Eurail passes

[Flatcat]

After the Camino we'll be traveling to Madrid then to Costa Blanca, starting our trip in Paris to St Jean De Pied!
I think it's best to get a Spain/France pass 6 days travel

Question has anyone had problems getting their reservations for each trip if they. Booked within short notice?

The web page recommends get your reservations in advance because trains fill up during peak times!
And they only hold a limited amount of reservation spots for pass holders!

We'll be travelling in May and can't really book that far ahead!
Maybe Paris to St Jean but after that who knows where you'll be on any given day!
We'll try to book our exit on the day we arrive in each city, maybe 3 days in advance.
Thx
Clint

 

[CaminoJohn]

Hi Clint,
I have never found Railpasses to be especially helpful or a cost saving. If you look at the rates on the Spanish and French rail sites you can add it up to see if it is worth the hassle. Plus, it is almost always cheaper to fly than to take the train, especially between Santiago and Madrid.
Here is the Spanish rail site.
http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/index.html
John

 

[Flatcat]

Thx

 

[Flatcat]

Everytime I punch in the details, ( Madrid to Valencia ) or Santiago to Madrid it keeps telling me no direct routes available or connections, site must be glitching!
Renfe
Ill try again

 

[CaminoJohn]

On the site at the top, in purple, go to "Passengers" It should allow you to search. From Santiago to Madrid there is a famous night train with all the compartments becoming berths! But, again, you don't see anything and the plane is quicker and usually cheaper!

 

[Flatcat]

Thx John, your right about airfares, there very cheap!
Paris to Biarritz $90
Santiago to Barcelona $ 85
Can't beat that and much quicker too,
I may just buy my tickets at the station for mid distance trips along the Costa Blanca,
I might skip Madrid this time around and just head south!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

My search gets:
Tren / Recorrido Salida Llegada Duración
04154 ALVIA 16.05 21.48 5 h. 43 min.
00852 TRENHOTEL 22.33 08.02 9 h. 29 min.

There is no guarantee that these trains will run at these times when you are ready to travel, but their availability has been pretty stable over the last couple of years.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Eurail passes are a waste of money. You can fly cheaper...or book point to point trains cheaper.

 

[Flatcat]

Eurail passes are a waste of money. You can fly cheaper...or book point to point trains cheaper.

I'll take the advice, I'll blend some flying and trains, ill get my train tickets at each destination when I arrive

 

[ivar]

Eurail passes are a waste of money. You can fly cheaper...or book point to point trains cheaper.

I'll take the advice, I'll blend some flying and trains, ill get my train tickets at each destination when I arrive

Have a look at:

http://www.ryanair.com
http://www.vueling.com
http://www.iberiaexpress.com
http://www.volotea.com/
...just a few of the low cost airlines around that fly to/from Spain.

Buen Camino!
Ivar

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Stay the hell away from Ryanair! I have flown Vueling (the best IMO), EasyJet (not bad), and Ryanair (the worst!) in Spain/Portugal, most recently the last two. EasyJet I will fly again...Ryanair, not on your life, even if it's the cheapest. They nickle and dime you to death not to mention if you choose to carry on anything they are very strict about size of bags. I would take the train rather than fly them again...

Also, when you are looking at trains, they only allow you to book out about 30 days in advance, so don't be surprised if you can't find fares earlier than that.

 

[StuartM]

I agree about Ryanair. Cheap but do everything to extract extra money. They got 120 euros out of me on my Camino because I didn't have access to a printer to print boarding passes myself. Lots of people got pulled out the boarding line 5 minutes before getting on and hit with excess baggage charges in Santiago.

They're cheap if you play the game but there are better airlines for not too much more.