Perpignan away, Stade Aime Giral, Sun Dec 15th 2024, 13:00

Being right before Christmas makes this a bit more of a challenge logistically.

I've booked a twin in the Hotel Mondial for Sat/Sun, which is very handy for O'Flaherty's, which I believe is where we ended up last time based on the sticker on the bottom of my USAP pitcher.

The Intercite de Nuit leaves Paris at 21:22 Friday and arrives at 08:37 so will probably jump on that.

Given the Sunday kickoff there's scope to take in another game. The only nearby options are Castres v Munster on Friday night or Montpellier v Ospreys Saturday lunchtime. Munster crowd will have all the rooms booked in Castres and not sure the Ospreys game would be worth it.
Beziers v Montauban in ProD2 might be better craic. An hour away. Fixture not confirmed but they tend to be Friday nights. Narbonne could be at home in the third tier, but those fixtures aren't out yet.

Note that this game coincides with the weekend that the European train timetables do their annual change. So you won't be able to book tickets (or even officially see the times) for the return trip until sometime in October. Though you can work on the assumption that they will be more or less the same as the previous week.
www.seat61.com/european-train-booking-ho...tm#Timetable_changes

Flights & hotel booked! Out Friday 13th & back Monday 16th from Barcelona and booked into Dali Hotel!

Four months to go so the train tickets are available for the outward leg.
I booked the night train from Austerlitz at 21:22 on Friday if anyone else is coming on the Pinkygnan Express. €39 in first.

pinky wrote: Four months to go so the train tickets are available for the outward leg.
I booked the night train from Austerlitz at 21:22 on Friday if anyone else is coming on the Pinkygnan Express. €39 in first.

from experience heading to Brive, Austerlitz is a nice and tidy station, but there wasnt much in terms of shopping don't forget to pop into a store beforehand for grub/drinks (vin)

the route seems to go the coastal route from Montpelier, the scenery is stunning, so do wake up and enjoy the view

My plan is
Dublin - Barcelona with Aer Lingus on Saturday morning
Train from Barcelona to Perpignan Saturday evening
Staying in an Ibis
Monday morning, early flight to Paris from Perpignan with Transavia
Home from Paris Monday night with Aer Lingus, so I get some pre-Christmas sightseeing in.

ShaneM wrote: Was trying to remember the Pubs we were in Pinky...

Pulled the trigger on this one.
Out With Aer Lingus on Saturday 14th and Back with Ryanair on Monday 16th to Barcelona.
Got a decent rate in the Mercure Perpignan, fairly central.

Train Timetable goes up to Saturday 15th December!!! So will give it a few more weeks.

SNCF have prices for the Saturday live, Renfe don't have anything up for Dec.
SNCF 13:25 from Sants is their only direct train (on the timetable for Dec) that'll work with the Aer Lingus flight in, train from airport to Sants, you'll have less than than 90 mins to wait, all going well. Sants station is about 25 mins from Airport.
Renfe will have a train hopefully around 16:30
SNCF have a 16:00ish train on the timetable for Summer, hopefully it'll be added to winter timetable soon.
Bus with blacars bus or flixBus are very frequent (better than hourly), from Barcelona Nord bus station. Takes 2:30hrs compared to 1:25hrs for the bus.
Airport to bus station is 45mins
You can use either sncf connect, or trainline.com, to purchase tickets for trains and bus.
Renfe at 50e seem more expensive for their train compared to SNCF, 30e, while bus is less than 10e if booked now

It's possible to get from Barca to Perpignan by regional trains in any case.

6 of us heading over for this. Aer Lingus out Saturday morning and Ryanair back on the Monday from Barca. Going to hire a car / people carrier for the spin up and back.

Havent booked accomodation yet, but we should we be safe enough just getting something central and figuring it out after.

I see the stadium isnt too far out so is probably walkable from the centre of town too.

Ryano wrote: Havent booked accomodation yet, but we should we be safe enough just getting something central and figuring it out after.
.

it's a small enough center, tbh 15/20 mins walk would cover most of it

Ryano wrote: I see the stadium isnt too far out so is probably walkable from the centre of town too.

there's buses from center to the ground too, less than 10 mins. I recall we walked back in last time after the game.

Train tickets available from October 2nd
www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/help-en/ticket-sales-opening