Paris to Barcelona (pre-cruise) or Venice to Paris (post-cruise)?

[eurodl]

35 minutes ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

I have returned to see what the general view of others was.  Lamchops has written out what I would say is the best itinerary.  I have actually looked at the mileage and take back what I said about flying. vs train.  It is the same distance from Paris to Barcelona as the journey we do from Malaga to Barcelona!!  Because the former journey is between two countries it just seems as though it would be further.  Many folk would still feel that you are crazy not to fly, and it will probably be more expensive than flying but it is a personal choice.  

 

To enjoy the trip you will need two weeks in addition to the cruises - but it is completely doable as long as you do not overpack and resist the temptation to keep buying stuff on the way.  

 

Not buying a lot of souvenirs will be the hardest part.  We have a tendency to do that but now that we have downsized we will definitely need to be more selective.

Edited October 21, 2018 by eurodl

[Go-Bucks!]

On 10/21/2018 at 1:02 AM, ollienbertsmum said:

 

Lamchops has written out what I would say is the best itinerary. 

 

I agree, but would just tour around Rome after arriving there then take the TA home.

 

Normandy beach area with or without Bayeux can be done in 2-3 days....get a good tour company to take you around; more efficient and they tell you so much history.  I suggest stopping in Giverny on the way from or back to Paris...gorgeous home and gardens of Monet.  Tour Paris (my favorite city), then take the TGV train to Barcelona.  Consider taking an overnight train....it was fun.  Tour Barcelona, cruise to Rome, tour Rome, then take TA home. 

 

About 10 yrs ago, I won a prize of a Eurail pass for 2 people for 3 weeks in a 2 month period!  So my friend and I took the wonderful European trains from Frankfurt, Germany to Paris to Rome to Florence to Venice to Vienna to Frankfurt.  3 of the trips were on overnight trains.  What a blast!!  😎

[eurodl]

Thanks Go-Bucks!

 

Just an update - we recently decided to postpone the Paris leg of our trip.  We found out that Notre Dame (Go Irish!) are playing Navy in Dublin in 2020 and have signed up for a ticket/tour package.  We figured we could add Paris to that trip a little easier than the Mediterranean one next year.  We may even take a cruise around Great Britain and Ireland.  We now have 2 trips to look forward to!  🙂

 

So the plan now is to fly to Barcelona, cruise, Rome/Florence??/Venice/Rome, TA cruise to Maimi.

[ollienbertsmum]

On 10/9/2018 at 1:17 AM, eurodl said:

Hi everyone!

 

We are taking a Mediterranean cruise in Sept 2019. There will be 4 of us on the land portion/6 on the cruise (all first-timers). The group of 4 want to go to Paris/Normandy while we are there. I have a few questions.

 

1. Would it be best to do Paris before the cruise? Cruise leaves from Barcelona.

2. Would it be best to do Paris from Venice? Cruise ends in Rome but we will be taking a few days to go to Venice. We could extend a few more days and go to Paris from Venice.

3. We want to travel by train if possible. Time is not really an issue.

4. We would like to visit Normandy while in Paris. We can take the train to Bayeux from Paris. If we do Paris first, is there a train that will go from Bayeux to Barcelona? If we do Paris last we would take the train to Bayeux and return to Paris.

 

Any opinions/suggestions would be helpful. Also, feel free to add any other options that we may not have considered.

 

Thank you!

 

I thought of you when I was sitting on my train from Barcelona yesterday.  Right opposite us was a train to Paris.  It was clearly no more difficult than catching the train I was on to Malaga.  The reverse would have been the same.  So flying to Paris doing what you want there and then taking a train to Barcelona looked easy enough.  I would still say that travelling as light as possible is important.   We were in tourist class and find that there is little room for big cases.  I take a smallish (15kg) bag and it is easier to place than DH's big one.  You do have to be able to manage your own bag though.  There are lifts but you have to be able to get it up a few steps from the platform to the train.    I am not sure how  business class would be.  I have a colleague who swears by it because she has got good food and drinks.  Not sure about managing the suitcases.  

[eurodl]

Thanks so much ollienburtsmom for the update.  We are now looking at possibly doing Paris next year.  I'm a Notre Dame football fan and they will be playing their opening game next year in Dublin.  Looking at connecting Paris to that trip instead of the Mediterranean one.  We would still want to take the train though so thank you so much for the information.  I will definitely need to learn how to pack light.

[ollienbertsmum]

On 11/5/2018 at 3:49 PM, eurodl said:

Thanks so much ollienburtsmom for the update.  We are now looking at possibly doing Paris next year.  I'm a Notre Dame football fan and they will be playing their opening game next year in Dublin.  Looking at connecting Paris to that trip instead of the Mediterranean one.  We would still want to take the train though so thank you so much for the information.  I will definitely need to learn how to pack light.

 

 

Great to hear that you have another trip planned.  Combining competition and travel is great.  Dublin will be a really good destination too.  It is on my bucket list.  

[Twickenham]

On 11/5/2018 at 10:49 AM, eurodl said:

Thanks so much ollienburtsmom for the update.  We are now looking at possibly doing Paris next year.  I'm a Notre Dame football fan and they will be playing their opening game next year in Dublin.  Looking at connecting Paris to that trip instead of the Mediterranean one.  We would still want to take the train though so thank you so much for the information.  I will definitely need to learn how to pack light.

 

Well, Paris is much easier in combo with Barcelona or Venice than Dublin if you want to take the train, but still indeed doable. If you want to combine with some travel in the UK (either cruise or just a few days in London), you can take the railsail route via Holyhead. We did it in reverse a couple of years ago, very enjoyable. For you, it would be ferry from Dublin to Holyhead then train onto London Euston. And if you wanted to go straight to Paris, then it's quite close to hop over to St. Pancras where the Eurostar leaves from. Another option if you want to bypass the UK entirely is to ferry straight to France from Dublin, then train to Paris. Never done this, but can't imagine it would be that difficult.