This daily direct train from Barcelona to Marseille has been suspended due to the pandemic for more than a year, so it will hopefully resume in 2022.
Therefore at the current time the optimum routing is:
Depart Madrid at 07:00
Depart Barcelona Sants at 10:10 (35 min connection)
Depart Nimes at 15:25 (1hr 50min connection)
Arrive Marseille at 16:29.
However, this combination of trains isn't available as an end-to-end booking (the ticket agents assume travellers won't want spend nearly two hours awaiting a connection).
Final Destination: Marseille
This train, which is the only direct train from Madrid to destinations in France arrives in Marseille too late to travel on to any destination to the east beyond Toulon.
The train also calls at: Montpellier; Nimes; Avignon TGV and Aix-en-Provence TGV.
1 x train per day
(This service has been temporarily suspended).
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: up to 4 months ahead of the travel date
This trains is usually scheduled to depart from Madrid Atocha daily at 13:25 - so target that time when looking up this journey
It can be worth comparing the prices between booking agents for this journey.
Reservations:
Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey.
Rail Pass Users:
Rail pass users will need to be pay a reservation fee prior to boarding, but these reservations cannot be booked on the ticket agent websites.
If you want the peace of mind of reserving before arriving at a Spanish station, you will need to use the Eurail and InterRail booking services to reserve your seats - and pay the booking fee for doing so.
Though you can avoid a booking fee if you do reserve at a Spanish station.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
---|---|---|
Trainline | * | |
Renfe | * | |
Oui.SNCF | * |
This journey showcases European train travel at its best.
With its fantastic contrasts between the sweeping vistas across the Spanish plains and the coastal views in France - though you won't see the latter if you make this journey between October and March.
This is also a journey of three distinct parts.
Though you'll need to travelling when days are longer to experience this landscape as the train travels by the coast after 18:00.
3: Between Nimes and Marseille the train then switches back to the high speed line.
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This is one of more than 1000 journey guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.