Irisiri
Traveller
2 comments
Posted 9 months ago
Hello Hello :)
we will drive via Paris and Barcelona to Southern Spain this summer. We will make overnights stays in between and visits the cities. We bought all tickets already online and printed it out. So now I am asking myself, how many time do we have to be at the station before the train's departure time
- in Paris Gare de Lyon
- in Barcelona Sants
Because I heard something like, when you already have your tickets, than you don't need to stand in lines for all too long, but I am not sure how many time we should plan anyway... if there are some special issues - e.g safety-queues - you should know...
thank you so much for your experience and nice regards
Iris
MisterSteve
Traveller
914 comments
The answer is difficult because you don't say which train operator (not 3rd party agent) you have booked with. And because the operators themselves are vague! A few years ago when there was no choice the policy was, in Spain all luggage for high speed trains was given fast scan like airport security but in France this was not done EXCEPT when they had a terrorism alert in which it might be scanned and there may be more rules. Now the Spanish operator RENFE has no mention of scanning on the website but does say luggage for international trains should have tags (without saying what sort). The French operator SNCF is even less helpful! But I wouldn't get there more than 30 minutes early - bear in mind you may have a long walk if your seats are at the front of the train.
Irisiri
Traveller
2 comments
Thank you very very much, MisterSteve. (Paris-Barcelona we booked with SNFC (TGV) and Barcelona-Tarragona we booked with Renfe (Ave).
nltrainer
Traveller
1340 comments
#1.thats some old advice from times when there were not even mobile fones-and peole read guideboox to prepare.
You likely also arr 1st at some place-just take a 5 mins more to see a bit around that station (and in the past make next REServation, even book rooms at tourist office etc) so you come prepared for next trip onward
#2. In ES for RENFE I think they say that you should aim to arr some 15-20 mins early-trains have NO check-in like planes (I now sit bored in a small airport wait for delayed flite due to big storm) but there is luggage check and you pass a gate. Luggage must simply have some label with your name+adress on it-this will not be clearly checked. Sants is not that big and quite clearly overview, the metro is just under it=quick transfer and no long walk.
Irisiri
Traveller
2 comments
Thank you very much for this good informations, thank you!