Trains in Spain
In my line of work I have an endless supply of inspiration. Every new enquiry sets the wheel in motion for thoughts and ideas on my own next trip. My problem is eliminating the tempting choices so that I am left with exactly the right trip. This year I knew I wanted to stay relatively close to home because we had been to Toronto and Mexico last year, and I have a few things in the pipeline for the coming year. So we hit the “old reliable” – Spain.
So then, I knew we wanted to go to Spain, and we definitely wouldn't want to go to Dublin for that flight. I have no problem with Dublin Airport for long haul flights, but when you’re staying in Europe, it’s such a TREAT to fly in and out of Cork. I also knew that it wouldn't suit us just to go to one place and come home AND I know if we were moving around I don’t want to double back on ourselves - so we’d travel along the coast!
My next question, how can I create a trip that had something for me, a grown up and my son, a 3 and half year old boy? After studying time tables, destinations and excursions, I landed on the perfect itinerary. We flew from Cork to Valencia, spent some time here enjoying paella, visiting Gulliver’s Park and the aquarium. Read more on my “Valencia Adventure” blog.
After having our fill of fun in Valencia we caught the fast train to Barcelona. This was just two and a half hours from Valencia and covered nearly 350 kilometres. While the train station was busy, there was no check in time required and no faffing around with luggage. When we got on board the meal service was limited, but we had our own snacks and some activities to keep us occupied. There was preassigned seating so we didn’t have to worry about seats together. In Barcelona we ate churros until we were fit to burst, got the Montjuic Cable car and enjoyed a bit of time at the beach. Read more on my “Beach Bliss in Barcelona” blog.
When it was time to move on from Barcelona we caught our second and final train of the trip up to the Costa Brava, to where we chilled (kind of!) by the pool, splashed on the waterslides and baked on the beach. To finish we pottered on to Girona airport for our leisurely flight back to our darling ORK. We had the most amazing time and this was the perfect itinerary for us. The direct flights from Cork were seamless, both inbound and outbound flights departed and arrived on time, with very respectable mid morning or afternoon flight times. We breezed through airport security in Cork in less than 10 minutes. Train travel with a small person is ideal, no long waits at extra airports, the excitement of a train journey was a day out in itself.
I had private transfers booked for each part of the journey as I wasn’t sure how available taxis were going to be. It’s unquestionably the way forward. I’m a firm believer that no two holidays are ever the same and this trip was one to remember for us.
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