I've never been to Europe before. I will need an easy, fast and cost effective travel option from Paris to Girona on a Saturday in June. What do you suggest?
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
There are three direct TGV trains per day that take 6 hours. If you can be sure of catching the train, then buy tickets ASAP to get the best price. Rick’s France rail travel page has the link and tips for buying “Prems” rate TGV tickets through SNCF (cheap, reserved, nonrefundable, available three or four months ahead of your travel date) to print at home and pay with PayPal. It does not tend to work with US credit cards, unless you have an extra level of security set up. If Prems rates are sold out, you may need to move on and buy from the US agent: http://ricksteves.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/triprequest.htm.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
There can be quite a difference between easy, fast and cost-effective. I see 7 runs a day that will get you from Paris to Girona. Three of the runs take only 6.0hrs and require no train changes. Here's a snapshot of what these 7 runs look like on the German www.bahn.de train website. http://gyazo.com/8aba1e1ee70a0c3c674db5f40202f36c Unfortunately, you cannot buy the tickets for train journeys from France to Spain on the German website. It's just that they are the very best website to view train travel in Europe.
All of the being said, you can purchase the tickets here. http://en.voyages-sncf.com This is the French train website. When signing on to this website, just don't select USA as your Ticket Collection Country. The website will try and switch you to RailEurope which you do not want. Choose any other country. France is just fine.
On this website, I see only 3 runs a day from Paris to Girona. All 3 are direct with no train changes. The snapshot here is for Saturday, June 21. There is a discounted ticket left on the afternoon run. This ticket is non-refundable. http://gyazo.com/4094174f504013ec39b7126ef4ed5f9d I also looked at the runs for Saturday, June 14. All three runs were 149Euro. None were discounted. Once you purchase a TGV ticket from this website, you can print out the ticket within minutes of the purchase. You will receive a fast email with the ticket.