Visit to Barcelona/Pyrenees/Bordeaux

[yorkie]

I am looking into the possibility of doing a trip from Barcelona to Bordeaux over two days and am interested in any suggestions anyone has regarding how to get between the two via any interesting places and railways.

So on day one I could get to somewhere part way and then on day two arrive at Bordeaux. However this could be extended by a day, to arrive into Bordeaux on day three.

I am up for the idea of getting a train from Spain to near the French border, then getting a bus to a train from the French border.

(I am aware of the Yellow Train which I definitely want to do one day but on this occasion I may do something different as I am not sure it would quite work for the itinerary we have in mind)

Any suggestions would be most welcome. This would be a summer trip. If there are any interesting walks we could fit in that would be interesting to know about too.

 

[OldandRambling]

I believe it was possible to get a train from Barcelona to Latour-de-Carol, then change to an onward French train to Toulouse, etc.
The yellow train I think also connects at Latour-de-Carol.
Not sure if this is still currently a cross border service option in 2022?

 

[rf_ioliver]

You could try via Canfranc - train to/from Pau to Bedous, bus/taxi over the border to Canfranc following the original line.

Renfe gives dep Barcelona 5h50, arrive Canfranc 12h34 via a single change in Zaragoza
Bus/taxi/hike over the mountains following the original line to Bedous in France - no idea about this part, but sounds like fun. Let's say this takes a few hours, then there's a connection in Bedous leaving at 16h06, arriving Bordeaux 19h41 with a change in Pau.

NB: I didn't check specifics about dates etc, so YMMV. Honestly, the area around Canfranc looks amazing - personally, I'd take a day's hiking there


It is about 36km by road and about 111km by bike/hking between Canfranc and Bedous

HERE WeGo

HERE WeGo

wego.here.com

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I believe it was possible to get a train from Barcelona to Latour-de-Carol, then change to an onward French train to Toulouse, etc.
The yellow train I think also connects at Latour-de-Carol.
Not sure if this is still currently a cross border service option in 2022?

I used this in 2018, only a few services a day went all the way to Latour even before Covid so I don't know if it's running currently. Several services ran to the penultimate stop (Puigçerda) as that's a significantly bigger settlement than Latour. It also pretty much abuts the French town of Bourg-Madame (served by the Yellow Train) and is a railhead for the Spanish exclave of Llívia. It is a journey I'd recommend for the scenery, but be sure to pack some sandwiches!

 

[EuroRail]

I believe it was possible to get a train from Barcelona to Latour-de-Carol, then change to an onward French train to Toulouse, etc.
The yellow train I think also connects at Latour-de-Carol.
Not sure if this is still currently a cross border service option in 2022?

Just checked my European train timetable, sorry it's last summer's, am about the get the current Winter timetable, but there were four trains a day from Barcelona to Latour de Carol. That's more than on the high speed line to Perpignan!!

 

[class ep-09]

I used this in 2018, only a few services a day went all the way to Latour even before Covid so I don't know if it's running currently. Several services ran to the penultimate stop (Puigçerda) as that's a significantly bigger settlement than Latour. It also pretty much abuts the French town of Bourg-Madame (served by the Yellow Train) and is a railhead for the Spanish exclave of Llívia. It is a journey I'd recommend for the scenery, but be sure to pack some sandwiches!

At the end of October there were 4 direct trains during the day to Latour with onward booked connection to Toulouse .
3+ hours from Barcelona Sants and additional 3 to get to Toulouse.
Timetable here :

http://rodalies.gencat.cat/web/.content/02_Horaris/horaris/R3.pdf

One can also travel from Barcelona to Portbou ( and Cerbere ) with onward connections to Montpelier ( and from there to Toulouse and Bordeaux ) .

http://rodalies.gencat.cat/web/.content/02_Horaris/horaris/R11.pdf

 

[Alfonso]

I am looking into the possibility of doing a trip from Barcelona to Bordeaux over two days and am interested in any suggestions anyone has regarding how to get between the two via any interesting places and railways.

So on day one I could get to somewhere part way and then on day two arrive at Bordeaux. However this could be extended by a day, to arrive into Bordeaux on day three.

I am up for the idea of getting a train from Spain to near the French border, then getting a bus to a train from the French border.

(I am aware of the Yellow Train which I definitely want to do one day but on this occasion I may do something different as I am not sure it would quite work for the itinerary we have in mind)

Any suggestions would be most welcome. This would be a summer trip. If there are any interesting walks we could fit in that would be interesting to know about too.

If wallowing around in hot water is your thing there are quite a few thermal springs and pools in that area

 

[AndrewE]

We had a very good (but extended) exploring holiday going via Reus (a lovely small city,) the "old" route to Zaragoza, Pamplona (v touristy,) bus to St Jean Pied de Port, train again on to Bayonne (for Biarritz) then TGVs north along the W coast, eventually to La Rochelle and a TGV back to Paris.

Leaving Zaragoza was interesting: set off in a modern unit train from a standard gauge station, through a gauge-change-on-the-move shed then on to Pamplona on Iberian gauge.
If you have a day to waste, in summer you can do a return trip from Zaragoza to Canfranc. There is a YouTube video of it: spectacular in places but soporific for most of the distance. We have used the Rail Replacement bus to visit Canfranc from the French side before, there's not much there besides the station.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

There are still 4 trains going beyond Puigcerda to La Tour de Carol and v.v. in the new winter timetable - but the 3+ hr journey from Barcelona in a suburban EMU, calling at all stations can be a bit wearing. I broke up the journey by taking one of the more frequent services to Ribes and visiting the monastery at Nuria, served by rack-railway. The upper reaches of the line from La Tour de Carol down to Toulouse is more dramatic than the Spanish side.

Canfranc is worth a visit if nothing else for the monumental station (now restored and about to open as a 5* hotel) and for the 'new' station - an old transhipment shed, which has been sympathetically converted and restored. There has been a lot of relaying recently on the line from Huesca (with gauge convertible sleepers) so the pace is a bit more 'brisk', although for the moment with the same ancient DMU.

 

[dutchflyer]

OR-bridge the gap between ES/Puig en FR/laTour by 2 buses that go to/from the mini-state of Andorra-buses connect to nearly every train. A hardly ever visited country, but it has no rails!
I also remember to have travelled via that Canfranc route by a bus over the border-several years ago, when the train was not yet extended at the FR side. I think it was a normal TER-bus-now organised by the new region.
That ḿetro des Pyrenéés´ =little yellow is quite easy to log in : starting from Barca train to FR border Cerbere-then onward TER to Perpignan, local normal TER to starting poiint and then that little train-perhaps in main summer time there is now limited and controlled seating. Either stay ober around la Tour or on to Toulouse-possible with a very early start from Barca (which though above 5.50 is suggested often seems to lead to quite negative ´unsocial´ remarks in this forum for some reason.
From Tls to Bord: if you have the full day, alternate TER-train and bus via several points-Auch/Souillac to learn some minor branch lines.
No need at all to worry about complicated tickets etc-just pay as you go. No special advance sales on TER or on rodalies/locals in ES.

 

[johnnychips]

There are still 4 trains going beyond Puigcerda to La Tour de Carol and v.v. in the new winter timetable - but the 3+ hr journey from Barcelona in a suburban EMU, calling at all stations can be a bit wearing. I broke up the journey by taking one of the more frequent services to Ribes and visiting the monastery at Nuria, served by rack-railway. The upper reaches of the line from La Tour de Carol down to Toulouse is more dramatic than the Spanish side

I don’t think this fits @yorkie ’s plans, but the rack railway to Nuria is smashing. There is a great walk from there to the next station towards Ribes, which I think is called Queralbs. It takes about two hours, passes some amazing waterfalls, and is naturally downhill - important at my age!

 

[AndrewE]

I don’t think this fits @yorkie ’s plans, but the rack railway to Nuria is smashing. There is a great walk from there to the next station towards Ribes, which I think is called Queralbs. It takes about two hours, passes some amazing waterfalls, and is naturally downhill - important at my age!

Off-topic, but for a long time - and especially nowadays - walking downhill is a real pain, particularly when carrying a (touring) load. The best thing about the Swiss Alps is that you can walk gently uphill all day... then get a cable car down!
Having said that, my hips are starting to give me twinges going uphill with a load, but it's preferable to the effects on my knees of any steep downhill.

 

[30907]

Another vote for La Tour - just don't plan a tight connection, as we did, and then discovered the times had changed. It wasn't good for our wellbeing, though the -3 was fine (and one other passenger made it - I think we were the only people on the SNCF train there!)

 

[johnnychips]

Off-topic, but for a long time - and especially nowadays - walking downhill is a real pain, particularly when carrying a (touring) load. The best thing about the Swiss Alps is that you can walk gently uphill all day... then get a cable car down!
Having said that, my hips are starting to give me twinges going uphill with a load, but it's preferable to the effects on my knees of any steep downhill.

To desperately keep on topic, I wonder if there are any disused funicular lines in the Pyrenees you can walk on?

 

[EuroRail]

There are still 4 trains going beyond Puigcerda to La Tour de Carol and v.v. in the new winter timetable - but the 3+ hr journey from Barcelona in a suburban EMU, calling at all stations can be a bit wearing. I broke up the journey by taking one of the more frequent services to Ribes and visiting the monastery at Nuria, served by rack-railway. The upper reaches of the line from La Tour de Carol down to Toulouse is more dramatic than the Spanish side.

Canfranc is worth a visit if nothing else for the monumental station (now restored and about to open as a 5* hotel) and for the 'new' station - an old transhipment shed, which has been sympathetically converted and restored. There has been a lot of relaying recently on the line from Huesca (with gauge convertible sleepers) so the pace is a bit more 'brisk', although for the moment with the same ancient DMU.

Breaking the journey sounds an excellent idea - particularly if the type of suburban emu doesn't have toilet facilities on board! Does it?

 

[class ep-09]

Breaking the journey sounds an excellent idea - particularly if the type of suburban emu doesn't have toilet facilities on board! Does it?

They do have toilets .

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Breaking the journey sounds an excellent idea - particularly if the type of suburban emu doesn't have toilet facilities on board! Does it?

They have toilets, but no other facilities (no refreshments trolley despite the 3hr+ journey) so having some sustenance with you would be smart. The units used aren't ideal for such a long journey but they aren't too bad- they're spacious, the seats are firm but supportive, window views are good, some of them have additional luggage space including ski-racks. Graffiti can be an issue but they seem to concentrate on clearing the windows first and foremost if a unit gets hit.

 

[317666]

A few years ago I did the sleeper from Paris to Latour-de-Carol, changing onto the Rodalies down the other side to Barcelona. Definitely recommended although as others have said, a bit of a drag on the Spanish side once you're out of the mountains and you're stopping absolutely everywhere all the way into Barcelona.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

A few years ago I did the sleeper from Paris to Latour-de-Carol, changing onto the Rodalies down the other side to Barcelona. Definitely recommended although as others have said, a bit of a drag on the Spanish side once you're out of the mountains and you're stopping absolutely everywhere all the way into Barcelona.

Depends which service you get- when i did the journey in 2018 the trip down the mountains did seem to stop at every village. On the return, the service stopped only at the larger settlements (Vic, Ripoll, Ribes de Freser and a few others) until near the summit of the climb.

 

[HS2isgood]

There is no gap, the Spanish R3 service reaches Latour de Carol in France. All Rodalies (non-HS Catalan internals) services have been fully restored since mid-2020, except the RT1 Tarragona-Reus shorts. The trip to Latour is 3 hours long, semi-fast to Vic then calling at all shacks, in a 447 with decent seating (not the awful seating on other 447s).

 

[Oscar]

Graffiti can be an issue but they seem to concentrate on clearing the windows first and foremost if a unit gets hit.

Each Catalan Rodalies unit was graffitied on average seven times in 2020 and 80% of units were running with some exterior graffiti at the start of 2021 (source). There are numerous graffiti attacks every day on the Rodalies services and on the Barcelona metro - over 8000 in 2017-2020. Those responsible have also taken to regularly holding up trains in service (by using the emergency hammer/cord to stop trains between stations or blocking doors open at stations) to carry out the graffiti. Most cases of graffiti are considered misdemeanours in Spain rather than serious crimes (source), meaning that the perpetrators are normally given fines of a few hundred euros when arrested rather than larger fines / prison sentences. Renfe has called for harsher punishments (source). Here is an (older) article in English about the graffiti situation in Spain (there is very little in English on the topic): link.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Each Catalan Rodalies unit was graffitied on average seven times in 2020 and 80% of units were running with some exterior graffiti at the start of 2021 (source). There are numerous graffiti attacks every day on the Rodalies services and on the Barcelona metro - over 8000 in 2017-2020. Those responsible have also taken to regularly holding up trains in service (by using the emergency hammer/cord to stop trains between stations or blocking doors open at stations) to carry out the graffiti. Most cases of graffiti are considered misdemeanours in Spain rather than serious crimes (source), meaning that the perpetrators are normally given fines of a few hundred euros when arrested rather than larger fines / prison sentences. Renfe has called for harsher punishments (source). Here is an (older) article in English about the graffiti situation in Spain (there is very little in English on the topic): link.

Oh it's terrible there for graffiti- but from what I observed either the cleaning teams (or the "artistes" themselves ) at least want people to be able to see out of the windows!
My unit on the fast run back up to Latour-de-Carol was the only one I saw all weekend without a spot of graffiti to be seen.

 

[Oscar]

Oh it's terrible there for graffiti- but from what I observed either the cleaning teams (or the "artistes" themselves

) at least want people to be able to see out of the windows!

In 2021 there was work-to-rule action with drivers refusing to drive units with graffiti encroaching on the emergency escape windows, doors or unit number (source).

 

[Mag_seven]

You could try via Canfranc - train to/from Pau to Bedous, bus/taxi over the border to Canfranc following the original line.

Does anyone know if there a bus service between Canfranc and Bedous?

I ask this because although Table 324 of the current edition of the "European Rail Timetable" shows buses I can find no reference to buses online (e.g. by using journey planners)

 

[Ian99]

As an aside, this route in Canfranc is interesting - Switch between cycling and walking in this link and you'll see what I mean. 30 hours walking or 4 minutes cycling......

 

[30907]

Google produced this
https://www.citrampyrenees.fr/les-horaires/lignes-regionales/oloron-canfran/
Connections with trains at Bedous, engineering work permitting, seem good.

 

[Mag_seven]

Google produced this
https://www.citrampyrenees.fr/les-horaires/lignes-regionales/oloron-canfran/
Connections with trains at Bedous, engineering work permitting, seem good.

Thanks for that link but I can't seem to find timetables applicable from 02/07/22 (they only seem to go up to 01/07/22)?

 

[30907]

Thanks for that link but I can't seem to find timetables applicable from 02/07/22 (they only seem to go up to 01/07/22)?

Found it on the TER site - line 55:
https://m.ter.sncf.com/nouvelle-aquitaine/se-deplacer/fiches-horaires

 

[Mag_seven]

Found it on the TER site - line 55:
https://m.ter.sncf.com/nouvelle-aquitaine/se-deplacer/fiches-horaires

Thanks for the link - bus ran to the times given. I would point out however that the bus starts from the main coach / bus layby in the town of Canfranc rather than adjacent to the station.