Barcelona to Paris

I'm doing the exact same thing at the end of September and was about to post the same question. I'd like to find another great Spanish town (after Barcelona) to go through on the way up to France. Ideally not too commercial. Then we want to spend some time in Normandy and definitely in Mt. St. Michele, but I don't know the best route through France to get there. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Thank you.
-Lynn

Begin with a couple of guidebooks. At a minimum you will need one for Barcelona and one for France. Read generally about your three destinations. Read the transportation section of each book and the getting there and away sections concerning each place. That will give you both a good idea how to manage transportation as well how long to stay in each place.

Rick Steves guides are a good choice. So is the Lonely Planet series and the Rough Guides.

For trains look up Barcelona and Nice on www.seat61.com He will give times and tell you where to buy train tickets.

I've done that part. I'm fairly sure of what I want to do in Barcelona, moving on to france from there is confusing. do I look for the french cities next, and just figure train connections along the way? I don't mean to seem dense, this is just more complicated than anything I've done in Europe before.

Doclynn, I suggest starting your own thread so you can get more targeted advice. And that way, you'll receive an email notification when folks respond to your inquiry. Tip: Consider Girona; I can't promise no tourists, but it is lovely.

Mary, if I had two weeks and planned to fly into Barcelona and out of Paris on a first trip to those cities (I'm guessing about that), I would just split my time between the two, making day-trips to a few smaller places. While you can certainly drop some time in southern France into the middle of your trip, that will mean a longish travel day in and another longish travel day out, so that's two relatively unproductive days out of your trip. To see much of Provence would really call for at least four nights, I think, and now you are severely short-changing Barcelona and Paris.

You can travel straight between Barcelona and Paris by train in 6-1/2 hours, or of course you could fly. See the Deutsche Bahn website for rail schedules; you'll probably need to look at early June at the moment, since the September data will not have been loaded yet. For flights you can use Skyscanner. Be careful about airports, since some of the budget airlines use airports that are in hard-to-reach locations far from the cities they pretend to fly between.

I suggest getting hold of guidebooks with good coverage of Barcelona and Paris and really digging in. If you still think you'll be good with just a few days in each of those cities, start working on Provence (or the Riviera, if you prefer). Remember that your arrival day in Barcelona may be worth nearly nothing from the standpoint of sightseeing. Many of us find we're sleep-deprived and jetlagged after the overnight flight.

Airbnb is really touch-and-go these days in both Barcelona and Paris. Both cities are cracking down on what they consider illegal rentals. Be sure any place you choose has the required registration number. Otherwise, you may find that the perfect place you've selected is pulled off the rental market before your trip.

I'd really start by nailing down which cities you want to see. Do you want to just stay in southern France and then head straight to Paris, or is there something you want to see in between? Check to make sure your cities string together well by public transport. Guides are helpful for that.

RS guides suggests ambitious all country routes, but using a piece of one of those routes would be a good start.

I did something similar this way choose 3 base cities and take daytrips:

Barcelona 5 nights including daytrips
Take train from Barcelona to Nimes or Avignon or Arles
Explore that region called Provence. Without a car you can buy a half day or full day tour to some of the more hard to get beautiful villages in Provence e.g. Lex Baux, Rousillion, Gordes, etc.
Then Nimes or Avignon or Arles to Paris.

The train is the easy part. You need a guide book and internet to do research on areas to see what strikes your own interests. I took my sister who knew nothing about where we were going until she read a guide book similar to Rick Steves Europe

1. Arrive Barcelona (5 nights)
2. Barcelona
3. Barcelona
4. Barcelona
5. Barcelona
6. Train to Avignon (4 nights)
7. Day to Arles
8. Day to Nimes & Pont du Gard
9. Day to St Remy & Les Baux (Bus 57)
10. Train to Paris (5 nights)
11. Paris
12. Paris
13. Paris
14. Paris
15. Depart Paris