The Rough Guide to Barcelona 8 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

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rather someone else made all the arrange-
ments, talk to a specialist tour operator, like
Ibertours (W , who
can arrange an organized visit to Barcelona,
sorting out your accommodation, guided
tours and car rental.
By rail
Travelling by train to Barcelona can’t
compete in price with the cheapest budget-
airlines’ fares – but it can be a real adventure.
First stop should be W an
amazingly useful website that provides route,
ticket, timetable and contact information for
all European train services.
The quickest and most straightforward
option from the UK is to take the Eurostar
service (T08705/186 186, W www.eurostar
.com; from £59 return) from London St
Pancras International via the Channel Tunnel
to Paris, and then the overnight Paris–
Barcelona “train-hotel”, which arrives in
Barcelona at around 8.30am (total journey
time 17hr). This is a sleeper service (with
restaurant and café), with various levels of
comfort available – the cheapest ticket is in
a four-berth compartment, currently from
£108 return, depending on availability; you
have to book well in advance to get the
lowest prices.
There are other alternatives, but they take
longer, can be more complicated to arrange
and sometimes work out more expensively.
For example, you can use the cross-Channel
ferries and Seacats and local trains to Paris
instead of Eurostar, and instead of the
overnight “train-hotel” there are regular
daytime services through France and Spain.
You can book the whole journey online with
Rail Europe (T 0870/584 8848, Wwww
) or call a specialist rail agent
like Ffestiniog Travel (T01766/772050,
W ) or the Spanish
Rail Service ( T 020/7725 7063, Wwww
). If you live outside the UK,
you can book Eurostar and “train-hotel” tickets
through the websites W ,
W and Wwww.raileurope
If you plan to travel extensively in Europe
by train, a rail pass might prove a good
investment. However, if you’re just headed
for Barcelona, InterRail (W www.raileurope
and Eurail (W www.eurail
.com) aren’t a good deal, and even if you
intend to travel around Catalunya by train,
Fly less – stay longer! Travel and climate change
Climate change is perhaps the single biggest issue facing our planet. It is caused by
a build-up in the atmosphere of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which
are emitted by many sources – including planes. Already, flights account for three
to four percent of human-induced global warming: that figure may sound small, but
it is rising year on year and threatens to counteract the progress made by reducing
greenhouse emissions in other areas.
Rough Guides regard travel as a global benefit, and feel strongly that the
advantages to developing economies are important, as are the opportunities for
greater contact and awareness among peoples. But we also believe in travelling
responsibly, which includes giving thought to how often we fly and what we can do
to redress any harm that our trips may create.
We can travel less or simply reduce the amount we travel by air (taking fewer trips
and staying longer, or taking the train if there is one); we can avoid night flights
(which are more damaging); and we can make the trips we do take “climate neutral”
via a carbon offset scheme. Offset schemes run by carbonneutral
.com and others allow you to “neutralize” the greenhouse gases that you are
responsible for releasing. Their websites have simple calculators that let you work
out the impact of any flight – as does our own. Once that’s done, you can pay to
fund projects that will reduce future emissions by an equivalent amount. Please take
the time to visit our website and make your trip climate neutral, or get a copy of the
Rough Guide to Climate Change for more detail on the subject.
BASICS
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Getting there