PARIS to BARCELONA on the FAMOUS TGV Duplex! - First Class Review 

I know it's been said again and again, but i can't stress enough how much i appreciate your effort (and often success) in pronouncing foreign names correctly, it really makes you stand out amongs all the other travels channels

11:50 mins : I am French and the area next to the toilets is for making phone calls without disturbing other passengers. Otherwise it's a great video :)

I love trains in general but the Euroduplex has a special place in my heart, as it was my first introduction to the magic of good rail transit. They opperate between my two home cities of Casablanca and Tangier, Morocco. I’ve been on them countless times and it’s always been a great experience.

This video popped up on my youtube page, and since we had recently done this trip I thought it would be fun to relive it. I immediately recognized you as you were sitting right behind my grandson and I on the trip! You did an excellent job of capturing the journey and the features of the train, and it was a joy to see us pop up occasionally in your shots.

Recently took the SNCF line from Paris (CDG) to Lyon and back to Paris. It was a great experience and we got the train directly from the airport after flying into the country. It was also much cheaper than a comparable route in the US.

Be aware that the trains can sometimes run out of water before the end of the journey making bathroom visits a little uncomfortable. Also, it’s a good idea to stock up on food, drinks and snacks before boarding.

Great video. I was really impressed by your graphics, particularly the route 'over fly' from station to station at a pertinent time during the video.

Great video. You can really see how the light changes from Paris to the south of France and Spain. Thanks for sharing your journey. A detailed and helpful review.

thank you for all these useful information. you explain every single details in a very simplified way. wish you best of luck

This would be a train I would ride myself. Thanks for the review mate. Its a big help!

Thanks for the review - I agree with you on the interior veering towards tha garish side, but the lamps are a nice touch. It will be interesting to see what improvements competition on the route will bring.

Great - ‘no nonsense’ review. You hit all the pertinent points in an intelligent and succinct manner.

Great travelogue of the train ride from Paris to Barcelona 👍⭐👍 I'm surprised that this train trip takes just under 7 hours. I think who sits on top of the duplex TGV has advantages with the view 🤗😎 It is the same with our trains in Switzerland. Especially because of the many noise barriers, you can see almost nothing of the landscape on the lower deck. Again thank you for this great video!

Great video! Thank u very much! Wonderful scenery and nice comfort on the train but you are right about the limited catering on such a long trip. For the regular price of the first class ticket, your meal should have been included or unlimited snacks and drinks. But anyhow, this is an amazing looking trip and thank you for sharing! Cheers!

Great video as always. Sounds like a great trip to do.

i took this train three weeks ago from montpellier saint-roch to paris gare de lyon. the views were breathtaking. im never flying with ryanair again!

Before Covid there was 4 trains between Paris and Barcelona but they didn't put back the 4 trains. Also the cooperation didn't really work out and they decided to stop it. Now it is only sncf, I could take it and service on board is better like the food is now good! I think this line is my favorite I love it!

My wife and I really enjoy train trips and we recently moved to Germany, so your channel is an awesome resource of trip ideas! Last week we were in Strasbourg and saw one of these TGV duplex to Paris, they are quite beautiful!

"Sadly overcowded" ???? Pease , for me it's a joy seeing a train station almost as full as a airport. It should be like this in every station, rail is the way of the future.

Well, that was a very thorough and well-explained video, thanks for that 🙂

As a first viewer, I was totally impressed by the consummate quality of this video ands such, have subscribed Looking forward for more.

Thank you, an interesting review. I hadn't remembered Perpignan for many years until you mentioned it and recalled early holidays with my parents to Spain's Costa Brava in the 1960s. There was no airport in that part of Spain then, so we flew to Perpignan and then had a 3 hour coach trip over the Pyrenees! In fact, the first time, in 1962, was a new tour operator's very first trip there and the coach stopped at a café in a village in the mountains for a drink and comfort break. To the guide's embarrassment, they only had 6 cups and saucers and there were over 30 people on the coach, so as each group got served the waiters hovered waiting to whisk the cups away! An unusual excuse for late arrival!

A great review!! Thanks for informing us about the interesting history of the beautiful Gare de Lyon. I've passed through it on the same route down to Barcelona but never seen it so crowded! Maybe they'll expand it again or hopefully it is just a seasonal crowd. I do love the views of the coast on the last leg of the journey. I recall thr flamingoes too hahaah! Sete and Montpellier are hidden gems! I concur with your views on the train. It is a good service but room for improvement on food offerings and luggage. I always had good experiences though but was always curious about that sofa outside the toilets too! Only sat on them once or twice but pretty convenient for a break from your neighbour or waiting for the toilets! Thanks for bringing back the happy memories of Paris and down to Barcelona! I look forward to your Spain videos and can't wait for them! Hope I can go again soon 😃

This is my favourite train journey in Europe. I live about 40 minutes SW of Barcelona, and spent the last weekend of August in Perpinyà (El centre del món .< I kinda want to go visit Disneyland in Neem now... xD The food en borde is deffo nowhere near as good as it was pre-covid. I worked in Paris for 3 months in 2016, and they were offering hot food trays, and this seems to have fallen to the unstoppable march of progress. Oh, *the sofa between the carriages is so people go there to use their phones rather than irritating the heck out of everyone in the coach proper.* Also, I can't stand the lower deck because of the fact there's no rear exit. :/ I do love visiting the South-East of France, but yeah, the last couple of months it's been 10C higher than even Barcelona, it's nuts how hot it is there compared to nearby places. Oh, there are 4 trains a day in either direction now. I wonder if that changed in the last month or so? Also, bugger, I really don't want the Renfesensayef offering to end, I've been on the Ouitrains and the iryo inside Spain, and also the TGV Proper in France, and I have a feeling that if SNCF take over the full route, it'll be bumped over to be more like Ouitrain than the current ones. :/ That said, the Ouitrains are great when it comes to cost-effectiveness for in-Spain travel, as is iryo, so maybe I'm just worrying needlessly? I mean, SNCF's high-speed offerings in France are great, sooo... *shrug kaomoji here* I'm guessing you're here to try out iryo and Ouitrain, so if you come back via Barcelona, or if you come back this way, you should deffo organise a meet-up somewhere in town. ^^

A fascinating look at a trip that I, my wife and granddaughter did partially - in the other direction - from Nice to Paris this past August. We overlapped from around Avignon to Paris but the train was essentially the same. The catering was not as good as I expected (we were also in 1st class upstairs) and I had rather hoped for more than a self-service stand-up café. I agree that by the look of it the Paris-Barcelona run was a bit below-par for a premium international route and we forget that the line is not always TGV speed (it took us four hours from Nice to Marseille). What is surprising is that when travelling in excess of 300kph you don't really sense the speed.

1:45 Treniatlia is not a private company, Italy's private high speed operator is called Italo. Trenitalia is state-owned and operated.

An interesting clip -a nice journey .

We travelled on the duplex from Antibes to Paris in 1st class with the new Business Premiere interior...a huge improvement on the blue/purple combo!

Great video. You mentioned "quaint French villages". The video sequence you showed at the point is that of the remains of the famous Cluny Abbey in Burgundy. It was before the French revolution the second largest church after St Peter's in Rome. The revolution destroyed part of it. The surrounding farmers took a lot of the abbey stones to build their housing and farms. As a Frenchman (living in the US), I have done the Paris-Lyon-Marseille route both in traditional trains and then in TGVs multiples times. I also did the line through Nîmes, Montpellier, Narboone (going on to Carcassonne, Toulouse etc.) many many times. People may disagree with me but I think with the TGV we gained in speed what we lost in comfort.I remember the first 'Trains Corails" who were extremely comfortable even in second class, were more refined in many ways, and had for most of them a real dining car, which was very nice. I simply don't understand the concept of that "bar area", overcrowded and small. It was assumed since the beginning that the emphasis had to be put on speed and that therefore travelers were using the high speed train for speed and not for slow leisure! I think with domestic lines now opened to competition, it will force the SNCF to up the standards a little bit and rethink for example the dining situation. Lucas Fouchier is correct in mentioning that those small couches are indeed for using cell phones. Unfortunately, since seat reservation is not required in some TGVs, people not finding a seat in peak period will use those seats and anything else they can seat on.

Wow, I did not know that the train journey existed. I often stay in Paris , close to Les Halles . Deffo must look at a dual city visit next time, prob October. Thanks for video 👏

Enjoyable video thanks. Interesting that you mentioned pickpocketing at the Gare de Lyon. In 2014 we did a Great Rail Journeys holiday to Lake Garda, taking the direct Paris to Milan TGV. A thief attempted to pickpocket our tour manager but came off worse when she kicked him hard in the knee, he collapsed in agony on the concourse and was immediately arrested by the police. SNCF's catering is not generally very good, so it will be interesting to see what happens when RENFE go into competition on the route.

A few years ago, did London-Paris-Barcelona by train in 1 day, including a recommended stop for lunch at Le Train Bleu. The Paris-Barcelona service was still quite new in those days. The train itself was OK, quite busy, the double deck something of a novelty. Scenically, the most interesting part of the journey was the ride along the Mediterranean coast. I was surprised by the scale of the vineyards and how run-down and graffitti-splattered were many of the towns and villages. Arrival into Barcelona-Sants was on time. All-in-all a good trip, but like other commentators here I'd like to see a quality outfit such as Trenitalia's Frecciarossa operating this route.

PAR-BCN used to be serviced by Talgo night trains discontinued in 2013 and that also had branches to Zurich and Milan. When I studied in BCN used to see them arrive at the other terminal (Estació de França) which is a grand 20th century station. IMO I never took this route but a slower night train or just airplane seem much better alternatives. Though the latter in summer can be a headache with airport logistics. Would be interesting to see night services back, Renfe fell for high speed fever and almost no night service is left in Spain

Your channel Is addictive. I like how you present your content. Keep up the good work, mate.

I had the opportunity to travel the Duplex TGV once from Paris to Rennes, 300km in 2hrs. Also on first Class and I must admit, this was the best 1st Class experience I ever had on a train. The seats were great and the giant table was just awesome.

The Gare de Lyon is grand, Barcelona-Sants is rather practical. I couldn't chose between them and I am rather glad, that both exists.

Done this journey 3 times now for Spanish holiday and finally now know how to pronounce various stations on route :)

Great vid! More drom Spain would be welcome... Been oscillating between taking a day service or a sleeper train south from Paris. The purported recent sleeper service cutback now favour a day service...

Really excellent video, I thought it captured the journey brilliantly. Although I agree the on board facilities don't appear that great.

Thanks for the ride !!! 🇺🇾

Please do more Spain's network. Excellent video of international service. Hopefully better services by separate operators from 2023..

The last time I was at the Gare de Lyon was in 1991 and I was waiting for my friend who was coming in on a TGV from Geneva. In those days you could walk right out to the platforms. There were newspaper vending machines near the platforms, and I looked at them and saw the headline: "Gorbachev overthrown by conservatives". It was the August 1991 coup (which failed a few days later, starting the chain of events that led to the dissolution of the USSR) and that was how I learned about it. I've associated the moment with that place ever since.

I took this trip today and I was amazed at the overall experience, it's certainly not perfect but comparing it to the UK's train system, it's clear the French (and Spanish) are decades ahead

France is putting lots of new LGV projects into motion that should eventually make this journey much closer to 4 hours than 6 (and 45 mins), with projected Paris to Madrid times basically being the same as your journey to Barcelona, if not under.

6+ HR journeys are bang on that transition point, where air travel makes sense. No London - Frankfurt direct services, only a handful of Beijing - Shanghai Will be interesting to see how it goes as two operators.

Thanks! I want to make this trip some day. I have been to Gare de Lyon but did not go to Barcelona. I plan to do so and will see what train service is available then. Thanks again.

The two-tone gray/black with pink stripe livery is stunning.

Nice effort nice vedio.Although I can't travel on these trains but much enjoy in my bed.Thanks for the nice and information vedio.GoodLuck

Good video.. Appreciate your efforts 👍

just saw the rare sight of the vigirail set at 5:24 , very nice !

My wife and I did this as part of my honeymoon unfortunately our journey was delayed due to lightning striking the overhead leaving us stranded in place for 2 hours or so. Also I assume the catering was provided by the French side on that trip because the menu looked very different and they had a surprisingly good Bordeaux wine and passable food if you were willing to stand in line for ages for it.

I think that you made a wonderful presentation.

First class video presentation and narration.

Great video. Cannot wait for your videos in Spain!

Your effort in pronouncing all the names right is next-level! Somehow the Dutch "ch" seeped through in French here though (Montepllier Saint-Roch), you caught me a bit off-guard there with the sudden outburst of Dutch harshness, especially since your not Dutch😂

Done that train for a many a year at the beginning of September, returning five weeks later. From memory, they only had the ticket barriers installed about five years ago. Platforms were always easy access before then so they've just made matters worse. It's not as if the tickets are not inspected when one is on board.

Great video !!

I could not agree more with your assessment. I took the same seat from Montpelier to Paris recently with only a knapsack and a small wheelie. I had to hold the knapsack on my lay as the couch was already full when I boarded.

I was in Valance in 2020 good videos btw keep going

Nice video! Very precise - no rhapsodising about train travel😏 I have taken this route, it was an adventure, not so sure I would do it again, though. The Gare d Lyon station was crazy busy but beautiful. Barcelona is a favourite city and their station is a bit bus station, but it works? Cheers.

Thanks for this information. I have clients that need to do the reverse trip in May 2023.

Travelled from Gare de Lyon to Milan last month on TGV INOI

Yes, more from Spain please!

Don’t forget that according to Salvatore Dali the Perpignan’s railway station is the center of the Universe. Oh yeah !

The small sofa is intended for travelers who call, you do not call from your seat out of politeness towards other travelers in France.

5:24 oh you caught Vigirail or Iris 320, it's the french "Doctor Yellow", the TGV monitoring the LGVs of France and Belgium,as well as the eurotunnel........ You're in luck, it goes around the network in 1 week, always on the same schedule. For the low number of seats in the Bar car, it is due to the fact that, traditionally, in France, meals last a long, very long time (this is also why it is a Bar car and not a restaurant) . To prevent people from staying too long on the bar seats, we make them want to return to their seats by limiting the possibilities. the sofa near toillets is for using your phone... or achange temporary atmosphere

I find it quite common with train stations shortly announcing the platform to have big crowds in the main halls. plus it seems to be more prone at head stations where the track stops.

I love Nimes... little tidbit, the Pont du Gard aqueduct supplied water for their manufacture of a indigo-blue fabric that was known by it's location as "de-nimes." Today we call it "denim."

There is something else most people don't know regarding these Alstom built TGV's. The area between carriages, intended for people to make phone calls, is actually a crumple zone. In case of a crash these are designed to absorb most of the energy form the shock and preserve the life of people in the sitting part of the carriage. This coupled to the rigid nature of the train-sets make these one of the safest trains in the world.

Great job. Thanks

I did once this trip coming back from Paris and it was very long but cool

Great video

I have taken it. I agree with your assessment: There is much room for improvement, catering, design and at least in my case cleanliness of the train. Given I was traveling first class too, that was really annoying.

We visited Narbonne in 2014, and fir a laugh on the way back to Toulouse we popped into a UK Shop, the owner was from Scotland (we are too), and he sold Irn Bru, our national drink

Great stuff! 👌 I reckon you should try the scenic narrow gauge lines that run around Bilbao in northern Spain. 🤩

Totally agree with your assessment on this trip. It's a real shame this cooperation doesn't run anywhere near the quality of the Paris to Frankfurt/Stuttgart services. In terms of the design: I had a funny encounter recently on a TGV into Frankfurt. An older couple was talking about their trip from Paris and remarked how the TGV looked somewhat worn out. They assumed it must have been due to its age which they estimated to be about 30 years. Ironically, the ICE they'd taken on their journey to Paris was actually older than this Euroduplex from 2012. I'm not a big fan of double-deck high speed trains to begin with, but I'll never understand why SNCF kept up with that interior design for so long. It somehow manages to look older than the original PSE interior. Contrast that with the awesome new Oceane design. That makes it look like an entirely different vehicle.

Not easy to know how much you are going to pay. It depends on a lot of factors. When you buy your ticket, the earlier the better, when you travel , dates and even hours can make a huge difference to the price of your ticket from a 15 euros at 10 am to a 100 euros at 15 pm from Avignon to Paris. If possible buy your ticket as soon as it is possible. Compare prices according to different departures and arrivals. Of course you can find a 15 euros ticket and even cheaper for a 7 am train but if your family expects you at 8 pm you have to take the 150 euros train.

Great video i love your content, i would recomend in spain the routes of Madrid-Barcelona Madrid-Santiago and Madrid-Malaga.

I lived in Montpellier so I always use this train to get there. Didn't realize it was that famous.

Thank you for this video

Did the Nimes run a few years ago, and using GDL next month for a weekend in Nice. Funny thing is I’m upper deck, car 12 too, but 102.

Thanks, enjoyed the video. Living in the North West of England any long distance trip by train is a bit of an ordeal and expensive.

If you don't mind, how about trying TGV Inoui from Paris to Bordeaux? That route also use TGV 2n2 sets, but those Euroduplex have totally different interior. Not to mention that the Océane first class seats are rotated 180 degrees to face forward.

Yes please to more videos from Spain.

I was suprised to see that your TGV apparently used the conventional tracks between Nîmes and Montpellier. Because the TGV-style extension covering this leg (as a first step to all-TGV standard all the way to Perpignan), aka Contournement Nîmes - Montpellier, has been operational for a few years.

When I rode on that train, people used the sofas in-between carriages if they wanted some peace and quiet outside the sometimes noisy carriages

6:30 wifi : there is wifi on Inoui TGV all along the journey, and for the internet, it's no mean to be high bandwith but you can chat or navigate on the web, it's not for streaming videos (with probably some restriction about that) in order all people who are on the wifi can access internet (there is a technology with 3 antenna on the train in front/middle/end of the train to connect in 4G to the antenna all allong the railway separate all 1km each other) and in the wifi, you can see some movies (quite recent, multilanguage), series or podcasts, worth the time to look on it if you don't preload some movies/series :)

1:45 just a little correction: Trenitalia is not a private operator, it's the italian public operator (the private one is "NTV" which operates with Italo trainsets) :)

What a wonderful review. Thanks for this video. I will be traveling this route with my son in a few months and I have to admit, I'm very nervous about the station in Paris. I don't speak French and I'm not used to train travel. How far in advance should someone like me show up to the station, and will I be able to find my way? Thanks.

I really like the Euroduplex and regularly travel on it between Eastern France and Paris. Concerning the somewhat dated interior design, these trainsets are currently undergoing a major overhaul to meet “inOui” standards. This includes more elegant colours of black with red lines and some wood panelling. For travellers craving tranquility, the lower level is to be recommended as the connecting gangway is upstairs.

thx for this rev!!!

I believe the sofa at 11:52 if for making phone calls, in the Madrid-Barcelona Ouigo service, using the same type of trains they have a sign about that

This route just begs for the overnight service between Paris and Barcelona to be restored. Unfortunately neither SNCF nor RENFE want anything to do with running a sleeper service. The route would be a prefect service for a NightJet but the service area is too far from OBB's home country. Last thing I heard the Talgo night train equipment is sitting vandalized on a siding somewhere in Spain.

14:59 Please do a review on Avlo Renfe's low cost brand and the Intercity S121 CAF Cepia

Overhead luggages tracks seem to be here to accommodate coats, jackets etc.

Hi. Really appreciate your effort and loved the video with all the details. I have a question, when and where did you booked the reservation for this journey. I have a eurail global pass and i will be taking this train in april 2023

Well well - had no idea that Gare de Lyon was twinned with Seoul Station (have been to both). Interestingly, the high speed KTX trains, which go from Seoul and I have also been on, are designed on the TGV model. And Seoul is pronounced 'Sowl' locally, which I would never have known either. Regarding your valid comment on the lack of services between the two cities, I guess that the problem is the distance-most people would opt for the faster but much more boring 1 hour + flight. Great vlog and many thanks - have done the TGV to Marseille on numerous occasions. 👍😊

Really appreciate it

what you missed in the train station of Sète is that it's a world historic site: this is where the First ever motion picture ever was recorded.

11:52 On TGV your are suppose to take phone call on the plaforme, Aka out of the passenger compartment of the car, like on this sofa :) if you have a craying baby it can also be use