majorca without flying

[mr.foz]

does anyone know how i can get to majorca without having to go on a plane. I dont care if it take me a few days more, i just hate flying. So come on Manchester to Majorca.................any ideas friends????????

Foz

[KARL]

Travel by rail to the Spanish coast and take a ferry across from there. I understand that there is a choice of ferry departure points but you would have to reasearch that Malaga and Barcelona are two likely ones but a travel agent should be able to point you in the right direction. Also, the Spanish tourist service should be of help. You can always google.

[sunflower71]

Rail europe would be able to help with the train side of it, think Barcelona would be a better choice of ports

[mushroom25]

http://www.seat61.com/Spain.htm and
http://www.seat61.com/Spain.htm#Majorca
have much useful information & links to relevant operators...

[Buenchico]

The Thomas Cook Rail Map of Europe shows ferry services operating to Palma from both Barcelona and Val�ncia. Of these, Barcelona is easier to get to.

The German railways web site has all European rail timetables:
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
You can seek multi-country journeys but you should be aware that simply asking for a journey between Manchester and Barcelona usually comes up with a suggestion that allows insufficient check-in time for the Eurostar connection.

As an example of journey times, here's how you could do it next Thursday. (This is based on times from that German website, modified to give you time for the Eurostar connection):

Manchester Piccadilly 1115
London Euston 1328

Euston to Waterloo takes about 15 minutes on the Northern Line underground service.

London Waterloo 1511
Paris Nord 1853

Gare du Nord to Gard d'Austerlitz takes about 25 minutes on Metro Line 5

Paris Austerlitz 2032 (Sleeper service)
Barcelona Franca 0824

So that's got you to Barcelona fairly easily, and without missing any sleep, in under 24 hours. You've then just got to get a taxi to the ferry terminal for the trip across to Palma. Personally, I wouldn't bother. Barcelona has much more to offer than Majorca: Excellent beaches, superb restaurants, lively bars, good quality hotels and enough attractions to keep you busy all summer.

Chris

[Buenchico]

PS: You can book the entire rail journey through National Rail's official partner company, Rail Europe:
http://www.raileurope.co.uk/

However, Rail Europe charge a booking fee which can be avoided by booking with Deutsche Bahn:
http://www.deutsche-bahn.co.uk/
or SNCF:
http://www.sncf.co.uk/

Chris

[mr.foz]

Thanks to all of you, especially Chris who seems to know his stuff very well. As regards staying in Barcelona, Chris, would love to but Mrs and Kids will be in Sa Coma waiting for me. Funny thing is only live 30 mins from Manchester Airport so could do it all in just over 2 hours. What a wuss eh?
Thank,s Foz