Short train break to somewhere a bit hot

[editor]

My requirements: 2-3 day trip from London by train to somewhere that's going to be hotter than the UK. Beach is good but not essential. Any affordable all-in deals/offers on at the moment?

France seems the most likely choice because I don't want to spend a day on the train but all tips appreciated!

 

[Pickman's model]

Try marseilles

 

[Gromit]

Lyon

 

[dessiato]

I'm not sure of times and durations but what about Barcelona or Madrid?

 

[krtek a houby]

Carcassone is kind of lovely but unfortunately it's south so may well take you a day on the train.

 

[editor]

I'm not sure of times and durations but what about Barcelona or Madrid?

I think they're just going to be a bit too far by train for such a short trip.

Is there any website that has any offers on rail trips?

 

[dessiato]

I think they're just going to be a bit too far by train for such a short trip.

Is there any website that has any offers on rail trips?

If I remember correctly it was possible to go overnight from Paris, which might make it doable.

 

[Bus Honeygun]

Try marseilles

Yeah, very doable if you're London-based and can get the early direct departure. We've even done it a couple of times from Exeter.

Really like Marseille. Bit rough in places but that's part of the fun (well, sometimes...).

 

[editor]

Yeah, very doable if you're London-based and can get the early direct departure. We've even done it a couple of times from Exeter.

Really like Marseille. Bit rough in places but that's part of the fun (well, sometimes...).

Fuck me the prices are sky high. £566 return for two people for the 'cheaper' midweek slot.

 

[kalidarkone]

Holland? I was looking the other day and comparing prices between flying and taking the train both under £100.

 

[kalidarkone]

Ireland (by boat obvs) the south west can be surprisingly warm at this time of year and beautiful beaches and clear water. It gets the gulf stream from France ......
But risk of rain is high

 

[hash tag]

You can probably do Lyon without changing on Eurostar who also do direct trains to Avignon which is interesting. Popes summer residence. Sur le pont and all that. Carcasonne is lovely, but bit fairy tail, chocolate box.

 

[joustmaster]

Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux area might be OK for you. Maybe 7 hours on 2 trains, and a few degrees warmer.
There are some beaches and national parks around there.

But if you want warmer you will have to fly. Which should also be a lot lot quicker and cheaper. Is going by train part of the fun for you, though?

 

[Plumdaff]

If you want to do train, and you don't want to spend all your time on the train, you're not going to get anywhere guaranteed hot in that timescale.

 

[hash tag]

These may help
Holidays by Rail & Train Tours | Railbookers® Official Site

TRAIN TRAVEL IN EUROPE | A beginner's guide

Europe by train and bus made easy | Loco2

 

[Bus Honeygun]

Fuck me the prices are sky high. £566 return for two people for the 'cheaper' midweek slot.

Jeez, maybe not the direct one then. 10.24 St Pancras should get you to Paris in time for the RER to Gare de Lyon and a bit of lunch before heading south instead?

 

[Crispy]

Fuck me the prices are sky high. £566 return for two people for the 'cheaper' midweek slot.

The direct Eurostar trains run Mon, Fri, Sat (+Sun in the summer peak). I just did a search for a Mon-Fri Avignon trip in June and got £280 return for two adults.
(6hrs there, 7hrs back, cos you have to stop in Lille for customs)

 

[Puddy_Tat]

skegness?

 

[joustmaster]

If I had to do a train holiday like this, I think I'd head up to the mountains somewhere. Fresh air, open lands, lakes and stuff.

 

[cheesethief]

Fuck me the prices are sky high. £566 return for two people for the 'cheaper' midweek slot.

Trains are well expensive. Got the Eurostar for the first time in February, even out of season & booking months in advance was super pricey. You pay a huge premium for the privilege of not having to battle with airline hell.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Trains are well expensive. Got the Eurostar for the first time in February, even out of season & booking months in advance was super pricey. You pay a huge premium for the privilege of not having to battle with airline hell.

And Eurostar is hellish when really busy, e.g. Saturday 25th May they have a departure to Marseille at 0719, one to Paris at 0731 and another at 0752 and one to Brussels at 0657 and another at 0819. Each train can hold 750 passengers and all of these will be full on the bank holiday Saturday at the start of half term. 3750 passengers trying to get through St Pancras with around 45 minutes of each other, the station can't cope.

 

[cheesethief]

And Eurostar is hellish when really busy, e.g. Saturday 25th May they have a departure to Marseille at 0719, one to Paris at 0731 and another at 0752 and one to Brussels at 0657 and another at 0819. Each train can hold 750 passengers and all of these will be full on the bank holiday Saturday at the start of half term. 3750 passengers trying to get through St Pancras with around 45 minutes of each other, the station can't cope.

Yeah, not quite the easy experience the hype would have you believe. I kinda naively assumed it'd be a breeze - I mean, it's a train ffs? But there's still a lot of tedious queuing, security checks, customs BS, etc. Granted, it's not quite as arsy as flying, there's none of the crap around carrying liquids or slightly oversized rucksacks, and there's less overall traipsing around to contend with, but it certainly wasn't the effortless, stress-free experience I'd naively hoped for, not by a long way.

One Eurostar top tip, which me & my GF learnt the hard way: When you book online, ages in advance, you can pick which seats you want. So we did. And got emailed the booking documents. All fine & dandy. It wasn't until we were queuing up to go through that we realised, on seeing the prints outs loads of people were clutching, that you still had to click the "get tickets" button (or whatever the hell it was) in the email to actually get the tickets - the stuff we'd be emailed was just a booking confirmation, which for reasons only a bureaucrat could explain, don't count on their own. So we clicked the necessary buttons whilst in the queue - got the tickets ok, but found that cos we'd left it literally till the last minute, we didn't get our chosen seats. Why the fuck there has to be an extra step in-between paying for tickets & receiving confirmation and actually getting the tickets, bugger only knows...

Also, whilst I'm on a Eurostar rant - the trains themselves are fine, the super speedy bit is genuinely quite cool (although sadly it only goes whizzy fast for small parts of the journey), the under the sea bit is the most underwhelming of anticlimaxes... but what really got me was how depressingly tatty the buffet car was. An exercise in 80's plastic with a selection shittier than a late running GWR to Swindon.

 

[Crispy]

what really got me was how depressingly tatty the buffet car was. An exercise in 80's plastic with a selection shittier than a late running GWR to Swindon

They've all been refurbed now. No idea if the menu's improved:

There's only 8 of them left though. You're more likely to get a new e320 train, which have a similar buffet design.

 

[cheesethief]

They've all been refurbed now. No idea if the menu's improved:

There's only 8 of them left though. You're more likely to get a new e320 train, which have a similar buffet design.

Interesting, looks like a similar layout with a funkier paint job. I was genuinely shocked by how bad it was - ranted at length to my GF after queuing up for 30 mins to find they'd run out of croissants 20 mins after leaving St Pancras. Not quite sure what I was expecting, but considering it's supposed to be the fanciest train we've got, it was something of a damp squib. I mean when you've got all these holiday makers making paying hundreds of pounds, and business types on expenses, seems like missing a trick not to have a decent buffet car. My advice to other Eurostar travellers: Buy your lunch in Pret before you get on board.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Yeah, not quite the easy experience the hype would have you believe. I kinda naively assumed it'd be a breeze - I mean, it's a train ffs? But there's still a lot of tedious queuing, security checks, customs BS, etc. Granted, it's not quite as arsy as flying, there's none of the crap around carrying liquids or slightly oversized rucksacks, and there's less overall traipsing around to contend with, but it certainly wasn't the effortless, stress-free experience I'd naively hoped for, not by a long way.

One Eurostar top tip, which me & my GF learnt the hard way: When you book online, ages in advance, you can pick which seats you want. So we did. And got emailed the booking documents. All fine & dandy. It wasn't until we were queuing up to go through that we realised, on seeing the prints outs loads of people were clutching, that you still had to click the "get tickets" button (or whatever the hell it was) in the email to actually get the tickets - the stuff we'd be emailed was just a booking confirmation, which for reasons only a bureaucrat could explain, don't count on their own. So we clicked the necessary buttons whilst in the queue - got the tickets ok, but found that cos we'd left it literally till the last minute, we didn't get our chosen seats. Why the fuck there has to be an extra step in-between paying for tickets & receiving confirmation and actually getting the tickets, bugger only knows...

Also, whilst I'm on a Eurostar rant - the trains themselves are fine, the super speedy bit is genuinely quite cool (although sadly it only goes whizzy fast for small parts of the journey), the under the sea bit is the most underwhelming of anticlimaxes... but what really got me was how depressingly tatty the buffet car was. An exercise in 80's plastic with a selection shittier than a late running GWR to Swindon.

Last time I went with Frau Bahn and the two Baby Bahns it was early on a bank holiday Saturday and we had real trouble actually reaching the end of the queue at St Pancras, it was growing that fast! When we did they had to delay all the trains to get people on, they hustled us in to the Business Premier queue to speed us through, only that queue can't take under 18's through its passport lane and we had two under 18's with us. All round quite stressful really.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Interesting, looks like a similar layout with a funkier paint job. I was genuinely shocked by how bad it was - ranted at length to my GF after queuing up for 30 mins to find they'd run out of croissants 20 mins after leaving St Pancras. Not quite sure what I was expecting, but considering it's supposed to be the fanciest train we've got, it was something of a damp squib. I mean when you've got all these holiday makers making paying hundreds of pounds, and business types on expenses, seems like missing a trick not to have a decent buffet car. My advice to other Eurostar travellers: Buy your lunch in Pret before you get on board.

I would also say that in standard premier, they give you food there but it is shockingly bad. It used to be lovely, but no longer. The seat's pretty ropey too, so these days would say go standard class and buy some nice food and drink before you get on.

 

[cheesethief]

I would also say that in standard premier, they give you food there but it is shockingly bad. It used to be lovely, but no longer. The seat's pretty ropey too, so these days would say go standard class and buy some nice food and drink before you get on.

Definitely. Would've saved me from repeating every 20 minutes "I can't believe how shit the buffet car is", much to my GF's exasperated annoyance...

 

[dessiato]

I always planned to go London to Porto by train. It always seemed a nice way to get home. Mrs Dess always said no. Looking at prices today I don't think I'd bother. I can drive more cheaply, so much so that it'd make a nice few days break in itself.

 

[hash tag]

When we went to Amsterdam last month, we sailed through security checks and stuff at St Pancreas.
Comparing it to the Amsterdam to Brussels train, The Dam Brussels was much warmer and considerably more comfortable. The issue was changing traains in Brussels,
probably because we arrived a few minutes late and couldn't find our way very easily Etc.
Would still recommend Eurostar over flying.
For two or three nights Avignon would be fine.

 

[shakespearegirl]

Fuck me the prices are sky high. £566 return for two people for the 'cheaper' midweek slot.

On eurostar you pretty much need to book 3 months in advance when they open bookings to get cheap deals. Even then peak times are still expensive.

We went to Marseille a couple of years ago for £75 return each. When you factor in(out?) the fist of getting to and from airports at either end it was a bargain.

Loved Marseille- had a very Brixton vibe to it.

Great journey and much more enjoyable than flying.