Getting from Barcelona to Arles

An alternate is to take the train from Barcelona to Nimes and rent the car there. Both Eurocar and Hertz are right in the train station. The rental cars are in the lower levels of the very large parking garage. We did this for two reasons 1) a train change was required to get us to Avignon. I suspect the same to get you to Arles. It was an hour or so wait for the next train. We wanted to get an early start on sight-seeing so we opted for the car. 2) the Pont du Gard was on our list of things to see. It was worth the visit although it costs 15Eu to park the car (ouch). For flights, I suspect the closest airport with access from Barcelona would be Marseille. www.vueling.com has a direct flight there. I see fares as low as 39.99 but watch out for the extra fees for oversize and overweight luggage. The flight takes 1hr 05min. I don't think that you will save any time by flying to Marseille and then driving to Arles. If you catch the 8:16 train from the Barcelona Sants train station, it's a 4hr33min train journey with one train change to the French TGV at Figures-Villifant. Comparing the two, you'll have changed trains at Villifant and be on your way to Nimes before you could get out to the Barcelona airport (1hr) and go through security (90 minutes).

Thanks, Larry. Yes, I prefer the train. They're so much more fun than flying. I haven't yet mastered researching the schedules and pricing on the web for trains though. Everything takes me to the RailEurope site and they can't help me - keeps telling me "Our online rail system can't find tickets and schedules for this trip." I'm ok with not booking ahead of time (we're not going until June) but it would be nice to know the price. Any suggestions on friendly rail websites?

Ok, I don't know what I did differently but I got to the price page. (?) Now my only challenge is that it doesn't show any "comfort" level seating on the earlier trains. Does anyone out there know if they are available? Also, will we be ok not booking this train ahead of time? We'll be in Barcelona two days before we want to travel to Nimes. Is that ample time to get the train tickets at the station?

I did the same thing that Larry did, but I picked up my car in Perpignan. I needed to return it there, so that made the most sense for me. Nimes is a good place. I rented through AutoEurope. I bought my train ticket To go from Barcelona - Perpignan after I arrived in Barcelona. I went 2nd class, which was fine. I took that same train from Perpignan - Paris and had pre-purchased 1st class tickets at my travel partners insistence. So NOT worth the extra cost! Are you staying in Arles?

Thanks for your reply, Andrea. I expect we'll stay in Arles. We need a hotel for a few days before our one-week rental starts on Sat in Menerbes. I loved Arles when I was there in 1997 although I see the parking concerns of many in these posts. It was difficult in 1997 and I expect it must be worse now. That being said, I'm thinking it would be good to get the hotel there since we can find one that comes with a parking space. My husband has never been to Arles (and he's an artist) so I want him to see it and not hate it because of the congesion, etc. Also, I want to see the Camargue so we can do that on one of our Arles days.

As Andrea said, you could take the train from Barcelona to Perpignan and pick up the car there, assuming you aren't returning to Barcelona. That avoids a big drop fee at the end. Since I did that trip, a TGV train now runs from Figueres, so regular train from Barcelona to there, then on to Perpignan. It's 2-2.5 hrs Perpignan-Arles via good autoroutes (toll). Lots to see on the way--Canal du Midi, short detour to Carcasonne, Aigues-Mortes, the Camargue--if you have time to stop.
Several rental companies in and around Perpignan station including Sixt which I've used several times in France. For help in negotiating the Renfe website check the Barcelona Trip Advisor forum.

Danny, you can easily buy the tickets you need at the Barcelona Sants train station. But, it does take a bit of time. First, it tooks us a bit of time to find the right window. Second, you go to the little ticket machine and take a number. Each window has a LED type sign above it to show the numbers. There's a large seating area in front of the windows. It goes pretty fast. What we also found is that we couldn't put the entire Barcelona to Nimes trip on our credit card. We could put the Barcelona-Figueres portion on our credit card but we had to pay cash for the Figueres to Nimes part. I didn't get it but I had the cash on hand so we were OK. I don't think that we were in the station more than an hour. Not sure if your are arriving in Barcelona by train or plane (or ship). If by train coming into Barcelona Sants, buy your ticket right then before leaving the station. This will require that you know which train you will want on your particular day of departure. Hopefully, you can research to schedule a bit to see which train you will want. Some runs are much longer than other. Our train departed at about 8:16am and when we arrived at Figueres-Villifant, the French TGV train was waiting for us. Other runs are not that fortunate. Ask more questions if you need to.

Thanks so much for the info, Larry. We'll be arriving Barcelona (by ship) so we'll have to make a special trip to the train station to pick up the tickets. I'd like to get the one at 8 something am but I didn't see anything but 2nd class seats offered. We're old and we like to ride in comfort. Also my husband is tall and he can use any extra leg room he can get.

I stayed at the Hotel Regence in Arles. I had no problem finding free parking near the hotel. It is just inside the wall and on the river. It was an easy walk anywhere inside the walls. Reading Larry's post reminded me about paying for the train tickets, having to pay cash for the French portion. As for comfort, I did not find any advantage to traveling 1st class. Actually, I preferred my 2nd class trip from Barcelona - Perpignan. In the 1st class car from Perpignan - Paris we were sitting in seats that had a table between us and other people that faced us. The woman sitting across from me had her feet stretched out and in my space. I would have said something, but I don't speak German and she did not speak English. I personally would choose schedule over what class car I would be sitting in.