Railpasses

I guess my first question is, if you want to go immediately to Paris, why are you flying to Barcelona??? Paris has airports.

I will be attending a convention in Barcelona. I have always wanted to experience traveling through France up to Paris. The convention begins on Thurs. but I will be in Barcelona by Tues. morn. I am going to use the time to go to Paris and return by Thurs. in time for the start of the convention.

Also, the round trip airfare in and out of Barcelona was more attractive than flying into Paris and out of Barcelona on the return to the states.

"the round trip airfare in and out of Barcelona was more attractive than flying into Paris and out of Barcelona"

When comparing the options, did you consider the cost of the train to Paris with the cost of RT airfare to Barcelona option? Also, did you price the fare into Paris and out of Barcelona as an open jaw or two individual flights. Open jaw is often less expensive than RT plus a long train trip.

Trains run infrequently between Barcelona and Paris. The only decent daytime route requires leaving Barcelona Franca at 08:45, changing trains in Montpellier, and arriving at Paris Lyon at 17:49. Unless your flight arrives super early, you obviously won't be able to catch the train. I suggest that you fly to Paris. Vueling is a budget airline that has several flights from Barcelona to Orly.

You could take the train from Paris back to Barcelona. However, if you want to travel during the day on Wednesday, you'll have to cut your time in Paris very short. You could leave Paris at 13:20, change in Perpignan and Portbou, and arrive at Barcelona Sants at 22:56. Or you could take the direct night train Wednesday evening, leaving Paris Austerlitz at 20:32 and arriving at Barcelona Sants at 09:09.

See the detailed timetables at www.bahn.de.

To maximize your time in Paris without taking the night train back to Barcelona you'll need to fly.

Thanks for all the replies, but what I am trying to do is get inside of France from Barcelona. The idea is not take the train directly from Barcelona to Paris, but to take the train from one of the cities (provinces or whatever) just inside of France so that I can then make use of a one country railpass as opposed to a two country pass. I am under the impression that there is a savings opportunity in there somewhere.

Carlton,

First of all, your route and departure time choices will be the same whether you have a one-country railpass, a two-country railpass, or buy point-to-point tickets. You'll still have to deal with the fact that train service between Barcelona and Paris is infrequent, no matter how many connections you make and in which country you make them. While there is frequent regional train service between Barcelona and the border, there is less frequent service from the border to Paris.

Second, for your limited travel days I expect that p2p tickets will be cheaper than any kind of railpass.

I found one train route that might work. If your plane gets to Barcelona early enough, you can take a regional train leaving Barcelona Sants at 10:16 and arriving at Portbou at 12:30. Take a short taxi ride (about 7km) across the border to Cerbere and catch the regional train to Perpignan which leaves at 12:43. Change there to a TGV to Paris, arriving at 18:45. If you miss the 12:43 train, you can take the 15:47 regional train from Cerbere to Montpellier and change there to a TGV to Paris, arriving at 21:49.

Thanks Tim. This is very helpful to me. I have to rethink this whole thing. I think it might be more feasible to spend a few more dollars rather than go through all of that. Thanks again.

You're welcome, Carlton.

I forgot to mention easyJet. Like Vueling, it's a budget airline, but it flies Barcelona-Paris CDG. Also check Iberia. While single (one-way) fares will probably be higher than either Vueling or easyJet, return (roundtrip) fares might be reasonable.

For the train travel you are planning, you don't need any type of railpass. P2P will be less expensive. Also, France will add supplemental fees for riding the faster TGV trains.