Overnight Paris to Perpignan train?

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nickiwynne
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Overnight Paris to Perpignan train?

Post by nickiwynne »

Hi,
we were very interested in the overnight train Kate mentioned in PO Life -as we live very near Ebbsfleet we'd be keen to try a trip to Amelie by train in the summer-but I can't find any details about the l'IdNight (?) on Rail Europe or SNCF sites.
Are we too early?
Thank you,
Nicki
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Helen
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Post by Helen »

Looks like the following is the overnight:

21h56 - PARIS AUSTERLITZ

07h18 - 07h18> PERPIGNAN
03731 2nd class Reservation required


But you don't need to go overnight - there seemed to be two trains a day which took about 8 hours 30 from London to Perpignan, changing at Lille

(This info from sncf)
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Steve&Julie
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Post by Steve&Julie »

Any idea how much it costs?
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Helen
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Post by Helen »

Depends which ticket you buy....

but for the spurious dates I entered for June it was something like £195 return for one person.

I think the absolute cheapest was about £55 one way but it was no longer available.

Quite liked the look of a train which left St Pancras just before 9 a.m. and got into Perps about 6.30 in the evening.
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Steve&Julie
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Post by Steve&Julie »

Sounds brilliant but if 4 are travelling like we have to, it would be really expensive! We would then need to hire a car when we got there. I am always looking for Ryanair alternatives.

Thanks Helen!
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Overnight Paris to Perpignan train?

Post by Rose »

I am travelling on this train from Paris to Barcelona a week on Tuesday with a group of Canadian High School students and not really looking forward to it. I had to meet a group in Barcelona a fortnight ago and they were absolutely exhausted when they arrived. They had found it difficult to sleep because of noise. There are no couchettes. I will report back on my trip in a couple of weeks.
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Kate
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Post by Kate »

For those of you who haven't seen P-O Life yet, this is straight from the horse's mouth.

http://www.anglophone-direct.com/Paris-by-night
nickiwynne
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overnight train

Post by nickiwynne »

Hi,
Thank you to all for the replies.

The particular train I was trying to find out about featured in PO Life and also on the Local News section of the site -

'From 4th July 2008, a new night train service, “I’iDNight, will run between Paris and Perpignan, leaving Paris at 23h47 on Fri, Sat and Sun, stopping at Nimes(7h30) and Montpellier. (8h16) and arriving in Perpignan at 10h. Tickets will be available for reservation by internet from just 15€. The train will be an ordinary TGV – no sleeping carriages – but there will be a bar and an ‘espace animation’. For those wishing to depart Perpignan, the train will leave at 22h on the same days and arrive in Paris at 7h11.'

How can you book this one-or is it still too far in advance to show on the SNCF site?

Thank you,
Nicki
nickiwynne
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overnight train

Post by nickiwynne »

Sorry Kate,
There must have been some simultaneous posting going on this morning!
Nicki
nickiwynne
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Overnight Paris to Perpignan train?

Post by nickiwynne »

Hi,

Well with a little more research I have found a site!

http://www.idtgv.com/182i/preparing-for ... ables.html

-although from the content and presentation is would appear that anyone over 21 is going to be comnsidered too old for this train! Takes me back to my Transalpino days .......Except you couldn't hire games stations to keep you entertaimed in those days!

I can't seem to find out when I can reserve though and the prices say 'from 19 Euros'.

Has anyone actually used this service?

Nicki
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

Not Paris Perpignan - but I may need Zurich Perpignan end of May or in July. I will drive back with Tanya after her visit but I'll be on my own to come back and there are NO direct or indirect flights of interest (time and tariffwise!) from Zurich to Carcassonne, Toulouse, Perpignan. My other daughter Natalie tells me there is a direct service to Perpignan from Zurich - probably goes on to Barcelona?. Will find out about that. My other alternative is to fly AF via Paris (forget it!) or take LX (Swiss) to Nice then by train. Annaïck will be working so no chance of a pickup and anyway it's 900km return journey by road!!
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john
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Post by john »

France's much vaunted train service may be efficient and extensive,but cheap it aint. Every single time I've looked at the cost of trains either within the "hexagone" or to Blighty,I've been absolutely horrified . No wonder Ryanair,easyJet and their pals do such brisk business. Even with diesel at the outrageous current level,it's still usually cheaper to drive than avail onesself of the costly services of SNCF/Eurostar.

I do know someone (a contributor to AD) who has sampled the bus service (eurolines I believe) Perps to Victoria ,via Lyon, but the impression I got was that it was a less than comfy experience,and not that much of a bargain because of that.
Polly and Steve
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Overnight Paris to Perpignan train

Post by Polly and Steve »

Yes, 'twas me! Hi John!!......and as the man says, not overly comfortable if you have a companion next to you but more than OK if the bus isn't full and you have a double seat to yourself, especially for the overnight leg which is between Lyon and Calais going north and after Lille and on to Lyon going south (on each occasion the bus was in darkness and very quiet during those hours).

The London to Lyon stretch is Eurolines in both directions and Perpignan to Lyon or Lyon to Perpignan is Socitransa or some such, a "partner" of Eurolines. You have to change coaches in Lyon, but it's painless - the only worrying bit about the whole escapade is the wait to get on in Perpignan; it's billed as (I think) a 12.15 pm departure but in both cases the coach (coming up from Barcelona) didn't pole in until about 1.30 by which time you're panicking a bit. I did a single journey Perpignan to Victoria and then a return Victoria-Perpignan-Victoria - at about £130 return it's probably cheaper than the train but then it takes about 22 hours in total!! - but still obviously way more expensive than Ryanair.

One of its advantages is that (as long as you can lug them around) you can take two big suitcases plus an on board bag, so if, like me, you were bringing a load of bed linen (don't ask!!...) it might be useful.

But yes, it's another option and certainly nice to be high up on a coach and able to enjoy the scenery whizzing by and we stopped at decent intervals - "meal-times" for 40 minutes and "comfort breaks" for 10 minutes (although the on-board loo was fine in an emergency!). On the return trip I did I was travelling alone and felt perfectly safe, although there are folk who'd talk the hindlegs off you given half a chance and I concede it would be perfectly dreadful if you had a noisy contingent or a howling baby for miles and miles. But on my three journeys, the noisiest people were the two drivers! Tip - an Ipod or something and earplugs in case the chatterbox is in the seat behind.

I'd do it again probably (and in fact The Husband is booked to come south in the summer; he's given up on Ryanair as he always seems to come down with a dreadful flu type illness two days after travelling and he's convinced it's the cabin air!).

Hey ho!
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Post by Santiago »

I can't imagine anything worse than a coach journey from the UK top Perpignan.

Same regarding overnight trains. I'd say you shouldn't take one without a couchette if you're over 21. I did Interrail twice when I was a student. It was fun but no way would I suffer that discomfort now.
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opas
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Post by opas »

The train would be my prefered option of travel as at least you can get up and walk about.
I agree with Santiago, you have to have youth and a distinct lack of money to endure more than afew hours on a coach, we once went from Manchester to Heathrow on the overnight bus.....what a nightmare, kids too excited to sleep, people with walkmans so you could hear the `shin tchin tchin ` of their earphones, parents getting ratty with their own kids and the constant smell of sweat mixed in with the microwave pot noodles and soup...........9 hours later we were jetlagged before we got on the plane.
We also did another bus journey from Istanbull to Marmaris . That too was hard work , I think there was every thing on that bus except a donkey!
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john
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Post by john »

I have to agree with you,opas and Santiago. I cannot imagine anything worse than a coach trip from here to the UK. Ryanair/Stansted is not the lap of luxury,but 1.5 hrs of it (even with a bit of dodgy cabin air!) would get my vote every time.
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Kate
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Post by Kate »

I have to admit that, having taken school trips all over the world, my worst nightmare used the be ski trips by coach from Leeds to Austria with 50 x 13 - 17 year olds, most of whom seemed to have, stinky feet, wind problems (both ends) and a tendancy to be sick at three in the morning. It has srt of put me off any type of coach travel.!!
Here is Polly's article by the way.
http://www.anglophone-direct.com/Perpig ... n-by-Coach?
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