Relax with a glass of red at a 1st class upper deck table for 2 on a TGV Duplex from Paris to Barcelona.  Speed along the Rhone Valley at 186mph past pretty French villages, watch for the flamingos on the étangs (lakes) in the South of France with glimpses of the Mediterranean.  Skirt the Pyrenees to arrive in central Barcelona, 6h25 from Paris.  Flying takes 4-5 disjointed hours with 10 times the CO2 emissions.  See the photos...  Watch the video... Mt Canigou (2,784m) in the Pyrenees is clearly visible on your right as your train leaves Perpignan & heads into Spain...

Paris to Barcelona from €59...   Watch the video!

On 15 December 2013, direct double-decker TGV Duplex high-speed trains started running from Paris Gare de Lyon to Figueres, Girona & Barcelona at up to 200mph.  Paris to Barcelona centre to centre in around 6h25, compared to almost 5 hours by air once ground transportation, check-in time and airport security are included.  Usually 2 trains per day, this increases to 4 trains a day in summer.  Forget flying, chill out with a glass or two of red wine and enjoy the ride along the scenic Rhone Valley, watch for the flocks of flamingos on the étangs (lakes) in the south of France, and glimpse the coast and the Pyrenees before arriving in the centre of Barcelona...

  Paris-Barcelona TGV timetable

  How much does it cost? 

  How to buy tickets

  What's the train like?

  What's the journey like?

  Travel tips - definitely read these!

  Overnight trains between Paris & Barcelona

  Suggested hotels in Barcelona near the station or Old Quarter

  Train travel in Spain, a beginner's guide

  European train travel general information:  Luggage, dogs, bikes etc.

Train times...

Read downwards, each column is a train you can take.

* = This train will run from 5 July 2015 to 30 August 2015.

** = This train will run from 30 March to 30 August 2015.

Always check train times when you book.

Barcelona Sants station:  Map of Barcelona showing location of railway station.

Figueres Vilafant station is 5 kilometres from Figueres city centre, taxis available.

How much does it cost?

Cheap fares = Prems or Leisure fares = Book in advance, price varies like air fares, limited or no refunds or changes.

Full-price = Refundable and flexible.  There are no senior or youth reductions.

Child fare = Child 4-11 years, use an adult special fare if cheaper, as it often is. Children under 4 free.

How to buy tickets...

• When do bookings open?  Bookings for this route should usually open 120 days before departure (extended from 92 days in December 2014), although bookings for dates immediately after the timetable changes in mid-June & mid-December often open late, perhaps as little as 60 days ahead.  In addition, they haven't always maintained the 92/120 days with these trains.  I have also seen bookings open further ahead on the Spanish system (used by www.loco2.com to book these trains) than on the French system (used by the other sites mentioned below) so try both!

• Which website should you use to buy tickets?  You can buy Paris-Barcelona TGV tickets online at these websites, they all charge similar prices but some add a booking fee, some don't and some sites offer seating options, some allocate your seat.  They all issue print-at-home or collect-at-station tickets.

    www.loco2.com - Recommended site.  You can use it wherever you live, overseas cards accepted, no booking fee, print-at-home tickets.  Shows your seat numbers before you confirm and pay, any seat number greater than 60 is upper deck.  Prices in UK pounds. 

    www.capitainetrain.com - Recommended site.  You can use it wherever you live, overseas cards accepted, no booking fee, it offers a choice of upper or lower deck seats & seating types.  Prices in euros.  See the video tutorial. 

    www.raileurope.com for residents of the USA or Canada, a small booking fee is charged, seats are allocated with no choice.

    www.raileurope-world.com for residents of Canada, Australia, NZ, Asia, Africa or South America, small booking fee, seats are allocated with no choice.

    uk.voyages-sncf.com (formerly www.raileurope.co.uk) for residents of the UK, no booking fee, seats are allocated with no choice.

• To buy tickets by phone in the UK, call International Rail on 0844 248 248 3, lines open 09:00-17:00 Monday-Friday.

• Click here for TGV Duplex seat numbering plans.  Seat numbers 11-58 = lower deck, seats 61-128 = upper deck.  Car 1 (= car 11 in the second TGV unit on a 2-unit train) is usually at the Paris end of the train, although this can't be 100% guaranteed as the unit could enter service either way round.

• SAVE UP TO 47% BY SPLIT-TICKETING AT PERPIGNAN!  See the video tutorial.  In 2014 I didn't see many €59 fares from Paris to Barcelona, the fare shown was often over €100.  in 2015 there seem to be more cheap tickets available.  But if you only see expensive prices on your date of travel, you can often save money by buying separate Paris-Perpignan and Perpignan-Barcelona tickets for travel on the same train.  Not always, but it can be worth checking.

  For example, on one date I picked in 2014, Paris-Barcelona cost €170, when splitting the ticket at Perpignan cost €60 for Paris-Perpignan + €29 for Perpignan-Barcelona = €89 on exactly the same train, a 47% saving.  On another date, €111 Paris-Barcelona became €39 Paris-Perpignan + €29 Perpignan-Barcelona = €68 when the booking was split.

  You'll need to switch seats at Perpignan of course, as you are unlikely to be given the same seat for both parts of the trip.  Note that these trains often consist of two 8-car TGV units coupled together between Paris & Perpignan, each with a different train number, only one of which runs beyond Perpignan to/from Barcelona (usually with car numbers 11-18), the other unit only operates between Paris & Perpignan (usually with car numbers 1-8).  If you're lucky your Paris-Perpignan seats will be in the Paris-Barcelona unit, and you can simply walk down the train any time to your new seats, but if you get Paris-Perpignan seats with a different train number you'll need to nip out onto the platform when the train arrives at Perpignan, walk forward to the front TGV unit and re-board, you won't be able to walk through the train.

  Do engage brain and think through the ticket delivery options though - if you get print-at-home tickets, no problem, but if you get a collect-at-station ticket remember that you cannot collect it in Barcelona as that's in Spain not France and you won't have time to fiddle with the French ticket machines in the three minute stop at Perpignan, so you should collect all tickets in Paris if going south, and collect a northbound Perpignan-Paris ticket in Paris as you pass through on your outward journey.

• Coming from London, Brussels, Cologne or Amsterdam?  You can buy connecting Eurostar tickets between London & Paris at www.eurostar.com.  Connecting Thalys tickets between Amsterdam, Cologne, Brussels & Paris can be bought at www.b-europe.com.

• How to buy onward train tickets within Spain:  Onward trains from Barcelona to Madrid, Valencia, Alicante, Granada, Seville & Malaga can be booked at the Spanish Railways website www.renfe.com or if you have any payment problems, www.raileurope-world.com instead, as they have a link to Renfe's system, same prices and same print-at-home tickets but with a small €4 fee.

What's the train like?          Watch the video

• The Paris to Barcelona trains are impressive TGV Duplex double-decker high-speed trains.  They operate at up to 186mph (300km/h) on the Sud-Est high-speed line between Paris and Nimes, and up to 199mph (320km/h) on the new high-speed line between Perpignan and Barcelona.

• You board the train at the lower level through a wide sliding external door into a small entrance area at one end of the lower deck.  Here, there's a toilet and the door into the lower deck seating area.  A wide, short & easy flight of stairs leads from the entrance area to a landing at one end of the upper deck, with an upstairs toilet and a door to the upstairs seating area.  You walk along the train from car to car at the upper level.  There are luggage racks both upstairs and downstairs, at the coach ends and between the seats.  Seat numbering plan for the Paris-Barcelona TGV Duplex here.

• There are power sockets for laptops and mobiles at every seat and there are baby-changing facilities and designated spaces for passengers in wheelchairs.

• There's a cafe-bar serving drinks, snacks & light meals broadly similar to this sample menu from another French TGV, or you're free to bring your own food & wine along for the journey. 

• When booking, you can choose a seat on either upper or lower decks if you use either www.capitainetrain.com or www.loco2.com or book by phone, but not if you book at any of the Rail Europe sites which assign your seat.  If you have problems with stairs or very heavy luggage, the lower deck might be best.  But for the best views (over the top of the occasional sound barrier along the high speed lines!), definitely choose an upper deck seat.  For couples in first class, an upper deck club duo face-to-face table-for-two is easily the best option, selectable at www.capitainetrain.com.

TGV Duplex at Paris Gare de Lyon. These 200 mph double-deckers link Paris with Barcelona.  Watch TGV Duplex video.		2nd class table for 4 on TGV Duplex upper deck...

The cafe-bar on the upper deck in car 4, serving tea, coffee, soft drinks, wine, beer, snacks & microwave-style hot dishes....		2nd class seats, this is upper deck seating.  There's a mix or tables for 4 and unidirectional seating.

1st class seats on the upper deck, with a club duo on the left, a club quatre on the right.		A TGV Duplex at Barcelona Sants.  The red near the door indicates 1st class, pale green indicates 2nd class.

The stairs to the upper deck. Just 9 steps, wide, shallow with double handrails.  No problem!		Power sockets:  All seats in both classes have power sockets, 2-pin 230v.		Luggage racks.  You take your bags on board with you and place them on the racks.  There are racks both upstairs and downstairs, both at the car ends and (as here) between the seats.

What's the journey like?

1.  Paris Gare de Lyon & the Train Bleu restaurant...   The train to Barcelona leaves from the magnificent Gare de Lyon in central Paris.  I recommend booking an earlier Eurostar and having lunch or at least a drink in the bar at the wonderful Train Bleu restaurant (pictured above right) inside the Gare de Lyon before catching your train to Spain.

2.  The Rhone Valley...  The train soon joins the high-speed line and accelerates smoothly to 186mph through the Paris suburbs, soon emerging into open country.  The train powers down the rural Rhone Valley, past pretty French villages with picturesque churches and the occasional castle.  On a clear day you can see the snow-capped French Alps in the far distance to the left, and the dark line of the Massif central mountains on the far side of the valley to the right.

3.  Béziers...  The train calls at Nimes and Montpelier, then passes non-stop through Béziers station.  As the train crosses the River Orb just west of the station, look right for a great view of Béziers' 13th century cathedral.  Above left, lunch from the cafe-bar, a magret de canard avec pommes de terre and some red wine from the cafe-bar.  By all means bring your own picnic and bottle of wine!

4.  The Mediterranean coast...  Between Montpellier & Perpignan the train skirts the glistening Mediterranean coastline with deserted beaches & marshland...		5.  Vineyards.  The train passes countless vineyards.  Glass o' red from the bar car, anyone?

6.  Étangs & flamingos...  The train passes numerous étangs (lakes), where flocks of flamingos stand one-legged in the shallows.

7. The Fort de Salses...  Just before Perpignan, the train passes by the impressive Fort de Salses on the right, a 15th-century Catalan fortress captured in 1642 and French-held ever since, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_de_Salses.

8.  Mt Canigou & the Pyrenees...  One of the highest peaks in the mighty Pyrenees, the 2,784m (9,137 feet) high Mt Canigou dominates the skyline on the right all the way from Perpignan to Girona, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canigou.

9.  Barcelona Sants station...  A modern station in central Barcelona, with plenty of taxis, and a metro to all parts of Barcelona.  There are left luggage lockers (consigna) and a Sala Club 1st class lounge which you can use if you have a 1st class ticket for the TGV for up to 2 hours before it departs, although not on arrival.  More information about Barcelona Sants. X-ray check when boarding:  At Spanish stations including Barcelona Sants, there's a quick X-ray check of all baggage before you can go onto the high-speed platforms, which includes boarding a northbound TGV to France.  The photo above left shows the X-ray machines at the access point to platforms 1-6 at Barcelona Sants.  There are no metal detectors, so you can carry what you like on your person, it's only your baggage that's checked.  Make sure that any (perfectly legal) penknives, corkscrews etc are in your pockets not your baggage so don't get scanned, to avoid a jobsworth refusing to allow them on, as happened to one passenger.  There is no such check at any French station, where there is free & easy access to the train.  More information about Barcelona Sants station.

Travel tips...

• The overnight Elipsos trainhotels between Paris & Barcelona, and Paris & Madrid, were sadly discontinued from 15 December 2013.  However, it's still possible to travel overnight between Paris and Barcelona in either direction, using a French Intercité de Nuit couchette train between Paris and either Perpignan or Latour de Carol, and a connecting daytime train to or from Barcelona. 

• Spending the night on an overnight train only saves a couple of hours over taking a morning TGV, as the 07:15 TGV from Paris arrives in Barcelona around 13:30, and both the following overnight options arrive around 11:30.  But it saves a hotel bill and makes an interesting contrast to the TGV journey - and it can also be cheaper if you can't find any cheap fares for the TGV!

• The route via Latour (option 2 below) crosses the Pyrenees and is very scenic, both for the last hour of the journey south to Latour (at least in summer, when it's light) and between Latour and Barcelona.

• Option 1:  Use the overnight Intercité de Nuit couchette train between Paris Austerlitz & Perpignan, booked online at www.loco2.com. Have breakfast in Perpignan.  Then take the first TGV of the day from Perpignan to Barcelona Sants, also booked in advance at www.loco2.com.  You can leave Paris around 22:00 and arrive in Barcelona around 11:30.  Northbound, you can leave Barcelona Sants around 18:25 and arrive Paris around 07:30, you'll find exact times in either direction in this section on the London to Spain page.

• Option 2, a scenic ride through the Pyrenees:  Use the overnight Intercité de Nuit couchette train between Paris Austerlitz & Latour de Carol, deep in the Pyrenees, booked online at www.loco2.com.  Then use a Spanish local train between Latour de Carol and Barcelona Sants, no reservation necessary or possible, simply buy this ticket on board the train for around €11.  You can leave Paris around 22:00 and arrive in Barcelona around 11:35.  Northbound, you can leave Barcelona Sants around 15:10 and arrive Paris around 07:30, you'll find exact times in either direction in this section on the London to Spain page.  If you have any trouble booking the Paris-Barcelona TGV, or if prices on that route are sky-high, this might be a useful alternative!