night train don't succeed very well.

I personally have taken my last night train.

Since you can get a TGV as late as 5:40 pm from Nice that will get you to Paris by 11:15 pm, why punish yourself with a 12 hour night train.

Hopaling, I think that you mean that you want to get off the Barcelona to Gare de Lyon train and spend the afternoon and evening somewhere and the get on a train the next morning for Paris. There are tons of places where you can do that but as another responder pointed out, you will have to buy two tickets -- one from Barcelona to point X and one from point X to Paris. That part is easy. Where will be you point X if you decide to do this? My first thought is Nimes; it's not small but it is smaller than Paris and Barcelona and has great Roman ruins and easy connections to Pont du Gard. You could also consider Valence and do a one-day car rental and drive across the Rhone into the Ardeche and see some less visited rural areas and then catch the train the next day. I like Avignon and that is a possibility but it is probably too big and not as easy to get to from Barcelona as Nimes and Valence.

As the others have said, taking an overnight train from southern France doesn't make sense for so many reasons. It's only a few hour train ride anyway, and a night train is not typically a fun way to spend a night (and worse the next morning).

As for staying in a nice town between the two cities, or elsewhere along the eastern coastline of France (which is quite out of the way if string-lining between Barcelona and Paris) - there are many options. You can pick one and buy your tickets accordingly. Honestly, research some of the options and pick the one that sounds most interesting to you and your family. The choices are overwhelming and you'll very likely be happy with your choice.

Personally, I would seriously consider Nimes or Avignon (along with the Pont du Gard). Both would offer rich history and interest for the kids without being too big. And neither is out of the way towards Paris.

For what you are describing, I suggest that you will need two different sets of tickets. As background, the train from Barcelona to Paris takes only 6.5 hours with no train changes if you get the right train. This train makes 7 stops along the way. Once on this train, you do not normally get off. If you want a night somewhere in France, I suggest that you get a set of train tickets from Barcelona to X and a second set of train tickets from X to Paris. Then, you can stay overnight in X and take another train the next day. Not sure where X may be but there are TGV runs from several southern France cities to Paris that take under 3.0 hours and cost as low as 19Euro if you book well in advance. For example, here's a screenshot of the train ride from Avignon Centre to Paris. I looked 118 days out which you can do for the IDTGV train. 19Euro is a fantastic fare. http://gyazo.com/45d0b483820d40ebbc2857f8c6a8465f