Train from Paris to Barcelona

Hi Jan I would not by a train ticket. It is long and with changes of train and I think more $. Buy a low cost airline ticket from Barcelona to Paris Orly Airport. Check www.skyscanner.com for budget airlines. There are several Spanish ones which fly in about 1 1/2 hours, I think. Do not choose Ryan Air as it lands in a far off Paris/Beauvais airport. Last year you could get tickets for around $100 US. BUT keep in mind there are strict luggage size, weight and no. of pieces of luggage. If not careful you can rack up double your plane costs in fees. Also you have to pay for assigned seats, or early boarding, or any food on plane. Hope this helps you save time and money! Bobbie

Jan,, I am travelling from Barcelona to Paris this summer, and like you considered the train,, but no way. It actually would cost me more, and take waaay more time and hassle( I hate changing trains enroute) I am flying with Easyjet,, in August,, for two of us,, with extras all in ( checked luggage) taxes,fees for paying by Visa etc etc,, its 142 euros total. And its under 2 hours. Even with time getting to and from airports it will be less then 1/2 the time .. a daytrain is about 8 hours, the night train is more like 12 apparently, yech. Vueling was a bit more, but not much, i just went with Easyjet cause its cheaper and I find getting to CDG airport to city easier.

The best site is the French national rail site, voyages-sncf.com. If you can't handle French, Google Translate will be your friend. The Elipsos Trenhotel leaves Gare d'Austerlitz at 20:13 and arrives at Barcelona Franca at 08:05. Booked well in advance (up to 90 days allowed), you can get a Prem's fare of €74.00 for a bunk in a four-person couchette. Important note: On this train couchettes are same sex only. The fastest daytime route is Gare de Lyon to Figueres Vilafant on a TGV and an Estrella high-speed train from there to Barcelona Sants. Depart at 07:15 and arrive at 14:46. Or depart at 14:07 and arrive at 21:45. Booked well in advance, the cheapest fare is €63.70.

I took the daytime train as mentioned above last April and loved it. I did not want the bother of getting to the airport, checking luggage (because the carryon restrictions are different then US airlines) and so forth. We arrived at the station at 630 am, had breakfast, boarded, had a very relaxing trip to Spain. Lunch on the train was not that expensive. Got just over the border of Spain and just walked from one train to the other across the platform (there really is no station to speak of) The Spanish train was brand new, and was a pleasant couple of hours ride to Barcelona. It was well worth it for me. I caught up on my reading (my husband on his sleeping) and we arrived in Barcelona relaxed. I think the fare was about 70$. Reasonable as far as I was concerned. Nice countryside to see also. Luggage was either overhead or in the luggage rack at the end of the car. Got my reservation about 90 days out.

Two votes for flying, one for the night train, one for the day train. De gustabus non est disputandum. At least Tim answered the question about where to buy tickets.

There's great advice on purchasing train ticketsstep by step, including how to avoid getting shunted to a more expensive site exclusively for Americanson a website devoted to traveling by train from the UK to Spain. All routes lead through Paris, so just ignore the info on London-Paris and the rest will be explained in detail. Paris-Barcelona by night train: http://www.seat61.com/Spain.htm#Barcelona Paris-Barcelona by daytime train: http://www.seat61.com/Spain.htm#London-Barcelona_by_daytime_train Advice on buying tickets through the SNCF (if you read French) or TGV websites (www.tgv-europe.com is in English), with special instructions for US residents to avoid being bumped automatically to a more expensive website: http://www.seat61.com/France-trains.htm#How%20to%20use%20voyages-sncf.com General info about train travel in Europe:
http://www.seat61.com/Europe-train-travel.htm Good luck!