Wanted to avoid airports and do something a bit more interesting for our summer holidays, so we're planning to get the train down to southern Spain. Thinking Paris-Barcelona-Seville with a week or so on the beach somewhere that side.
Obviously The man in Seat 61 is the go-to, and there's a good break down of options on there. But I wondered if anyone has any top tips to share. There's four of us travelling, and I'm erring on the side of pre-booking most of it ahead of time (particularly the Manchester - London bit given the cost of that!). But also plan to look at interrail to see if there is a more flexible way to do it. Started off with booking the eurostar to-from Paris.
Please share your tales of train travel on the continent, and things we should consider/avoid!
To get to Seville you'll almost certainly have to pass through Madrid, and the best way to do that is to get the Ave high speed train from Barcelona to Madrid, then get another Ave Madrid-Seville. (Although Aves are a fair bit more expensive than the slower trains). It's worth spending a night in Madrid as summer nights in Madrid are hard to beat.
Deutsche bahn website is good for planning. sort of a european trainline but better. We've used one country eurail tickets a few times now, gets you 2 or 3 trips in one country over the space of a month. Maybe useful if you're cosidering moving between several bases in one country. Can't help with the interrail as I haven't used them. Trains over there are generally a nicer experience than here, so enjoy. I find the looking out of the window at interesting things all day quite tiring, which suprised me.
Make sure you have a speedo app to see how fast the train is going.
We had a couple of lovely crossings on the Plymouth Santander ferry to add another option in. Slept well in a quiet cabin, whale and dolphin watched with a cuppa in hand.
There are ferries from Plymouth and Portsmouth.
Others had lumpier experiences I believe.
This sounds interesting...I've a vague idea of a backpacking/train holiday from Scotland to south France and back - the idea being spending a day in a location and an overnight train to the next location.
No idea the route or anything, but I'll need to start doing some digging...this has just got me going from idle musings to having a bit more of a think about it.
are you planning a flight home?
I've never managed to do trains in spain, travelled all over europe by train, but mainly to take advantage of cheap flights, i'd recommend plenty of snack/supplies, water/beer, tissues etc.
have you priced it up? its good to be flexible but it can also be a real pain. full trains, missed trains etc. no seats togeather etc.
are the group/kids on board with this idea, if they see it as fun, then it will be.
for me the journey is as much the holiday.. have fun
one of my favoruite journeys was belgrade to bar (montenegro) overnight, knackered old smelly train, long drop toilets, and a wake up at podgorica by border control banging on door with rifle butts, shouting
western europe should be easier
As you will be able to take a bit more luggage than on a flight, it may be worth considering upgrading to 'Standard Premier' on the Euro star, this included a flight style meal (but nicer food), this gives more leg room, possibly seating for 4 with a table, room to hang coats and a larger luggage area. We did this recently, we also managed to get reasonably priced 1st class seats on Paris to Cluses leg of our rail trip to the Alps (up stairs on the double decker train).
On our return journey it definitely wasn't as comfortable being in cattle class and little room to store luggage.
Deutsche bahn website is good for planning.
I was going to suggest the Belgian version, but yeah proper European integration is awesome. To get back from Verona by train we used Italian, German, Belgian, Eurostar and 'British rail'. All the pre-purchased tickets were stored on the Belgian rail phone app. Well apart from the final London to Crewe leg, but in the UK we can't even integrate our own services properly.
To get to Seville you’ll almost certainly have to pass through Madrid, and the best way to do that is to get the Ave high speed train from Barcelona to Madrid, then get another Ave Madrid-Seville. (Although Aves are a fair bit more expensive than the slower trains). It’s worth spending a night in Madrid as summer nights in Madrid are hard to beat.
Did Cadiz - Seville - Madrid last year by train and it was great. The Ave train was excellent - quick and comfy. Loved both Seville and Madrid, so much to see and do there.
I’m erring on the side of pre-booking most of it ahead of time (particularly the Manchester – London bit given the cost of that!)
We prebooked lon Stockport - London segment (along with the other parts of course) and then there was a strike so we couldn't bloody get to That London by train (though the rest of the trip was excellent). Ended up driving to That London and parking on someone's driveway in Finchley thanks to JustPark.com
Rather than book the Eurostar separately it used to work that if you book with Rail Europe you could book your ticket right through France including the RER to change stations in Paris. Their system just see Eurostar as a TGV connection.
Also if you have a already booked your Eurostar/TGV ticket you can buy a ticket to 'London International ' which will get you to St. Pancreas cheaper as it is a connecting ticket. Also if your Eurostar home is late and you miss the connection in London in theory you can get the following train as it makes it a connecting journey.
The catch is you can only but the tickets in person at a railway station window with a real person and have to show your pre-booked Eurostar ticket.
I used it in June when travelling from NE England to Brussels for work and it saved a good bit. I think man in seat 61 explains it more thoroughly.
Watching with interest as we're planning to take trains to Florence in May, with 2 or 3 stops en route.
Great, lots to go on there, ta.
Kids and Mrs are up for it, we've done a train from Turkey to Austria which was mega basic but good fun.
Definitely looking forward to Seville, been thinking about Barcelona but hadn't thought about Madrid,that would be nice.
We caught the train from Malaga to Seville which was rather good.
In fact thinking about it we've done quite a bit of foreign train rides. Sri Lanka was good, the night train in Vietnam was a bit interesting. Going to sleep with 2 guys in the compartment, waking up and still 2 guys, but different guys!
Your trip sounds great, very jealous.
Post uni I went to Madrid on the train via Paris - sleeper to Nice (was nice) then Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastian, Santiago, down through Portugal then back to Madrid. I think I went to Granada too.
The trains were great, but personally I wouldn't go to central Spain in July or August again; it was too hot in the daytime to do much. Just checked and Seville can get up to early 40s.
Mainly on the train and then bus, will that do?
You've booked Paris - then take trains to Hendaye. From there you could continue by train but my suggestion is the Alsa bus that runs along the northern Spanish coast. It's about 10°C cooler than Madrid and you find lots of people from Madrid who have escaped the heat themselves. St Sebastien, Zarautz, Getaria... Bilbao, Castro Urdiales, Comillas... Santander, Llanes... Gijon etc. all the way to Compostelle
There's also a Flix bus from Bayonne to Burgos and on to Portugal.
I've walked along it from home (in France) to Compostelle twice, the best of Spain IMO.
Go something slower than the high speed and go 1st class. Cava and nibbles complementary.
If you have to change at french border there may be checks. Almost missed a train to Marseille from benicassim due to armed passport checks
Brilliant go for it. I plan to cycle to Spain but have got a bit lazy, 2.5 hour flight v 10 days cycling.
Alsa buses in Spain are cheap as chips if booked in advance. I just paid 10 euros return Valencia to Barcelona, 4 hour journey.
I ve had a few visitors travel by train UK to Spain, as they didn't like flying. I d break the journey up and stay in the chanegover cities.
Just bumping this for the weekend. Thanks for the ideas so far.
We've been on a couple of train based holidays recently. Getting boat from Hull to Rotterdam then train round Germany, and shorter trip Newcastle to Amsterdam and train round Netherlands.
I find it a relaxing way to travel - less hassle than driving, feels more like a trip than flying. Train tickets easy to buy. Used Deutsche Bahn for Germany trip - not sure what we used for Netherlands, but some online ticketing. Train tickets on InterCity Express trains pretty similar price to the advance discount fares you get on UK trains I reckon. The only train we got that was really busy was one that stopped at an airport (Hamburg?) but emptied after that stop. Local trains cheap and plentiful
On the Germany trip we stayed a couple of days in a few places and then a week in Freiburg im Breisgau as a based for walking/gentele cycling in the Black Forest, getting local trains up into the hills.
It's not really a cheap option. Cheaper than flying with car hire, but more expensive than ferry plus driving. But more fund for me
Almost missed a train to Marseille from benicassim due to armed passport checks
Is 'packing heat' necessary for checks on the border? Things have got rough in the Basque border.
Also where @poolman say ALSA buses think more National Express inter-city rather than the no.36 to Peckham.
Just done a train journey to Berlin.
We used the Omio app. I think it covers all of Europe and includes buses.
We came back from Berlin to Amsterdam, 1st Class, for £70 each.
Have you considered an Interrail pass? Might be cheaper?
I do (well did, pre Covid) a fair bit of travel into Western Europe for work.
+1 for using the DB Navigator app for planning journeys across Europe. And 'live' too .
Can't always buy the tickets if they are cross border (but often can). But for planning it's ace. Miles better for varying searches and options, seeing where the train is actually going via, options to swap or connect to other services etc than the garbage National Rail one we have to put up with in Blighty.
I need to look at Interrail properly I think. It's tempting to just have the one ticket for the whole lot but sounds like it's not quite that simple.
That said, we're looking at a week or so in one place, another week travelling so we can be pretty flexible with the outbound and return route/stops.
If you are going to Barcelona have you thought about Valencia too. Great city and has a beach too. I’ll second the Basque Country option. My favourite place in Europe. Have a think about the smaller places en route too. Segovia is beautiful, as is Cordoba and Toledo. Loads to go at and very jealous.
I have done Malaga - Cordoba - Seville a few times and it's very easy, all booked online and very user friendly. Allow plenty of time as your baggage goes through airport type scanners which can cause a bit of a bottleneck when it's busy.
Their trains are very cheap (if booked in advance) and very nice and clean, sit back and enjoy the scenery when the trains are passing through mountain regions it's pretty nice!
Enjoy!
A night in Tarragona too if you're going down to Valencia. Lots of Roman ruins to look at, Circus, Forum amphitheatre and lots of re-used gravestones in the town centre buildings.
I've got a sleeper from Paris to Nice and then on to Barcelona. I've also flown into Malaga and got a train to Cordoba and Grenada and then a bus into the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Train journeys were all great, bus journeys up mountains are not for me though! I worry that Seville will be a bit hot in the summer for sightseeing (it would be for me)
The trains were great, but personally I wouldn’t go to central Spain in July or August again; it was too hot in the daytime to do much. Just checked and Seville can get up to early 40s.
This is a good point - I like Madrid in the summer as the city empties out a fair bit, and the pace is a lot slower. The nights are excellent - sitting outside having a beer or two until 3 in the morning is wonderful. You wouldn't want to be wandering the streets at midday, which is why I suggested an overnight stay with the nightlife in mind.
Seville is hotter than Madrid, and anyone suggesting Cordoba in summer needs their head examining 🙂
So I'll update my previous comment - head through Madrid (it's pretty much unavoidable if you're travelling from one end of Spain to the other) but go to the coast. Lisbon would be nice, Bilbao and San Sebastian give you the option of a ferry back home, Valencia then a ferry to the Balearics and flight back, or of course the south coast.
We took the train down to San Sebastian last summer. Was the easiest trip I've done in a long time. Stayed in Paris on the way there and back. Which adds to the price.
The regional train service in the Basque country is blummin' amazing.
In July and August there's a night sleeper to Hendaye from Paris. That means you can take Eurostar to Paris early morning then have a day in Paris before catching the night train. It's usually pretty cheap and saves a night in a Paris hotel.
En effet, ce train au départ de Paris-Austerlitz (21 heures 14) est tracé via la ligne POLT (Paris-Orléans-Limoges-Toulouse) avec desserte d’Orléans-Les Aubrais (22 heures 24), de Tarbes (7 heures 20), de Lourdes (7 heures 37), de Pau (8 heures 06), d’Orthez (8 heures 30), de Dax ( heures), de Bayonne (9 heures), de Biarritz (10 heures 10 ) et de Saint-Jean-de-Luz (10 heures 26) avec une arrivée à Hendaye à 10 heures 40.
You can catch the Topo to St Seb or walk to Irun for an Alsa bus. If you get off in Bayonne there's a short walk to the Flix bus stop.
Apparently the SNCF Connect app works well (available in English). Try the Cycle Touring Festival facebook page
We used the rail Europe app for trains in Spain in November.
So glad, it was a great experience. NB: the left luggage tends to be in the near bus stations, not in the train station for some reason.
@bigjohn, Sri Lankan trains are great, love the celebrations for every tunnel and the super cheap catering, that walks every train.
Only downsides I’ve had travelling to Spain on train were if any strikes happen.
Last time I had to fly back as the trains were so fubarred.
With four people I’d probably do the Santander ferry and drive which makes life easier with luggage as you just chuck what you want in the car.
Train strikes and delays on Eurostar tend to be be really grim compared to being under your own steam.
Was on one train which was delayed for hours due to an electrical storm and cancelled Eurostar was problem with the amount of people waiting and lack of seats on a real hot day.
On a good day it’s not bad I used to stay in Paris for a night but tbh your talking around 4 days travel for there and back, it eats up the time and money.
Eurostar and TGVs get you to all but a few places in southern Spain in a day. Play with thetrainline.com app
Guess who lives in a place where it can’t 🙁
luckily we are currently getting one fitted , the only downside is they’ve ripped all the local trains out. Which didn’t go down well with the locals although it’s gonna be great when they run again in ‘26
