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Newbie questions re: travel between cities; plane vs train

Posted by (Aiken, SC) on

Hi! We are planning a trip to Europe in March/April for 18 days and needed some advice. Our plans are for travel to London, Paris, Madrid, and Albania. My brother lives in Tirana, Albania, so that’s not an optional part of the trip. We have booked our airlines through London (round trip), but now need help on organizing the travel for the remainder of our time. We were considering spending our first day in Bath, as recommended by RS to have an easy day to recover from jet lag, but since we already have our hotel booked in London, would we be overdoing it to take a round trip bus to Bath on the day of arrival?

After our first 4 days in London, we will be ‘on our own’ as far as hotels and travel within Europe. Our plan includes 4 nights in Paris (transiting via train) and then an overnight train to Madrid. Would an overnight train be the best option in this case? I compared flights between Paris and Madrid and they were actually less expensive (by $200), but used the sites Eurorailway and Raileurope to compare. Are these the only options to explore for the overnight travel on sleeper trains, or are there other websites that I’m overlooking that may be a better deal? I’m fully open at this point since no reservations have been made. Plane vs Train. Is the experience worth the cost difference?

Posted by
15257 posts

Eurorailway and RailEurope are the worst sites to check for rail tickets.

Go directly to the country's rail website. For France:

TGV

For the Eurostar from London to Paris:

Eurostar

For both, and this is very important, when asked what country you are from, don't choose USA.. Choose either Great Britain or UK....whichever they offer.

On the TGV site, if you say US, they switch you back to RailEurope. You probably won't be able to buy tickets until at least 3 months out.

On Eurostar, you'll get the fares in GBP and get better deals. If you register as US, their exchange rate is terrible. Buy these as far in advance as possible to get the best fares.

I'm personally not a big fan of sleeper trains. Others here are. I'd prefer to get a discount flight from Paris to Madrid. Some people sleep well on trains, others don't.

A roundtrip day trip to Bath is easy....but not on day 1. Go another day and check both the bus and train. Train costs a little more but is faster, and I think more comfortable.

Posted by
11507 posts

Hi Sherri.
I would not plan a daytrip to Bath on arrival day. Your flight likely arrives in mid am, so once you get your bags other to hotel,, then find train station, and take 1.5 hour train ride to Bath,, you are too late. I see no problem with taking it on your second day( first morning after first night in hotel),, as you will be up bright and early likely,, due to jet lag. Remember, jet lag is not the same as travel fatique. Jet lag is being off schedule, and travelling from west to east means you will find that on your arrival day you will be exhausted early in the day( force yourself to stay up till at least 9 pm) ( although body will think its much later and you will likely feel like sleeping much earlier then that)
YOu will also then find that your first morning you will wake early,, because your body clock thinks its much later, it is very weird. Keep a snack with you too, I often find myself starving in middle of night. LOL

First day, just dump stuff at hotel and get our and walk around in fresh air and see some local sights.

As for trip to Paris, definately book with Eurostar, and book well in advance for cheapest tickets, I think its 90 or 120 days out is soonest you can book online. As noted by others, book using UK as hometown.I pick up ticket at station as I see no advantage to paying to have it mailed.

I would also fly from Paris to Madrid. I am not a fan of overnight trains. They sound more romantic then they are,, LOL When looking at cheap airlines, try and avoid flying out of Beauvais airport for Paris, it is further out then Orly or Charles De Gaulle. It will take longer and cost more to get to airport.
I have flown Vueling to Rome, I thought it was a good cheap airline.

Posted by
1014 posts

First, can you change your flight and fly into London and home from Albania? Saves backtracking to London and give you a day or more of vacation time.

I too would consider the plane from Paris to Madrid. Also, consider the bus- Eurolines.com. You can go as cheaply as 42Euro for the two of you.

Posted by
8700 posts

Sherri,

Since you only have four days in London, I suggest that you skip Bath altogether. But if you go, take the train. It's a lot faster than a coach (highway bus). The walk-up fare is very expensive. However, if you book well in advance at www.eastcoast.co.uk, you can get a fare as low as 9.50 GBP each way. The site's homepage will tell you how far out you can book and it accepts international credit cards. Discount fare tickets are non-exchangeable and non-refundable so be sure you can commit to a specific departure date and time.

I am one of those people who like night trains. I assume you are traveling with your husband. If so, in order to share the same compartment you will need to book a two-bed sleeper. The four-bed sleepers are limited to persons of the same sex--unless you book all four beds, which, of course, you wouldn't need to do.

For a detailed description of the Paris-Madrid Elipsos trainhotel, including photos, go here. To get the cheapest fare for beds in a two-person sleeper (110 euro/person), book well in advance (up to 90 days allowed) at www.tgv-europe.com. To keep the site in English and to prevent being bumped to the Rail Europe site which doesn't offer discount fares, choose Great Britain as your country of residence.

Your budget airline choices are Paris CDG-Madrid on either Vueling or easyJet. EasyJet has more flights from which to choose. To get the cheapest fare, book as far in advance as possible on either airline's Web site.

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