Middlesbrough to Barcelona

In January 2025, I was 18 months into my MSc in Sustainable Development and feeling forced to examine all my habits from new angles.

Confronted with the fact that the positive impacts of veganism and shopping second hand could easily be nullified with a couple of holidays by plane, I decided to make a change and took the Flight Free Challenge.

When I was younger I had always been inspired by my parents’ tales of taking the ferry to France and spending the summer cycling around the country. Our childhood family holidays had been exclusively by car to Dorset and Devon. Why not continue this family tradition of low-carbon travel and holidays closer to home?

I only had one major trip booked this year – Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona with some of my best friends. Yes, we’re in our thirties but still behaving like university students. Fortunately they live in Madrid, which means that Barcelona is just a couple of hours away by train. But for me, this would mean traversing three countries by land to reach my destination. 

Train #1: Eaglescliffe to London Kings Cross by Grand Central (9:40am-12:31pm).

The Grand Central train runs between Sunderland and London with very few stops. It is much faster, cheaper, and frequently more reliable than other rail options. The main calling point in the North is York. For all these reasons, it ends up being quite full, so my hopes of spreading out and/or nodding off were swiftly dashed as every other seat available slowly filled up around me.

Train #2: London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord by Eurostar (15:30pm UK time-18:58pm France time). 

Fortunately King’s Cross and St Pancras are next door to each other, so it was a short walk to my next connection. There were construction works going on for the entire month of June on the Eurostar, which meant delays and last minute cancellations. I used to regularly take the Eurostar to France as a student, and this was the first time I’d ever experienced any unpredictability in their service. But they allowed passengers to change their bookings at no extra cost. Since I had left spacious gaps between all my connections to allow for any delays and assuage my travel anxiety, I was at the station nice and early. I changed onto a train an hour earlier, giving me more time in Paris for dinner and a drink. 

Train #3: Paris Austerlitz to Toulouse Matabiau by SNCF Night Train (22:13pm-7:44am).

One quick Métro journey across the Seine took me to Austerlitz station. This next train was by far the most exciting part of the journey. I had never experienced a sleeper train before so I was really looking forward to seeing what it was like. The train waits at the platform well in advance of departure, allowing passengers to board, find their bunk and get ready for bed. There are bathrooms and changing rooms at the end of each carriage. I was surprised to see that the bunks in the carriages are triple stacked, meaning there are six people in a room. It’s a bit of a squeeze, but once you’re ensconced in your bunk, it's pretty comfortable. 

SNCF provides a fresh sleeping bag and pillow for each passenger, water and toiletries, which is all pretty good value for the low cost of the ticket (under €50). Additionally, if you’re travelling alone as a woman, you can notify SNCF when booking and they will place you in a carriage with all other solo women travellers. I woke up once in the night to pitch blackness thinking I’d been prematurely jostled out of sleep, but looked at my phone to discover it was 6am and we were almost at Toulouse!

Train #4: Toulouse Matabiau to Narbonne by SNCF (8:42am-9:58am)

After a croissant and coffee at Toulouse station, I took a relatively short train eastwards to Narbonne, from where I’d catch my final train into Spain. Another option is to travel to Perpignan and pick up the train there. From Narbonne or Perpignan you can take the high speed train which tunnels through the Pyrenees, but I chose to take the slower and cheaper coastal route:

Train #5: Narbonne to Barcelona Sants by RENFE (10:34am-12:38pm)

My final train! The sunny scenery along the coast was making it feel like a holiday by now. You wouldn't get those views 35,000 feet in the air. The weather was looking glorious and I was already picturing beers on the beach in Barcelona. This train was showing noticeable signs of being bound for a large European festival. Lots of different languages, backpacks, party gear and excited noise. I found myself sitting next to another English woman who'd taken virtually the same journey as me (to avoid flying) and was equally as excited about seeing Charli XCX. I also spoke to an American woman who was living and working in France, and travelling solo by train to the festival. After a couple of hours chatting as though we had known each other for much longer, the train pulled into its final stop – Barcelona Sants – and I was off to find my friends.

There are plenty of ways you can get between London/Paris and Barcelona. There’s the direct high speed train from Paris which takes seven hours or so, so you might need an overnight stay somewhere in order to be in Paris at the right time. Or you can go via Lille and Nîmes which avoids having to cross Paris. I chose to take the night train for the sheer thrill of it, and basically for a cheap bed for the night.

While the festival was a hoot, the journey there was also a lot of fun. I saw different parts of Paris and got familiar with corners of France I hadn’t been to before. It felt much less stressful hopping on and off trains than checking in for a flight. Europe is so well connected by rail, and cheap sleeper trains serve a dual purpose of a night’s accommodation while also getting you somewhere. 

When it came to coming home, I decided to try the Flixbus. This meant sitting (and trying to sleep) on a coach from Barcelona to Paris for 14 hours overnight. It did sound agonising, but I found it very hard to argue with the €30 ticket.

The bus left Barcelona at about 5pm, and for the first few hours it was nice to look out at the Spanish and French countryside. But after the sun set, that was where the fun ended. The rest of the night was a blur of nodding off, neck pain and nervously checking my phone. These buses would be great for city hopping, but maybe not for an all nighter. Traffic also caused huge delays, resulting in a high octane sprint across Paris for my Eurostar, the likes of which is usually only observed in spy thrillers.

The round trip cost me under £300 at a time of year when summer flights to Spain were at an absolute premium. Five trains might feel like a slog for some people, but for me it felt like an adventure. I’ve just bought my ticket for Primavera Sound 2026 and I'll be taking the same route again next year (though maybe not the coach part!)