Barcelona-Perpignan

[Stonesourscotty]

Hi Between the 16th-20th August i shall be watching Wigan Rugby away at Catalans but staying in Barcelona is there railways between the two cities?? if so i hope a few questions can be answered?
Few Questions...

Is it is Direct Service?
what are the Fares like?
What kind of frequency?
Quality of service offered between these cities? Eg Comparable to Uk TOC's
Any Form of Catering?(if not where can i source Spanish cider lol)
Is there any kind of Ranger style tickets offered for regular travel? eg travelling three out of five days between the two cities?
Any kind of Border Crossing or notable things on the lines?
Thanks for any help offered.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Voyages-sncf.com answers some (but not all) of these questions.

Doing a search for mid-January (out on Thurs 17 Jan, back Tues 22 Jan) suggests that there are only two trains a day between Barcelona and Perpignan (one direct, and one with a change), and three in the other direction (one direct, and two with changes)


morning train
0816 depart Barcelona Sants
1000 arrive Figueres Vilafant
-----
1020 depart Figueres Vilafant
1044 arrive Perpignan

Fares (all in Euros)
32.60 TGV Premi's (ie advance) 2nd class ticket (limited availability)
34.60 TGV Premi's (ie advance) 1st class ticket (limited availability)
35.40 Loisir/Economica fare 2nd class (can be exchanged before departure for 10% fee)
41.70 Flexible fare 2nd class (can be exchanged before departure free of charge)

AND
afternoon train
1642 depart Barcelona Sants
1938 arrive Perpignan (direct)
fares
39.00 normal adult 2nd class ticket (exhangeable free of charge)
50.00 normal adult 1st class ticket (exchangeable free of charge)

IN the other direction, the trains are

0858 depart Perpignan
1148 arrive Barcelona Sants

1216 depart Perpignan
1241 arrive Figueres Vilafant
----
1303 depart Figueres Vilafant
1446 arrive Barcelona Sants

1916 depart Perpignan
1940 arrive Figueres Vilafant
----
1956 depart Figueres Vilafant
2145 arrive Barcelona Sants

(the fare options are similar to the outbound ones: with notably fewer ticketing options on the direct trains)

Conceivably the summer timetable could offer more trains, but I'm not really sure. I wonder if the Man in Seat 61 website might have more info - I've not looked.


www.Voyages-sncf.com is probably the best of the French rail ticketing websites to look at (and to buy tickets from): (www.tgv-europe.com only listed the direct trains; and www.raileurope.co.uk is generally less useful. The Spanish site www.renfe.es doesn't seem to sell cross-border tickets).

The direct TGV services would presumably have a cafe/bar, of pretty reasonable quality and fairly reasonable prices. And of course TGVs are pretty decent trains - although it must be admitted that the refurbished ones are quite a bit more pleasant than the unrefurbished ones.

 

[Bald Rick]

You're in luck.

The new High Speed line from Barcelona to Perpignan is opening this April. Testing on the tunnel under Barcelona started last week:

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/.../view/high-speed-opening-dates-confirmed.html

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/test-runs-start-under-barcelona.html

No firm details on services yet, as SNCF / RENFE being a bit cagey about it in public, especially as the line's opening has been delayed a number of times. However you can expect several direct trains daily between Perpignan and Barcelona - perhaps hourly at some times (my guess). Journey time approx 1 hour.

 

[30907]

There are also local trains changing at Port Bou - very scenic but they take ages.

www.seat61.com is the place to look for updates on the TGV but APEX type tickets will almost certainly be your best bet.