Travel Question - Spain,France, Benelux

[mwarren20]

I am planning a trip from August 20-Sept 12. I have been doing some research but have been confused by what I have found about the Eurail pass. I am an American, under 26 so I qualify for youth rates.

I am planning on going:Granada-Madrid-Valencia-Barcelona-(overnight train to) Paris-Amsterdam.

At first, it made a lot of sense for me to look at the 3 Country Select Pass. For students, that gives me 8 trips in 2 months for $402. But for the most part I am travelling on the high speed trains. It doesn't really seem like I have any other option for my routes. These high speed trains are reservation compulsory and the reservation fees I got from Raileurope.com were as follows: 11+11+14+76 (for just a seat on the overnight train to Paris) +26. This makes my total cost $551.

When I used Raileurope.com to look at city to city ticket prices without a rail pass, I was given these costs: 84+60+54+103 (and I get a bed rather than just a seat) +78. That total is $379.

If my work is right, then the city to city listing is $172 cheaper. Why is it so much cheaper to go city to city rather than buying the Eurail pass? Is this really what I should do?

In terms of making reservations, how early do you think I need to do this? For routes such as Madrid-Valencia or Paris-Amsterdam, do you think reservations are necessary? I know that I should make a reservation for the night train Barcelona to Paris to ensure a bed.

Thank you for you help, it is just very confusing about making reservations or not. I do not understand why buying the Eurail pass would be $172 more than just going city to city.

[herrbert]

Like I said in the other topic, take a serious look at some flights. Especially in Spain, and the connection from Barcelona to Paris, can be flown with a fraction of these costs.

But seriously: this trip is way too rushed.

Eurail has a fixed price. p2p-tickets vary because of distance, the country your in etc. If you don't exceed the costs you have for a p2p-ticket, than a pass is not needed. Simply get your ticket and make your reservations (if needed), upon arrival. (with hi-speed trains it allows needed to make reservations.)

Check some websites: www.bahn.de (go to International Guest section for the English version of this website) has all the timetables of train in Europe, and also a lot of other information. (a little red dot, with a R in it, tells you, that you need a reservation on this train. www.renfe.es, does the same, but is limited to Spain only. www.flightassistent.com tells you with flights are available from the city you want to leave from, and which company flies them. Note that these are only the budgetairlines, for Spain, you can also check with the major airline: Iberia, as they have good prices, on most flights. (and bad ones on some)

[pointofnoreturn]

I would just stick to point to point tickets for Spain and cheap flights for Paris/Amsterdam because a pass is usually over-priced in most cases.