Expert: Víctor Díaz - 6/29/2009

Question
I have read quite a bit online about taking trains from Barcelona to Toulouse but it is all a bit confusing.  We would like to travel from Barcelona to Toulouse on Sunday August 2nd.  We would like to take the local cercancias train since it sounds very scenic.  Can we do this trip in one day or do we have to stay overnight somewhere?  Also can we book it in advance and about how much does it cost?

Answer
Hello BJ

It's not a direct train Barcelona-Tolouse but a mix of cercanias/regional train Barcelona-La Tour de Carol (in the border with France) via Puigcerdá. IT's an slow train but looks like an scenic route. From La Tour de Carol you should take an sncf train to Tolousse.

You can do this trip in a day if you take the train to La tour in the morning. Also notice that there are some works in the line currently and part of the travel will be done by bus, an special service for the passengers of this train, with no additional cost.

You can't buy tickets in advance. Must be purchased at the train station.

It's hard to find this train in the poor renfe website, it's in the cercanias section, but LA Tour de Carol and other stations are available in the dropdown menus for the schedules for don't give any results, because of the works in the line, and there is a separate pdf with all the information about this line,

The Barcelona cercanias page
http://www.renfe.es/cercanias/barcelona/index.html


according to renfe site, the bus service will be the following
from 4th of july to 28th of august, bus from   Ribes de Freser – Puigcerdà /La Tour de Carol


this is the pdf with the schedules

http://web02.renfe.es/u13/MTR/UltimaHora.nsf/vDoc000/E90F9DA57628A8D5C12575D3002...

looks like there are 4trains daily that reach La Tor de Qerol/La Tour de Carol

I don't know how much it cost, as it is outside the 6zones for cercanias trains, and i couldn't find the information for this specific train.

i hope this helps.