Taking the train to Spain

The first time I looked into taking the train to Spain for a family holiday, despite having read up what to do including the ever-reliable seat61.com, I still ended up booking a flight. With my conscience still nagging me, I thought I’d take another look at the different options, try them out and see the pros and cons of each. What I didn’t expect to find was how staying grounded and using public transport would transform the way I see Spain and France.

Slowing down, sitting on benches at railway stations, talking to people has made me feel more connected to both countries and a way that decades of flying passed me by.

If planes could magically become sustainable (it really isn’t going to happen any time soon), would I fly again? Of course I would - I love flying. I also love fast food but I only eat it occasionally.

So what have I learned?

How long, how much, how easy?

Feeling put off? That’s just how I felt, but it’s well worth persisting, because there are gems to be found.

Eurostar

I’ve tried, ferries, coaches and even a sailing boat, but really nothing beats catching a Eurostar. In the same way, the Orient Express was the byword for luxury travel to exotic places, so Eurostar encapsulates a more democratic and urbane step into Europe.

At 2 hours 24 minutes, the journey time from St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord feels like a perfect length for a journey of substance. I’ve probably been on around 20 journeys with Eurostar, and it’s still a firm favourite.

But it isn’t perfect.

Thanks in part to security checks but mostly to the new border controls, you need to allow 90 minutes checking in at St Pancras terminal, and up to 2 hours on the way back checking in at Gare du Nord.

It’s also running close to capacity at peak times, with passenger numbers limited by post-Brexit passport controls.

You can still get cheap tickets (I’d say £78 for a return to Paris is pretty cheap) using the Eurostar cheap fare finder. However, you need to book well in advance and/or book a less popular slot, which could impact on your connections. You may save on the price of the ticket but need to overnight in London or Paris…

Lille is an alternative to Paris as a place to change trains when heading to the south of France, but I’ve only found it useful heading for the Alps.

Crossing Paris

Fastest routes

There are high speed lines all the way down from London to Seville and Malaga*, so taking a 200mph train in place of a 500mph plane seems like the most natural swap - why not just treat it as a long-haul flight?

Cards on the table - I’m not a fan of taking them all the way to Spain, but I’ll try not to influence you on this. You decide for yourself.

Here are the two high-speed routes to Spain, an easterly route to Barcelona and a westerly route to Hendaye/Irun which is a short hop from San Sebastian.

*actually there are a couple of stretches in southern France that aren’t high speed, but you get the idea.

London - Paris - Barcelona

Incidentally, the train calls at Figueres an hour before arriving in Barca and Girona half an hour later - you might prefer these as destinations - I do.

So, it’s slower than catching a flight, but still within touching distance.

However, it comes with a hitch. There are just two (or three in peak season) trains a day from Paris to Barcelona, so trains are often full or expensive.

So, no trains tomorrow or the day after, but you can travel in two day’s time…

By the way, I also looked at buying a flight for the same day and time - no problem there were several flights costing around £150 - £230

Why aren’t there more trains? Good question…

London - Paris - Hendaye - San Sebastian

The other high speed route to Spain is down the west coast to sophisticated San Sebastian and it’s perfectly doable in a day. In fact for this route, the train competes with plane both on price and speed as there are no direct flights.

There are trains every two hours from Paris Montparnasse down to the border town of Hendaye taking just under 5 hours. Then it’s just a short hop on the Euskotren to San Sebastian. Trains run every half hour until 11pm and take just over half an hour.

In terms of availability and price trains in peak season are often full and remaining seats can be over 100 Euros.

Night trains

Now we are getting into the sweet spot for long distance train travel. The idea of hopping on a train in the evening and waking up with the scenery passing by in some distant destination is where the modal shift for holiday makers and business travellers could come.

Unfortunately, most rail companies don’t seem to see it like that. They don’t make money from horizontal people and have been cutting night trains to the bare minimum. If you want to join a movement to get more night trains in service, check out Back on Track.

However there are a handful of Intercites de Nuits services running through France, which have four and six berth couchettes. Think of it as a hostel on rails.

Night train to Latour-de-Carol (for Barcelona)

I love this route. It leaves from Gare d’Austerlitz late in the evening and arrives at the French/Spanish border in the Pyrenees. From there it’s a three hour local train down to Barcelona.

What’s Latour-de-Carol like? It’s a curiously big station for the twin villages of Entveitg and Latour-de-Carol and if you’re feeling energetic and inspired by the mountain air, you can walk the 5km across the border to the next station along of Puigcerda in Spain. I’ve done the walk a couple of times and it’s a nice way to bag some bragging rights as a Pyrenees traverser. Once on the train, there are also some places well worth hopping off like Ripoll and Vic (and Puigcerda).

It can also be pretty cheap when booking in advance, with couchettes for around €20-40. You can find out more about what it’s like to go on night trains here. and you can see some more on this route here.

Night train to Cerbère

Like the Latour-de-Carol train this will take you to the Spanish border, but this time on the coast. It’s actually the same train that splits, heading off to the coast and the Côte Vermeille. The last stop is at the border town of Cerbère.

From there you can pootle to Barcelona on a local (R11) train which takes around 3 hours. There are plenty of places to hop off the train en-route such as Portbou, Llanca, Figueres and Girona.

My main grumble with this route is it doesn’t run every day all year round.

Night train to Hendaye

If you fancy heading to Spain down the west side of France you could catch a night train to Hendaye during the summer months.

Other alternatives

If you aren’t a hurry to get to Spain, overnighting in southern France opens up a whole new set of options. Here are just a few that I’ve explored.

Overnight in Nimes or Avignon

By spending a night in Nimes or Avignon, you would be free to continue by TGV or switch to slower regional trains (TER) to the Spanish border and which you don’t need to book months in advance to pay a fair price. You can just turn up and hop on. The freedom to travel at a pace to suit you and stop wherever you fancy. You could change your plans last minute in response to the weather or whether you made some new friends!

You may even choose to hop off at another place or two on the way south on either side of the border. Here are some ideas. The midi is your oyster!

Overnight in Bordeaux or Bayonne

Travelling down the west side of France towards San Sebastian means being able to break your journey at Bordeaux, Bayonne, Biarritz, Saint Jean de Luz, or Hendaye itself. You can walk across the border to workaday Irun or around the bay to the neat resort of Honarribia.

Breaking your journey in Bayonne (or one of the coastal resorts further down) also means you could switch to a coach to take you to San Sebastian and beyond.

Paris - Lourdes - Bayonne - San Sebastian

This is a bit more left-field and maybe the sort of thing you might explore when the prices are high on the other options. Taking a night train down to Lourdes means you have the whole day in front of you to head onwards to Spain via Bayonne. Of course you might get side-tracked by the Pyrenees or Our Lady…

Paris to Pamplona via Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

This route into Spain is my current favourite. Take a train down to Bayonne and then change trains onto the single track to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, the start of the Camino de Santiago. From here, pilgrims set out on their 800km walk to Santiago de Compostela. There’s one bus a day in high season which wends its way along lush tree-clad hills of the Navarrese stretch of the Pyrenees. Of course, you could walk it instead…

Portsmouth/Plymouth - Santander ferry

This route makes me grumpy. Why? Because when I last tried to book a crossing without a vehicle, it wouldn’t let me. Apparently it’s a known issue and there are workarounds, but I can’t offer an opinion on this route. If you want to have a look for yourself, here’s the link.

By coach

My first trip to Spain in the early 80’s was by coach. As a kid excited to be going abroad, I didn’t bat an eyelid at the 17 hour journey. I’m not sure I’d feel quite the same now and stick to using coaches as a way of plugging gaps and reaching places where trains don’t make sense or are just too pricey.

London to Paris takes 8-9 hours and costs £30-40. Paris to Barcelona is a character-building 12-15 hours and can also cost £30-40, so is becomes a serious option when the pennies are tight.

Where coaches have come in to their own for me has been the last leg of getting into and around Spain. I’ve also found them to be pretty comfortable and often come with Wi-Fi. In some cases I prefer them. For example, I’d rather go by coach from San Sebastian to Tolosa and I’d probably also choose it for San Sebastian to Pamplona, especially if I had heavy luggage that I had to lug up the hill from the station.

The main issue is information. What services are running when?

I’ve found the Alsa app pretty useful for checking a service is actually running and booking tickets..

Using the Dover - Calais ferry

If you are coming from Kent this may be a reasonable option, particularly if you’re happy to take your time and don’t feel strongly about the P&O dismissal controversy. P&O offer foot passenger crossings for around £30 and taking 90 minutes. On the Calais side, a shuttle bus takes you to the railway station, from which you can hop to Lille in just over an hour or Paris in 3 hours.

By sailing boat

In September 2022, I took a place on a pilot scheme using a sailing boat to cross the English Channel. It was a memorable experience which I would urge everyone to try if and when it is up and running, but allow extra time to make onward connections. You can find out more about it here.