Lyon to Barcelona

Would like to get a taste of the french countryside and so I%26#39;m trying to plan a trip from Paris to Barcelona with a stopover in Lyon. Anyone know how to get from Lyon to Barcelona? Is it easy to do? How long would it take? And how much? Any info or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I couldn%26#39;t figure out how to navigate the eurorail website that well.

Thanks.

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Lyon to Barcelona is a fairly easy trip by train, but not quick. There are no direct trains. At a minimum you would have to change trains at least once, in Montpellier. Checking the timetables it looks like the best train from Montpellier is the 15:09 arriving Barcelona Franca at 19:59. Working back from that, the latest train you could take from Lyon would be the 13:07 arriving Montpellier at 14:57. That leaves you with a pretty tight connection. There are several earlier trains from Lyon that would work, allowing you to get some lunch in Montpellier. Another option would be to break the journey with an overnight in Montpellier, very much worth visiting.

The cost will depend greatly on exactly when you are travelling. I just ran a check on the SNCF (French rail) web site voyages-sncf.com for a random date in November and was finding non-refundable advance purchase fares of ~€80 in second class and ~€112 in first.

If you wanted to price this trip on RailEurope you would likely have to do it in two parts, Lyon-Montpellier and Montpellier-Barcelona. If you can figure out how to use the French site you will almost certainly save a very significant amount of money. I believe seat61,com has a %26quot;how-to%26quot; guide for booking tickets on the SNCF site from the US.

One small point: In French Barcelona becomes Barcelone, possibly important if you are researching timetables or fares. The SNCF site can sometimes be a pain about what it considers misspellings.

http://seat61.com/Europe-train-tickets.htm

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/

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Thanks so much for all this great info. So helpful. Cheers!

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The train ride is quite long and tricky as you%26#39;ll have to change twice. But we have now a low cost flight from Lyon, that is far better (cheaper as the train according to your dates and how long in advance you buy your ticket).

Have a look:

http://easyjet.com

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Actually there is no need to change twice. There is at least one direct Corail train daily between Montpellier and Barcelona. It is certainly true that the flight would be quicker and likely a few €uros cheaper, but the OP wouldn%26#39;t get to see much of the countryside from the plane...

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You may also consider an option to go to Barcelona by bus. There is a Euroline bus, which departs from Lyon every evening at 21.15 and arrives in Barcelona early in the morning. The price is 64 euros. You may choose a ticket here - http://www.eurolines.fr/

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I second only-lyon. I flew Lyon-Barcelona last year for 70 euros/rt.