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

today i'm going to be riding on the double deck high speed train from paris through the french countryside and along the mediterranean coast on an incredible journey down to barcelona and spain so join me and experience this international train ride hello and welcome back to another video today i'm here in paris and i'm going to be traveling on a journey between two of europe's biggest tourist cities i'll be catching the renfe sntf cooperation train down to barcelona i looked into first class on the top deck this is going to be a nice journey let's go gadolin is one of six major railway terminals in the french capital dating back to 1849 in order to serve as the northern terminus of the paris to marseille line the station gets its name from the city of lyon most trains from the station running either to or through the city which is france's third largest by population [Music] the station today consists of two main halls both of which were extremely overcrowded with people excited to be traveling once again since 2021 ga de leon has been undergoing a major renovation not only to preserve the historic 1900s station building but also to improve accessibility and better handle passenger demand despite the overhaul taking place it's still worth mentioning le tran blue a famous restaurant situated in the station ordinarily offering a fantastic view over the station hall and a designated historic monument of france as one of the busiest stations in europe expect to see a large variety of trains here of course including the iconic tgv duplex operating high-speed services all over france and abroad there are also occasional services from the private operator trenitalia as well as some regional trains and commuter trains as shown on the departure board my train the 1010 to barcelona suns will be departing from hall 2 which is a couple minutes walk from hauwan via the old ticket hall [Music] while making your way there be sure to look up at the fresco painted by jean-baptiste olive showing many of the destinations on the railway line to his hometown of marseille [Music] hall 2 was first opened in the 1920s acting as a major expansion of the station's capacity sadly like the other hall this was also majorly overcrowded [Music] interestingly paris gathelion station is twinned with barcelona sans my destination for today it also shares a twinning with the stations of seoul in south korea and tehran in iran anyway around 15 minutes before departure my train is called for boarding battling through the crowds to reach my platform i thought it really would be a pickpocket's dream here tickets are inspected prior to accessing the platforms resulting in passengers all gathering around the gates at once i have to say that i much prefer the more open approach used in most other parts of europe following the ticket inspection i can now head to my train like with many high-speed trains in france only part of the formation actually continues all the way to barcelona with the rear half being detached from the train in montpellier make sure you board the right section as there's no way to swap until the next station the barcelona section is the front half of the train today formed by tgv euro duplex set number 806 built in 2013 the train is designed for international services to spain and switzerland at a maximum speed of 320 kilometers an hour i'll be traveling in coach 12 today boarding is done through the lower deck with the upper deck being accessible by stairs next to the door passengers with reduced mobility or those wanting to bring heavier items of luggage are therefore probably best off on the lower deck seating is in a two plus one layout as you'd expect in first class i'll be travelling in seat one two one a forward-facing solo seat at the end of the carriage today's route starts from the beautiful paris catholion station first heading southeast along the aptly named lgv sudest we'll then change to the lgv hornalp and lgv mediterranee before taking the classic route along the coast into spain and finally speeding towards barcelona the journey is scheduled to take 6 hours and 44 minutes to cover the 1086 kilometers or about 675 miles of track our journey begins on time at 10 10. the first part of the trip is spent weaving through paris running past its railway depots and through the suburbs of the french capital but not long after leaving the city we're on the lg v sudest this route was france's first high speed line first opening in 1981 to serve trains from paris to leon and the surrounding area top speed is an impressive 300 kilometers an hour much of the scenery for the first few hours is the vast farmland of central france making for a pleasant view a free wi-fi service is offered on board which can easily be connected to with just a couple of clicks [Music] and whilst the train is high speed this certainly isn't wi-fi ah it is [Music] so let's take a look at the interior first off i have to mention the color scheme which is a collection of rather garish blues and purples it doesn't look great in my opinion most importantly though the sea comfort the seats in the tgv first class are pretty wide despite the double deck configuration i also found the padding and shape to be fantastic providing a comfortable trip throughout although if i had one criticism about the seat the winged headrest is a little bit hard all seats are fitted with a pair of soft adjustable armrests and on one of these you can find the controls for the seat's motorized recline which i thought was a really nice touch legroom is fairly good with plenty of space to relax even on a longer trip like this one [Music] there's also a folding footrest for added comfort on the seat in front you can find this huge folding table there's no cup holder per se but a small folding bracket can hold a smaller bottle or cup above this there's a small storage pocket which is cleverly placed in direct line of sight when sat down so you don't forget your items when leaving the train on the ceiling you can find an adjustable reading light there's also an effective window blind at all windows and a coat hook between them too every seat gets a european style power socket with a small bin found beneath it after two hours at high speed we still haven't reached our first station with the train effortlessly gliding smoothly along the french high-speed network passing by quaint villages across rivers and even flying junctions we finally slow down to call it our first station this is valance tejevi built to allow high-speed trains to surf the city of verlos without slowing down to reach the center a few minutes later we depart the station it's now really noticeable just how different the climate is down here in the south of france compared to where we started anyway i'm getting pretty hungry so i think it's time for lunch the catering service is in the form of a bar in carriage 14. there's also a trolley service should you prefer to remain in your seat the bar carriage has a really pleasant atmosphere thanks to lots of space and the near panoramic windows letting a lot of daylight in though do bear in mind that seating is very limited here the menu is provided by the spanish side of the operation being part of renfe's el cafe del train service i opted for the express menu consisting of a sandwich a snack and a soft drink this cost 9 euros 20 which i think was a little on the pricey side considering the quality wasn't that great you could easily get a proper meal on other long distance trains for not much more after leaving the high speed line we shortly arrive at our next station neem the rest of the journey through france is on slower tracks shared with regional trains the scenery isn't the best here but it picks up a lot later in the meantime let's have a look around the rest of the train firstly the luggage situation luggage stacks can be found in various places throughout the carriage some of them quite far from seats though so be sure to keep your valuables on you at all times there are also some overhead luggage racks but these aren't very big so not really useful for storing anything except for smaller personal items moving on to the toilets two can be found in every carriage one on the upper deck and a larger one on the lower deck these were in a generally good condition with both soap and water available though unfortunately the hand dryer was not working some carriages have a small sofa next to the toilet i'm not really sure what it's for so if you do know then please leave a comment an extended stop is made here to allow the rear portion of the train to be detached [Music] our train carries on to surfsit a major port and seaside resort on the mediterranean [Music] this station has a train shed design that seems to be really popular across the south of france [Music] forty-five minutes later we arrive in tune which serves as a major junction for the route linking toulouse and perpino with montpellier after leaving that wall then be sure to take a look out of the window while riding alongside the coastal lagoon you might just catch a glimpse of some pink flamingos [Music] even if you're not so lucky this is a beautiful stretch of track and not one you'll want to miss out on [Music] this is pepinya the final station in france the weather here is such a contrast to paris there it was under 20 degrees whereas here it's nearly 40. after leaving piapinyon we're back on a high speed line now speeding towards the eastern pyrenees mountains visible in the background to cross this large mountain range we use a tunnel beneath the pertus pass a modern construction opened in 2010 a few minutes later and welcome to spain the first station in spain is figures vila front the northern terminus of the country's high-speed rail network spain is lucky to have a very large amount of high-speed railways in fact it has the second most out of any country worldwide even beating japan's shinkansen network to the spot anyway on to how much today's journey cost for this trip i was using an interrail pass so i just paid the rather extortionate seat reservation fee of 48 euros an ordinary booking at the time would have set me back around 172 euros 50 which seems like a serious amount of money for one train journey though when you consider the journey's length of 675 miles that gives a price per mile of about 21p for a first-class trip on a high-speed train it's actually not as bad as it seems so this seems like a pretty great service and surely better than driving or flying right well unfortunately there are a few problems with the route for example this is the timetable for trains between paris and barcelona that's right just two trains per day overall i really did enjoy my experience on the renfe sncf cooperation train but clearly a lot of work is needed at the moment it's more of a novelty having amazing scenery and decent comfort but the lack of decent provision for larger items of luggage on what is clearly a major tourist route is a big oversight as is the poor catering offer for such a long international trip going into 2023 the joint operation between renfe and sncf is to cease with each operator hoping to offer their own direct services we can only hope that the overall experience on this route is improved as a result we are now entering the tunnel that leads to barcelona sans the modern underground station is a far cry from the beauty of gadolin though let me know in the comments which station you prefer arrival at our terminus today is 18 minutes late at 1702. so what do you think of today's journey is this an ideal international train or do you think that they could do a lot better as always let me know in the comments what you think of course this isn't the only international train running from paris with the famous eurostar train beneath the sea running to london click on screen now to watch that video and i look forward to seeing you again on my next journey you

Channel: Superalbs Travels

Views: 223,458

Keywords: Superalbs Travels, THE DOUBLE DECK HIGH-SPEED TRAIN from Paris to Barcelona - TGV First Class Review, train, high-speed train, tgv, tgv duplex, tgv euroduplex, paris, barcelona, barcelona to paris train, paris to barcelona train, paris to barcelona, barcelona to paris, high-speed rail, first class, 1ère Classe, Première Classe, barcelona TGV, Renfe-SNCF en Cooperatión, renfe, sncf, trainline, interrail, eurail, tgv reservations, tgv tickets, european trains, french tgv, bullet trains

Id: x-7mINQueTg

Length: 17min 39sec (1059 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 31 2022

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