Hello,
I will be traveling from Florence, Italy to Paris, then from Paris to Barcelona. I have 6 days in which to do this and would like to take the train. I was looking at the Eurail 7 day pass. Would this be the best option for me and my parents? Not sure how long a trip from Florence to Paris, then from Paris to Barcelona by trian. Any information is greatly appreciated.
Thank you
If these are your only train journeys, a rail pass for 7 days is not necessary. You’d travel only on 2 days.
If you are not using the other days for other trips, it might be better to buy just normal tickets.
You didn’t provide information about your travel dates, but you may verify timetables and ticket prices for both trips here: SNCF Connect - Search (sncf-connect.com). If you are too early to book, you may get an email message when it becomes posssible.
Thank you so much for that information. I see what you’re saying about only using a couple of days of travel. The reason I had thought to do the 7 days is because the train would be our only way of transportation. I thought in case we need to get around Paris for a couple of days it would be on train, and also in Barcelona. What are your thoughts on that?
RER suburban trains in Paris are not included. Neither are subway or buses in any city. Tickets within cities are cheap and wouldn't justify using the pass anyway.
What would be your travel dates ?
Florence - Paris is going to be a long journey but it is doable in a day.
Paris - Barcelona has direct trains but they're very expensive. Often cheaper to change in Lyon or cross the Spanish border on regional trains. We can help suggest the cheapest route if you let us know your travel dates. :)
Thank you all for the information. We will be leaving Florence, Italy on Saturday, May 4 heading for Paris, France. We will spend a couple of days there, then we’ll be traveling on May 6th from Paris to Barcelona, Spain. Then on May 9, we will depart from Barcelona airport (BCN) on May 9 at 6am. Any information you can provide is helpful.
Thanks again :)
You won't have "a couple of days" in Paris but barely a single day! Are you sure you have provided the correct dates?
Florence - Paris is a 10h journey so you'll be quite exhausted too the following day. (Honestly I'm not recommending this journey but it's your trip after all.)
In any case let me have a look at tickets. I'll update this post.
Florence - Paris :
- around 150€ per person altogether, more details below
Paris - Barcelona :
- direct TGVs for 175-189€ but
- TGV Paris - Lyon 45€ (49€ 1st class) + AVE Lyon - Barcelona 59€ (64€ Elige = 1st class)
Take the second option, even if it takes 1h or so longer and requires a change.
Questions welcome.
EDIT : there are a few options for Florence - Paris. Here are two of them :
Option 1 (140€ + 54€) :
- FR Firenze S.M.N. (Florence) - Milano Centrale 10:55 - 12:50. Honestly I'd leave an hour earlier and make a break.
- EC Milano Centrale - Geneva 13:05 - 17:21
- TGV Geneva - Paris Gare de Lyon 18:24 - 21:42
Option 2 (120€ + 39€) :
- FR Firenze S.M.N - Milano Centrale 08:55 - 10:50
- EC Milano Centrale - Brig 11:20 - 13:16
- IR90 Brig - Lausanne 13:56 - 15:39
- TGV Lausanne - Paris Gare de Lyon 16:23 - 20:04
Questions welcome. You'll need two bookings : Florence - Lausanne/Geneva and then the French TGV.
I prefer the latter option.
Thank you for that information. Good to know. Unfortunately, I only have May 4th to May 9th and would like to at least see Paris and Barcelona. My dates are open and I can adjust if I have to. You mentioned Florence to Paris is about 10 hour travel time. Do you know how long the travel time is between Paris and Barcelona?
You can look it up on planners. The fastest trains take 7h, via Lyon it would be more around 8h.
Actually Florence - Paris is more like 11-12h, looking at planners now. This includes enough margin for connections.
I see, are there quite a bit of connections? And do you have a link to planners? Also the two options you provided, are they both for Paris to Barcelona?
You can use DB Navigator app : tool of the German railways, reliable as it is connected to the European database.
I provided 2 options for both Florence - Paris and Paris - Barcelona. Please see my edited post above.
Thank you so much for all the detailed information. I will give them a look and reach out if I have any more questions. Also, please feel free to add any additional details you might find helpful. Thanks again.
I am now booking my tickets since it has become almost time for me to travel. But now I am seeing that I need to get a Global Pass. Is this the case? From what I was told on this thread, it sounded like I could purchase regular tickets and save money. When I try to buy my tickets on the Eurail website, it’s telling me that I need at least a 4 day Global Pass. Is this the case for someone who is traveling from the United States? Any information is greatly appreciated.
Are you now using a new user and is this plan still the same as what you mentioned in the below thread?
Neither was clear to me, since you opened a new discussion, with another user and only little information about your plans and did not refer to this earlier discussion.
I'm not sure why you'd think you'd need a pass to travel on any train.
However, you can't buy regular tickets on the Eurail website. It offers only passes and pass reservations.
Since the prices mentioned by
Thank you, yes, I created a profile to match my Eurail profile and am continuing the thread. I also am not sure why I’d need a pass, this is why I am defering to you all in these threads as I am not familiar. And when I went to the Eurail website, it only gave me the option to purchase a pass, so thank you for the explanation. Would you think I’m ok waiting until we are in Europe to buy tickets and not risk them being sold out?
Here is a full breakdown of my planned trip now since I have details I did not have last month:
Traveling from Florence SMN to Zurich Hb on Saturday May 4, 2024
Traveling from Zurich Hb to Paris Gare de Lyon on Sunday May 5, 2024
Traveling from Paris Gare de Lyon to Barcelona Sants on Tuesday May 7, 2024
As tickets do have dynamic prices it's no good idea to wait.
The trains might not be sold out (but that's possible, too - especially for Paris to Barcelona) but they might be much more expensive.
Use Train tickets in Europe - Search & Book on Rail Europe to see prices and book.
Or the train operator's webpages mentioned here:
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