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It takes roughly the same time to reach Spain from London and southwest Germany, though. Meaning that London is closer to Spain by rail than most of Germany. Eu

It takes roughly the same time to reach Spain from London and southwest Germany, though. Meaning that London is closer to Spain by rail than most of Germany. Eurostar and (the rest of) the French high speed network really compensate some simple geography. Of course the journeys to southern Spain take too long to appeal the mainstream, and it is easier to purchase plane tickets, too. To answer your question, it takes 12 hours to reach Barcelona from London and a few more the next day to reach Alicante…

ginnungagap 5y ago
> Eurostar and (the rest of) the French high speed network really compensate some simple geography. Wouldn't German travelers also take advantage of French high speed trains when travelling to Spain?
- alexanderchr 5y ago
  Problem is you have to go through Paris du to the way the French HSR is built. And time-wise London is closer to Paris than most German cities.
  - ginnungagap 5y ago
    Makes sense, the French railway metric strikes again...
JimDabell 5y ago
> It takes roughly the same time to reach Spain from London and southwest Germany, though My point was not that we should judge connectivity by distance to Alicante. My point was that, being an island, the routes from the UK to arbitrary cities in Europe are particularly long, especially if you are judging them as if they were a typical European country. If you prefer, swap out Alicante for Prague or Rome, or swap out Germany for France or Italy. The UK is isolated by the sea, so it should come as no great surprise that ground travel loses out to air travel. > from London You’re missing out part of the journey. I see multiple people getting tricked by the name of the airport in this thread. “London Luton Airport” is in Luton, not London. The start of the trip is not London, and you’ll need to make your way to and through London by train to compare fairly to London Luton Airport. Same goes for most of the other “London” airports.

ginnungagap 5y ago

> Eurostar and (the rest of) the French high speed network really compensate some simple geography. Wouldn't German travelers also take advantage of French high speed trains when travelling to Spain?

alexanderchr 5y ago
Problem is you have to go through Paris du to the way the French HSR is built. And time-wise London is closer to Paris than most German cities.
- ginnungagap 5y ago
  Makes sense, the French railway metric strikes again...

JimDabell 5y ago

> It takes roughly the same time to reach Spain from London and southwest Germany, though My point was not that we should judge connectivity by distance to Alicante. My point was that, being an island, the routes from the UK to arbitrary cities in Europe are particularly long, especially if you are judging them as if they were a typical European country. If you prefer, swap out Alicante for Prague or Rome, or swap out Germany for France or Italy. The UK is isolated by the sea, so it should come as no great surprise that ground travel loses out to air travel. > from London You’re missing out part of the journey. I see multiple people getting tricked by the name of the airport in this thread. “London Luton Airport” is in Luton, not London. The start of the trip is not London, and you’ll need to make your way to and through London by train to compare fairly to London Luton Airport. Same goes for most of the other “London” airports.