Getting to Barcelona by train!

toastedpickles

Hey guys, so on the 20th of next month im off to barca for a class trip, I don't want to fly for two reasons, I'm afraid of planes, and I want to make a bit of an adventure out of this, so to give an idea, We have to be in barca on the 20th, so i have the weekend to get there, what I'm just wondering is how to go about getting there.

I want to get the ferry to holyhead, train to folkstone and then onto the continent, but after that I've no idea where to go or how to go about doing it

Can i get a ticket that will cover all of this?? Or is it a case of getting a few tickets? Any links to anything of use would be a great help

Thanks in advance

dingding

Not sure how it would work but you should try london via channel tunnel.

if you look up sail rail the ticket from dublin to london as a foot passenger is reasonable.

http://www.irishferries.com/uk-en/offers/sail-rail1/

Or

http://www.stenaline.ie/ferries-to-britain/rail-sail

Then for the London - Barcelona bit, via Paris.

http://www.seat61.com/Spain.htm#London-Barcelona_by_daytime_train

Should take about 2 days with overnight in London or non-stop if you got a late evening ferry from Dublin.

greasepalm

are you a member of AA as they used to plan routes for their members.

toastedpickles

greasepalm wrote: »

are you a member of AA as they used to plan routes for their members.

Nope sadly I'm not!

edeldonlon

I've had to do this when the volcano went off. You can sail and rail from Dublin to London. There is then a bus to Barcelona most mornings at 8.30 from London Victoria. You could also take a bus to Paris and then overnight train it to Barcelona.

toastedpickles

edeldonlon wrote: »

I've had to do this when the volcano went off. You can sail and rail from Dublin to London. There is then a bus to Barcelona most mornings at 8.30 from London Victoria. You could also take a bus to Paris and then overnight train it to Barcelona.

A bus to spain sounds like hell I'd prefer to get the train, that way i can hop off wherever I'm guessing and make a trip out of it or something

Marcusm

Sail rail to Lobdon arriving as early as you can; Eurostar to Paris or perhaps through to Avignon. Otherwise change trains in Paris either direct to Barca if available or to Montpellier or Perpignan. Onwards to Barcelona might have more coach than rail frequency.

Seat 61 is really the guru or Deutsche bahn's website.

toastedpickles

Marcusm wrote: »

Sail rail to Lobdon arriving as early as you can; Eurostar to Paris or perhaps through to Avignon. Otherwise change trains in Paris either direct to Barca if available or to Montpellier or Perpignan. Onwards to Barcelona might have more coach than rail frequency.

Seat 61 is really the guru or Deutsche bahn's website.

Seat 61 eh? I seem to have it figured out nice enough though, just gotta make the times work out

Yamanoto

Discussed in this thread from a while back tp.

It's clearly a circuitous route, but looks like a great adventure.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85663217&postcount=4

toastedpickles

Yamanoto wrote: »

Discussed in this thread from a while back tp.

It's clearly a circuitous route, but looks like a great adventure.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85663217&postcount=4

This is pretty dam good! Thanks captain

I was going to drive but fuel alone is like 1K there and back

Yamanoto

toastedpickles wrote: »

I was going to drive but fuel alone is like 1K there and back

Any of your classmates chip in?

Those Saab seats are made for Euro-cruisin!

toastedpickles

Yamanoto wrote: »

Any of your classmates chip in?

Those Saab seats are made for Euro-cruisin!

My classmates are some of the tightest people I've ever met :pac:

If i had the money myself I'd happily spend it, but it's not to be this time sadly!

Thoie

You could get a ferry Dublin-Cherbourg, then train from Cherbourg to Paris, change stations, Paris to Toulouse to Barcelona. But a flight and some valium would be an awful lot cheaper.

toastedpickles

Thoie wrote: »

You could get a ferry Dublin-Cherbourg, then train from Cherbourg to Paris, change stations, Paris to Toulouse to Barcelona. But a flight and some valium would be an awful lot cheaper.

The flight aint happening :pac:

All in the name of adventure! I dunno when i'll get to do this again like, so im making the most of it while i can

munchkin_utd

you'll probably need a few tickets as often you'll only get a special on a certain busy route, but the more complicated the route gets the less "normal" it becomes and then less chance of getting a discounted ticket, if even a through ticket is possible.
If youre prepared to go by bus for some of it, another option is Megabus. They do deals for a pound from Rosslare to London, and from there you can get bus or train onwards.
They also do a route to Barcelona which you can pick up in England somewhere - but the trek across France sounds like a long time on a bus, maybe just get yourself to Paris for cheap and then TGV across the length of France?
The bus+Ferry to France has one benefit as seeing the cliffs of Dover behind you leaving England on the Ferry is a memorable sight.

toastedpickles

munchkin_utd wrote: »

you'll probably need a few tickets as often you'll only get a special on a certain busy route, but the more complicated the route gets the less "normal" it becomes and then less chance of getting a discounted ticket, if even a through ticket is possible.
If youre prepared to go by bus for some of it, another option is Megabus. They do deals for a pound from Rosslare to London, and from there you can get bus or train onwards.
They also do a route to Barcelona which you can pick up in England somewhere - but the trek across France sounds like a long time on a bus, maybe just get yourself to Paris for cheap and then TGV across the length of France?
The bus+Ferry to France has one benefit as seeing the cliffs of Dover behind you leaving England on the Ferry is a memorable sight.

that would be nice alright I'm considering most options so whichever works out cheaper and gets me there on or after the saturday

munchkin_utd

it seems Megabus also do Dublin to London now.
For 1 way on the 17 Oct departing at 8pm its only 18pounds.
Arrive into London at 8am, head to a nearby JD weatherspoons for a cheapo breakfast and then get a bus to Paris at 10.30am.
BTW, if you just choose to take the 10.30am and with a 2 1/2 hours break in Paris take the next connection bus to Barca, its only 25pounds from London to Barca!

toastedpickles

munchkin_utd wrote: »

it seems Megabus also do Dublin to London now.
For 1 way on the 17 Oct departing at 8pm its only 18pounds.
Arrive into London at 8am, head to a nearby JD weatherspoons for a cheapo breakfast and then get a bus to Paris at 10.30am.
BTW, if you just choose to take the 10.30am and with a 2 1/2 hours break in Paris take the next connection bus to Barca, its only 25pounds from London to Barca!

Ooh thats good! Thanks

munchkin_utd

toastedpickles wrote: »

Ooh thats good! Thanks

its a balls of a journey though - and your "adventure" aspect consists of siting on a bus for almost 36hours solid.
what you could do is break up the journey i.e. spend all day in London, get the evening bus to Paris (and sleep on the bus) arriving early the next morning spend a day in Paris and getting the bus at 9.30pm then sleep on the bus to Barca.
Zero accomodation costs and for only a few pound more you have a full day in Paris AND London en route

toastedpickles

munchkin_utd wrote: »

its a balls of a journey though - and your "adventure" aspect consists of siting on a bus for almost 36hours solid.
what you could do is break up the journey i.e. spend all day in London, get the evening bus to Paris (and sleep on the bus) arriving early the next morning spend a day in Paris and getting the bus at 9.30pm then sleep on the bus to Barca.
Zero accomodation costs and for only a few pound more you have a full day in Paris AND London en route

Yeah i could do that, i'll look into it anyways

zagmund

You might post up some of the constraints/timings/routings/pricings you already have so that people don't go re-inventing things for you. From the sounds of it the bus isn't an option because it's too long/boring. The adventure bit is, to be honest, not going to work like this - "that way i can hop off wherever I'm guessing and make a trip out of it" - unless you get a flexible ticket which allows you to get any train on a route and that's going to cost a fair bit.

What time on Friday can you leave?
Do you have to be somewhere in Barcelona at 0900 on Monday, or can you arrive into the city later in the morning? This will significantly affect the options open to you.
How important is sleep to you?

Don't forget that the entire South East coast is in the same price bracket as London if you get the Sail & Rail - http://www.stenaline.ie/ferries-to-britain/rail-sail. So you would get best value from booking sail & rail to Dover, Folkstone, or whichever port you want to leave from.

If it was up to me, I would get the 0215 (Friday night/Saturday morning) to Holyhead and get the 0652 train to London. This gets into London at 1038 and you can get a train to Dover (from a different station) at 1112. This has you at the port at 1220. There are a couple of ferries in the afternoon which will have you in France in the early evening. Connect to Paris, stay over night, and then get the train direct from Paris to Barcelona on Sunday. Alternatively, get the sleeper from Pris to Barcelona on Saturday night or Sunday night if you don't have to be bright eyed & bushy tailed first thing Monday morning. There are a couple of direct trains during the day on Sunday - SNCF have 1st class tickets for that weekend for €99, which is pretty good in my books.

z

[edit] the Paris-Barcelona sleeper doesn't run any more, but the man in seat 61 has more details of good options.

zagmund

So, what route did you settle on in the end?

z

toastedpickles

zagmund wrote: »

So, what route did you settle on in the end?

z

Still waiting to go! doesn't seem to be happening though as theres an "issue" we've been told

JJJJNR

Thumb a lift.