Barcelona to Perpignan

[shires666]

Hi to everybody
basically was reccomended this site to find out some info on a forthcoming trip to Barcelona in june ,during my stay im wanting to travel by rail to perpignan(france) on the saturday to take in a rugby league game there! as anyone had any experience in traveling this route (time to travel there , Fares , Tips ,websites to use for info . Thanks for info greatly recieved

 

[johnnychips]

The DB website is, as usual, very useful. At the moment there are two trains from Barcelona per day at which you change to a TGV at Figueres to the new AVE line. The rest are rather slower connections, changing at the French border.

 

[9K43]

I did this trip some 20 years ago from the UK.
The route was Victoria Station to Newhaven to X over to France.
Once we landed in France we caught a boat train to Paris Gare Du Nord.
We were then taken by bus to Osterlitz Station to catch the 21:00hrs train to Port Bou on the Spanish Border.
We followed in the patth of the Talgo train all the way to the border.
The train we rode on was couchette sleeper, which left Paris at 2100hrs.
After a fitfull journey across France we ended up at the border in the early morning.
On this journey I was asked if I could sleep on a train, my reply was
" If I cant sleep on a train, I want paying up by BR. "
On arrival at Port Bou, we had to go through the immigration system.
We then changed to a Spanish Railways DMU, to Flassa, where we got off to catch a bus to our resort.
What caught my attention was that nearly every station had sidings on the up and down roads with continetal ferry vans on the siding roads.
THe cost to me and my son was nothing and my wife had to pay 35p for the return journey Port Bu.
At this time BR employees could get Continental free passes to nearly all Countries in Europe.
The whole journey took nearly 2 days both ways,
We took this holiday as it was cheap as chips.
Now all these years later, we fly to Majorca from Manchester and we in the hotel 3 hours later.
If I have got something wrong, it was a long time ago.
Some one I know did this trip with her family about the same time and it cost them over £800 for the trip

 

[coupwotcoup]

Oddly enough my first trip to Spain by train was about 23 years ago and I too went via Newhaven but changed at Rouen, where I got my first TGV to probably Lyon or Montpellier.

Then train to border and Douanes at Porbou then a direct train to Blanes (as you could then), but rumours abound they are re-introducing said service.

Did the Figueras to Perpignan run last October and takes around 20 minutes, which is significantly shorter than the more aesthetically pleasing route.

As you say, costs around £200, including E* but I consider it a treat to myself. If memory serves me well, it cost around £75 for a France Vacances ticket, first class, in those days, plus the added extras either end.

 

[9K43]

On the way back, we had to board our sleeper train from Narbonne.
As we had a couple of hours to kill my lad and I went down to the the sea

The place where we ended up was on the sea front, where a stream vented off into the little bay.
To fill in the time we threw some stones into the Med, and my young son thought it was great.
On the journey back we had jam and bread on the train, usual fare for me as it was fresh bread, strawberry jam and Lurpack butter.
Looking back it was yet another great time to have with your little boy who thought sleeping on a train was a big adventure.

Tempus fugit.​

 

[coupwotcoup]

I have been doing it about two/three times a year ever since. Before they built the pipe, I used to have to leave Blanes at around 8.30pm and stay awake until Lyon at around 5am.
All we need now is the new links via Vilafant to be UK friendly timewise and it will shave hours of the journey.

 

[brianthegiant]

Barcelona - Perpignan: Nice by bicycle along the sea front, but winds can be quite strong at times...

 

[Oscar]

If coming by train from the UK, it can be significantly cheaper to buy London/Paris - Perpignan (tgv-europe.com / eurostar.com for through ticket from London), Perpignan - Figueras Vilafant (tgv-europe.com) and Figueras Vilafant - Barcelona (RENFE site) rather than buying a through ticket from Paris - Barcelona if using the daytime TGV service. I think that this can bring the price down to around £140 return.

However, since the thread is about Barcelona - Perpignan travel, I presume that this does not apply. Presumably the two connections via Figueras Vilafant (even though they only go twice a day) are probably best but there are also trains to Portbou which are not shown in the DB journey planner (only in RENFE timetables). SNCF then run quite a few services to Perpignan.

I have not done the journey myself but did actually plan the journey once recently before finding out that I could not go.

 

[coupwotcoup]

That is how I normally do it. Prems tickets from Paris/Lille to Perpignan are normally good value if booked well in advance. Can't use the new link going as the first is too early for me and the late one connects with nothing from Girona.
They must be intending to run more in the fullness of time as I cannot believe that all that money has been spent for just a few trains a day.

 

[Oscar]

Yes, as far as I am aware the plan is to run regular services on the Perpignan - Figueras Vilafant line from December 2012 when the Figueras - Barcelona section opens. This will also link with the AVE Barcelona - Madrid line. The intention is to run trains from Paris to Barcelona stopping at only Marseille, Narbonne and Perpignan and continuing to Madrid. Aaccording to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGV_Perpignan_-_Figueras Paris - Barcelona will be possible in 5 h 35.

 

[coupwotcoup]

I presume you mean Montpellier and not Marseille?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
So technically, London to Barca direct in around eight hours (+1).
Anything that avoids crossing Paris is fine by me.

 

[Oscar]

Sorry, yes, I meant Montpellier.
Some further information:
According to L'Indépendant, 76 km of the 131 km making of the new line are operational and used by a freight service to the port of Barcelona while the trackbed has been laid for the rest of the line. Journey time from Perpignan to Barcelona will be 50 minutes. Most trains will stop at Sagrera (a new station) and Sants stations. The article states that according to one source, trains will run all of the following routes: Madrid-Paris,Madrid-Genève, Madrid-Marseille (yes, I believe they do mean Marseille), Barcelona-Paris, Barcelona- Lille, Barcelona-Lyon, Barcelona- Marseille et Barcelona-Bordeaux. According to another source, however, only Barcelona - Paris will run due to limited funding.

 

[coupwotcoup]

If the worse case scenario comes into place then it could be a white elephant and if it meant only Barca - Paris, why not make it Lille, stopping at CDG and the Disney stop?
Could help the English market that way... as long as the connections work okay.
In all my years of travelling to Spain by train, I've never been on an empty(ish) TGV yet.