Car service in Barcelona/Paris

[chicagolaw]

Hi. Next summer I am taking the 10 night mediterranean cruise leaving out of Barcelona. We will be flying in from the states and are planning to do about a week to a week and half of traveling before the cruise. Because of the length of our vacation I am assuming I am going to be bringing lots of luggage. It will be myself and two boys (11, 10). I'm thinking it might be easier to have a car service pick us up at the airport. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any companies they recommend? We are going to Paris and London before Barcelona, so if anyone has any recommendations for those cities also. Thanks.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I have pre booked before, I would say do not pre book the taxi service on demand is great.

Our visits there we have pre booked and used on demand taxis, on demand never any wait over five minutes, whatever car size we want we got, prompt fast cheap, regulated.

Pre booked, on three pre booked trips, two were late, I had to call and chance, others going by on demand taxis were seen and gone whilst I was chasing them.

Do not pre book.

London.

Like Barcelona public transport and taxis are fantastic, you can get from any airport to central London by taxis, train, and tube/ subway. Pre book if we have a tube strike.

 

[thebigredBOAT]

Hi. Next summer I am taking the 10 night mediterranean cruise leaving out of Barcelona. We will be flying in from the states and are planning to do about a week so we can have a traveling before the cruise. Because of the length of our vacation I am assuming I am going to be bringing lots of luggage. It will be myself and two boys (11, 10). I'm thinking it might be easier to have a car service pick us up at the airport. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any companies they recommend? We are going to Paris and London before Barcelona, so if anyone has any recommendations for those cities also. Thanks.

I pre-booked my family a minivan for pickup at BCN, since we will be arriving late at night (11:30pm) and I didn't want to have to deal with potential issues at the taxi stand. I also have confirmed them having a child's seat installed for my DS. Plus, my DW insisted...

I ended up booking directly through the company that our hotel uses (Renaissance). I had emailed the hotel to ask about their services, but they just sent me a form email reply and didn't answer any of my questions. Plus, this way I eliminated their tremendous markup! I've been quoted 96€ after taxes & tip (including the 10€ for the car seat) vs. the ~150€+tax that the Renaissance quoted. I'm still not sure why they told me which car service they use!

Their contact info is autosdriver(at)autos-driver(dot)com if you're interested. I'll post back in another month after we have used them to let you know if they're reliable, safe, etc.

thebigredBOAT

 

[thebigredBOAT]

We are going to Paris and London before Barcelona, so if anyone has any recommendations for those cities also. Thanks.

Forgot to answer this part!

For Paris, I'd say it'll be most cost effective to use an Uber Van. I just did a fare estimate, and it was 70€ from CDG to the Park Hyatt, which should be a decent proxy for any of the in-town hotels. That's probably a much better rate than any hotel-arranged transfer option. If you don't end up having too much baggage, an UberX should be <50€!

Same recommendation for London, or grabbing the Heathrow Express into Paddington and then an Uber from there. Black cabs are quite large, so there shouldn't be any issue with baggage, but they are darn pricey!!

Too bad Spain is so protectionist anti-Uber, or else I'd be saving a bunch of euros there, too...

thebigredBOAT

 

[chicagolaw]

Thanks!!! Many years ago I travelled with my then husband to china and I remember our luggage not fitting in the cabs outside the airports and I know I will have a lot more this time and did not want to run into the same problem this time. Thanks again.

 

[thebigredBOAT]

Thanks!!! Many years ago I travelled with my then husband to china and I remember our luggage not fitting in the cabs outside the airports and I know I will have a lot more this time and did not want to run into the same problem this time. Thanks again.

Yes, you're right to be concerned about European taxi sizes, in general. It really does vary depending on where you are. Most of the time they'll charge you extra Euros per piece of luggage, too.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Forgot to answer this part!

For Paris, I'd say it'll be most cost effective to use an Uber Van. I just did a fare estimate, and it was 70€ from CDG to the Park Hyatt, which should be a decent proxy for any of the in-town hotels. That's probably a much better rate than any hotel-arranged transfer option. If you don't end up having too much baggage, an UberX should be <50€!

Same recommendation for London, or grabbing the Heathrow Express into Paddington and then an Uber from there. Black cabs are quite large, so there shouldn't be any issue with baggage, but they are darn pricey!!

Too bad Spain is so protectionist anti-Uber, or else I'd be saving a bunch of euros there, too...

thebigredBOAT

as I live in London, and this is also in the news today, I would like to add to this, - not a criticism, but additional information.

Black cabs are highly regulated, well trained, and only pricy if compared to less regulated mini cabs, currently there is a big debate on how to improve mini cabs, on service, training, insurance, and safety up to black cab levels of safety. We have had issues on unregulated mini cabs.

Now some firms such as " Addisone Lee" have very very high standards and money off options via thier APP, do not book any London taxi unless it has a TFL licence.

Now there was a thread here a few months back, I answered it and someone found a deal on a firm in London, I didn't like the firm but it had a TFL licence but due to its location And low price, I recommended against it. I can give feedback people used them for cruises, one person had serious issues, another said they were OK.

You get what you pay for, do not undercut black cabs too much and do not trust UBER as much as outside here.

 

[jrabbit]

we used RoissyBus from the Paris-Opera area to CDG. Its only about an hour trip and 11 Euros per person. Plenty of room for your luggage.

Are you flying or Eurostar between London and Paris? We were surprised at the LACK of storage space on the Eurostar train for suitcases.

If each boy can handle a typical carryon sized roller bag - 22x14x9 and a small backpack and you have a large suitcase and purse/carryon bag you should be able to manage the Underground / Metro in London and Paris if need be. BUT in Paris a lot of the Metros we used didn't have lifts or escalators - so carrying luggage up / down the stairs can be problematic.

 

[jrabbit]

Pre book if we have a tube strike.

I was in London last summer pre Northern Europe Cruise with an Underground Strike on Thursday. On Thursday, the roads were a mess!! Uber was had a very high multiplier going. So if there's a tube strike, find someplace else to visit ....

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I was in London last summer pre Northern Europe Cruise with an Underground Strike on Thursday. On Thursday, the roads were a mess!! Uber was had a very high multiplier going. So if there's a tube strike, find someplace else to visit ....

Yes- spot on.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

There is btw a direct train service from London St Pancrus to either,
Marne- La-valley, (DLP). Directly at Disney between the parks and resort hotels.
Or
Paris.

Book three months in advance.

 

[gemmybear83]

There is btw a direct train service from London St Pancrus to either,
Marne- La-valley, (DLP). Directly at Disney between the parks and resort hotels.
Or
Paris.

Book three months in advance.

You can book up to spring 2017 for the direct Eurostar to Disneyland Paris, the earlier you book the lower the rates. 3 month rates apply to UK rail services.

We used suntransfers.com for pre booked car service in Barcelona last year, they were excellent will be using them again this year

 

[Trera]

I pre-booked my family a minivan for pickup at BCN, since we will be arriving late at night (11:30pm) and I didn't want to have to deal with potential issues at the taxi stand. I also have confirmed them having a child's seat installed for my DS. Plus, my DW insisted...

I ended up booking directly through the company that our hotel uses (Renaissance). I had emailed the hotel to ask about their services, but they just sent me a form email reply and didn't answer any of my questions. Plus, this way I eliminated their tremendous markup! I've been quoted 96€ after taxes & tip (including the 10€ for the car seat) vs. the ~150€+tax that the Renaissance quoted. I'm still not sure why they told me which car service they use!

Their contact info is autosdriver(at)autos-driver(dot)com if you're interested. I'll post back in another month after we have used them to let you know if they're reliable, safe, etc.

thebigredBOAT

We were in Barcelona last week and stayed at the renaissance. Taxi from BCN to the hotel was less than 30 euros for two people. No complaints.

 

[Trera]

we used RoissyBus from the Paris-Opera area to CDG. Its only about an hour trip and 11 Euros per person. Plenty of room for your luggage.

Are you flying or Eurostar between London and Paris? We were surprised at the LACK of storage space on the Eurostar train for suitcases.

If each boy can handle a typical carryon sized roller bag - 22x14x9 and a small backpack and you have a large suitcase and purse/carryon bag you should be able to manage the Underground / Metro in London and Paris if need be. BUT in Paris a lot of the Metros we used didn't have lifts or escalators - so carrying luggage up / down the stairs can be problematic.

When we were in Paris last week, taxi was a fixed price of 50 euros from CDG to the W Hotel across the street from the opera house.