Has any body ever Travelled by Train from London to Costa Blanca?

You will have to change trains in Paris and Barcelona. Depending on day and time a ticket from Paris (Gare de Lyon) to Alicante can cost between 29,- and 95,- for a journey of 13 hours.

Waaaay back in the old (1970’s) days ;) my parents would take myself & my 2 brothers on holiday to the Costa Brava. We would get up to London by train, take the train to Dover & catch the ferry to Bologne.

From Bologne, the train - we had the couchettes- went down to the French/ Spanish borders where we got off & waited on the platform,  for what seemed like forever,  whilst they made the adjustments to the rail tracks or something, because the gauge was different.  Back on the train through to Barcelona I think & then bus to our destination.  

It was all part of the holiday for us kids I guess! 

Those were the days - the gauge is still different but trains go through anyway. The hassle at Barcelona also belongs to the past. In Paris busline 65 runs between both stations for as low as 1,90, a Taxi would be somewhat between 9 and 15,-

Hi Killjoy, thank you  for your reply. So it sounds pretty straight forward and not to expensive. Is it like the UK an need to book the tickets some months in advance to get a sensible price. I have done a little bit of research but can only find info about the high speed trains. We would not be so much in a hurry and I wondered if there were slower routes and we would make a trip out of it and may be make a couple over night stay on route. Any further ideas welcome.

Thanks

Mal

Hello Cfell63, sounds like you had a fun time! We also want to make the trip a part of our holiday. So trying to find a nice relaxing and fun route with a few overnight stays on the way.

Mal

Sorry but I'm not familiar with train travel in France. My last trip was some 20 years ago. Slow trains might not be necessarily cheaper. One thing I remember was on weekends you could upgrade to 1st class for just 10,-. Would have to find out.

There’s a great site called Seat61....I think you will find all the info you require there. Enjoy...it sounds like like a lovely trip

Hello Mairead 

Thanks for the tip yes the website certainly looks like it should give us some ideas!

Thanks

Mal 

You’re welcome....I love looking through that site even if I have no travel plans 😃😃