Train: Toulouse to Barcelona via La Tour de Carol (or La Tor de Querol)
The route they suggest is roughly like this:
Whilst I was staying with a French family near Tarascon, I was informed, however, that there was in fact a railway that went straight over the Pyrenees, just east of Andorra, with French and Spanish trains meeting at a stop called La Tour de Carol-Entveitg near to the Spanish border. Intrigued, I went back to the French sncf site and this time searched Tarascon-sur-Ariège to Barcelona via Latour-de-Carol. No results came up. I tried Toulouse to Barcelona via Latour-de-Carol instead in case it was more likely to give me information for a main station. This time a result did come up, but it said there was one train per day that would take you 8 hours and cost you 85€ a single. It also said you needed to change at Beziers (most definitely not on the line between Toulouse and La Tour de Carol) which confirmed my suspicions that it was messing me about.
I scoured the internet googling various combinations of the words trains, Toulouse, Barcelona and La Tour de Carol, but still found nothing. Eventually, the lady I am staying with told me that her sister might have a timetable for the Spanish side of the border at least. She did. This is the link for the timetable for trains from La Tor de Querol to Barcelona.
http://www20.gencat.cat/docs/msi-dgac/Rodalies/PDF/Horari%20R3_obres.pdf
To find out about trains from France to La Tour de Carol, you basically have 4 options:
1) go to your nearest tourist office and they should give you a timetable (I was given one for Toulouse to La Tour de Carol
2) Ask for a timetable at any train station in the Midi-Pyrénées
3) Ring the number for the Midi-Pyrénées section of railway on 0891 677 677 for a cost of 0,23€ a min and ask about trains to La Tour de Carol
4) Use this tool to search the next departures from any station in the Midi-Pyrénées
To give a rough idea, there are 6 trains per day from Toulouse to La Tour de Carol, leaving at 6.47, 8.49, 10.50, 14.50, 16.50 and 18.50. It takes just under 3 hours and costs less than 20€.
The train from La Tour de Carol to Barcelona St. Andreu Arenal also takes just under 3 hours and costs about 10€.
By taking this little known route, you will only be saving about an hour of your time, but financially, you will be saving about 50€ each way, which, for me at least, was the difference between deciding whether to go or not!
The route you take is less than half the distance of the route proposed on the SNCF website and looks roughly like this:
6 comments
Hi
Its not too difficult to establish the train times….www.sncf.fr and http://www.refe.es both give the details………its more difficult to establish if the trains are actually running! If there is a sign saying Car, then there will be a bus link (very confusing).
Agree that the way around by the coastal route is long, hot and very frustrating. As we live in Foix we don’t do that very often! The route is well known and we get a lot of Americans and Antipodeans using it – its a good gateway into France, and the scenery is stunning.
Hi Louisa
I am hoping to make the journey from Toulouse to Barcelona via La Tour de Carol on 20 July 2010….it is quite a struggle to find information! I have found details of a train from Toulouse to La Tour de Carol, but the next stage of the journey is proving rather elusive! Can either you or Mike confirm whether the information above is current?
Thank you in advance for your advice!
Melanie.
Hey, Melanie, this is Louis. Louisa is in India at the moment and her Internet connection is in and out. She’ll get back to you soon! Sorry if takes longer than you hoped to get a reply!
On September 5 I want to travel by rail from Barcelona to Foix (actually Tarascon sur Ariege). Will it be a possibility. I would love to go through La Tour de Querol. No one seems to have clear information. This site is my only hope for information. Barbara
Just to echo the above. This journey is very easy, really cheap, and a wonderful and relaxing ride. We did this on Thu 16th of Sept 2010 without a hitch.
The problem is that the Catalunya side is lacking info. The route is the R3 from barca to Vic. Sometimes it continues to Latour (as its called in Catalan).
Just have faith. It does exist. The orderly, clean and organised French side is a contrast to the Spanish though!
Word of warning, the trains did not meet up for us, with a two hour wait in La Tour. There’s a shop to buy picnic in about 2k towards Enveight(sp?).
There#s not food on the trains, and the Spanish one is quite and adventure as it becomes an urban commuter train halfway along.
If your going from the Spanish side, just go to Sants and get the R3 timetable, The French side can be picked up on SNCF.fr or just have faith, as the French side is much more regular than the Spanish one.
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