Daily Trains Transport Paris Visitors To Spain

Q. My wife and I will be in Paris this spring and would like to drop down to Bilbao, Spain, for a visit to the new Guggenheim Museum. Can this be done overland, by train?

A. There is an excellent train service from Paris to Irun, Spain, and from there it is a fairly short bus ride to Bilbao.

The Rail Europe schedule until next May 23 shows that there is a daily train with couchette service from Gare d’Austerlitz to Irun, and three daily trains and one every day from Monday to Saturday from Gare Montparnasse.

Fares for spring have not yet been posted, but current fares are $127 one way in first class and $104 in second. Montparnasse service is by the high-speed service known as the TGV; Austerlitz service is by regular train.

Nine buses a day connect Irun and Bilbao. The trip takes 1 hour and 50 minutes, and the one-way fare is about $7.

More information can be obtained from Rail Europe at (800) 438-7245 or on the Web at www.raileurope.com.

Q. Do you know of any tours of cathedrals in England?

A. Aptly enough, a company called Cathedral Tours England specializes in tours of English cathedrals and heritage sites. The tours, which last either 9 or 14 days, start and finish in London.

The 14-day tour visits Salisbury, Bath, Gloucester, Hereford, York, Durham, Cambridge, Ely, Canterbury, St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey in London. Tours scheduled for this year are from May 3 to 17 and Sept. 20 to Oct. 3. The cost is $2,450 a person.

The shorter tours concentrate on specific regions. A tour of southeast and eastern England, for example, includes Canterbury, St. Albans, Cambridge, Norwich, Lincoln and Peterborough, and are scheduled for June 6 and Oct. 17. Tours of western and northern England are also available. The shorter tours cost $1,550 a person. Travel to London from the United States is not included.

More information and reservations: Arts & Crafts Tours, 110 Riverside Drive, Suite 15E, New York, N.Y. 10024; (212) 362-0761 or (800) 742-0730, fax (212) 787-2823. By E-mail: actours@aol.com. Arts & Crafts Tours also organizes its own trips, including “Historic 19th-Century English Stained Glass,” which visits Ely, Gloucester and Southwark Cathedrals. The tour, from July 11 to 19, costs $3,870.

“Castles and Cathedrals” is a 10-day tour being organized by Lord Addison Travel Ltd., PO Box 307, Peterborough. N.H. 03458; (800) 326-0170, fax (603) 924-9210. The tour, from July 30 to Aug. 8, will visit Chichester, Winchester, Salisbury and Wells. Costs per person in double occupancy are $2,830, with air fare.

Another company that specializes in travel with culture as its main thrust is ACE Study Tours. Its programs center on a particular cathedral rather than on several. A five-day program called Hereford to Kilpeck concentrates on the architecture, history and treasures of Hereford Cathedral.

The Hereford program costs $500, calculated at $1.73 to the pound. Prices are based on two people sharing a room and include breakfast, dinner, most admissions, and lecturers and guides.

Information: ACE Study Tours, Babraham, Cambridge, CB2 4AP, England; telephone (44-1223) 835055, fax (44-1223) 837394. E-mail: ace@study-tours.org.