A train to Spain?

[BeauDeau]

After a cloudy Brittany holiday, we are after some more sunshine for the holiday next year. We have also discovered that somewhere with more activities / places of interest for teens is also essential.

We have done many eurocamp type holidays and would definitely consider doing that again. If anyone can recommend places to stay, that would be fantastic.

We are thinking about Eurostar to Paris and then train through France to either southern France or northern Spain. Would it be cheaper to fly?

We will be travelling with two teens and an 8 year old.

Thank you

Not sure about the best way to get there, but we went to Northern Spain in Easter and it was not hot! About the same as the UK. It was Asturias - one of the loveliest places we've ever been too, but not a place to go if you want guaranteed sunshine (we didn't mind about that).

If by northern Spain you mean the Costa Dorado/Costa Brava area, then that will mostly be warmer than France or UK. Also plenty of cheap flights to Girona or Barcelona and lots of Eurocamp type places.

I suspect that it will usually be cheaper to fly. Depends on the deal on the train and the deal on the plane.

If you get a great deal on the train, you might be able to get it cheaper than flying, but as you can get flights to Spain from about £50 return I would be very surprised if you can match that on the train, but sometimes flights cost more, and you have to pay for luggage on planes, which will be free on trains, so might be a factor.

Or any chance of driving? Takes a couple of days each way, but is an adventure in itself.

If you're looking at a family of 5 in peak time and get a cheap deal on the Dover to Calais ferry and break the journey in central France in a cheapy motel type place, that might be cheaper than 5 flights plus car hire?

Thank you all.

I was really keen to drive and break the journey up on our way through France. I was looking at going to Italy at that point.... until I remembered that driving far with my 3 kids/teens in the back isn't always great fun 🤦‍♀️😬 That's when I started to explore other options that might be more fun.

I have heard the Spanish sites can be quite noisy - not sure if that is true or any different from French sites - anyone know?

Well the Spanish can be quite noisy and generally stay up later than families with young children from the UK, so if there's lots of Spaniards on site, it could be noisier.

For all things train travel...

Train guru

Why not get the ferry to Bilbao and then drive back up through the Pyrenees (amazing mountain bike trails in the ski resorts)
Carcasonne (the history round there is fab for gory minded teens)
Bordeaux - dune du pilat and coypu in the river
Nantes - pretty whacky museums
Bayeux - WW2 and the tapestry
and ferry back from Caen

Pippy that is brilliant - thank you 👍

I’ve been to Asturias by boat from Plymouth. Nice civilised way of getting there. I’ve also taken the train all the way to southern Spain and that was definitely more expensive than flying.
I found the campsites in Asturias really filled up with Spaniards after the 1st of August but were quieter before then.

My parents used to have a motor home and travelled to Europe a bit. They always commented how noisy the Spanish tended to be on sites. Because of the siesta/late evening meal they are up later playing music and conversing loudly.

I was coming on to recommend Seat 61 as well - I used it to plan our summer holiday to Norway this year, which was train + ferry. (My top tip would be don't use German trains, but this shouldn't be an issue between the UK and Spain!).

We take the train to Spain. Eurostar to Paris Gard de Nord then change to Gare de Lyon for the TVG to the south of France - 5 hours to Perpignan!! If you hire a car there, it takes less than an hour to drive over the border to Spain.

But there are plenty of beautiful places to stay in the south of France too, north of the Spanish border - Collioure, Argeles sur Mer, St-Cyprien, etc.

The train isn't cheap but I hate flying so it works for us. The TGVs are very civilised and comfortable too. And it takes much less time than driving through France - they go at up to 300km/h.