Europe by train London=>Paris=>Carcassonne=>Barcelona

Kat78MFW

As I am unable to fly due to severe travel sickness, we have stuck to British holidays since the children (now 13 and 16) were born.  The eldest is now growing up fast and we feel we need to do at least one overseas holiday with her before holidays with her boyfriend supersede family holidays.  We have friends that we can stay with in Carcassonne and one girl has just completed Spanish GCSE and the younger one will definitely be taking French and possibly Spanish too, hence our choice of destinations.  We are planning to go Easter 2023, travelling from Solihull to London and taking Eurostar to Paris.  I have been looking at train prices and also Inter-rail passes .  Wishing now we could have done it when the girls were a bit younger for cheaper prices but COVID  . 

So my questions for any seasoned European train travelers out there 

• Inter-rail passes or purchase individual tickets for each journey?  It looks as though the cost of reserving seats on the French hi-speed trains would add a big extra cost to the inter-rail price
• I can see the SNCF Adult Advantage Card and Child Advantage Card but can't see a Family Advantage Card anywhere, even though it is mentioned in some of the small print.  Does France offer a Family Railcard type discount card?
• Finally, any suggestions of the best, safest but cost effective districts to stay in Barcelona (I'm planning to book in the Latin Quarter in Paris and would love to know which part of Barcelona has a similar feel)
• any other hints/tips to help with my planning

Thanks

Voyager2002

Do you know the website of The Man in Seat 61? It is like a bible for rail travel.

If you can plan well in advance you are likely to find that non-flexible advance purchase tickets cost less than an Inter-rail pass.

With Eurostar tickets you can buy flexible but affordable rail tickets from your local station to "London International": a good way to begin and end your adventure.

Ms_Chocaholic

I too suffer with severe travel sickness but on the water rather than in the air and I was prescribed some medication from the GP and this worked.  Have you tried all available options?

strawb_shortcake

We are starting to look into non flying options to travel into Europe too. 
Rather than another city, perhaps somewhere like Sitges a short distance away from Barcelona would be an option? 

martindow

Another vote for seat61 as mentioned by Voyager.  I've followed his advice for travelling in several European countries and it has always been spot on.

Kat78MFW

Thanks for the suggestions.  I will take a look at the seat 61 website this evening.

I have had prescription strength travel sickness tabs from the GP years ago but was still extremely poorly on my last long-distance flight to San Francisco about 18 years ago.  Knowing what I know now about my health, I'm not quite sure how I made it there and back.  Have since discovered that I have a linked heart condition and that is treated now so I will give flying another go in the future. But that will just be a very short hop over to Dublin or similar without the kids. I want to feel relaxed in the run up to this family trip so don't want to have any flights involved for this one.  

I will have a look at Sitges but I know my eldest is keen to see Barcelona after learning about it in Spanish.  Also there are direct trains into Barcelona from France but I'm guessing going somewhere smaller would involve changing trains again.  I'll double check though.  

Voyager2002

Kat78MFW said:

Thanks for the suggestions.  I will take a look at the seat 61 website this evening.

I have had prescription strength travel sickness tabs from the GP years ago but was still extremely poorly on my last long-distance flight to San Francisco about 18 years ago.  Knowing what I know now about my health, I'm not quite sure how I made it there and back.  Have since discovered that I have a linked heart condition and that is treated now so I will give flying another go in the future. But that will just be a very short hop over to Dublin or similar without the kids. I want to feel relaxed in the run up to this family trip so don't want to have any flights involved for this one.  

I will have a look at Sitges but I know my eldest is keen to see Barcelona after learning about it in Spanish.  Also there are direct trains into Barcelona from France but I'm guessing going somewhere smaller would involve changing trains again.  I'll double check though.  

Barcelona is indeed fabulous. I stayed in a hostel in the Barrio Gotico but all the areas I saw looked attractive.

Since this holiday will involve time in Paris and Carcassone as well as Barcelona I am not sure why Sitges entered the discussion. Probably getting there would involve a change of train but that is not difficult, the risk is that is you have too many destinations you wll be unable to explore any of them properly.

macman

Sitges is well outside Barcelona, about a 35 minute train journey from Sants station.
Look for something within walking distance of Las Ramblas.

martindow

The German railways site (here's the English version)

https://www.bahn.com/en

is very good for researching routes and works well across Europe.

Once you've sorted out an itinerary follow seat61's advice on the best site to book with.

phatbear

To emulate the latin quarter in paris you want to be looking at areas around the “born” district or as someone else has said the gothic barrio/district, although i usually stay in eixample as they have cheaper boutique hotels and are only a 10min walk to both of those areas.