I am planning to travel end of June to Barcelona-Madrid-Seville-Granada-Barcelona using 2 overnights and AVE. According to flexipass, there are surcharges involved with overnights and express trains, and according to Rick Steve's site, one has to also pay up to half a normal tkt even with a pass, on top of the bed fee. Is this correct? Is it not worth getting the pass? ALSO, I think the time I'm going is high season. If my itinerary is tight, should I reserve before I leave NYC? I'm just worried about the extra surcharges per tkt if I reserve from the States. What is your experience and advice? Detailed info would be particularly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Get your itinerary mapped out and your decision may be a little easier. It makes a difference if you are travelling 'solo' or with a companion. I took a todo Preferente Talgo Sleeper from Barcelona to Sevilla last year. It was a 2-bed compartment with a sink - the W/C was at the end of the Carriage: very quiet & comfortable.

I think you can buy your Tarjeta Turistica at any Renfe Office in Spain - show your passport with an entry stamp. At least that's what a Renfe Agent told me at Sevilla Santa Justa. That way you might save a few Euros.

Personally, I prefer to remain flexible so I just buy point-to-point tickets. That way, if the Bus looks better (Sevilla-Granada for example), I take the bus. I have even ridden an overnight bus Madrid-Sevilla and day-long Motorcoach trips from Sevilla to Lisbon and from Santander to Barcelona because they were the best option available.

If you're flying Iberia out of JFK you might even consider a 'Visit Spain' Pass (4 or more flight segments). We did that one year and it worked out great.

Hi Eddie,

Thanks for the reply. We are 4 people traveling and I thought I made my itinerary clear: Barcelona-Madrid-Seville-Granada-Barcelona, in that order over 11 days. We thought about renting a car but we don't want to lose time driving and rather sleep on overnights to save money on hotels and sight-seeing time. Eddie, your 2 compartment bed trip from Seville to Barcelona sounds like the type of way we want to go overnight. If anyone has used a flexipass with overnights and express trains, I'd love to hear about how it works regarding surcharges and what to do at the station and with conductors with regards to reserving seats/beds.

Marian5 writes: If you want that kind of sleeping arrangement you may have to be travelling Preferente rather than Turista. Anything about sleeper reservations should be taken care of at a Renfe Ticket Agent/Office in advance - I would say no less than 72-hours in advance of your proposed travel date. You're not going to accomplish much at the station or with the conductor if you just arrive at the Station on your departure date.

You should also buy your seat reservations for Talgo or AVE a day or so in advance. :p

Thanks for the heads up Eddie,

My dilemma is that I don't have 3 days to purchase sleepers in advance and am torn to make the reservation before I leave the States. I know this costs more but I don't think I have a choice if I want to make sure my itinerary doesn't get screwed up (I'm traveling in high season).

For popular routes during tourist season, I'd book ahead of time. You can always change it if you go to a ticket counter before the departure. I personally usually take the bus because it's cheaper (I took the Ave once when I was going from Vigo to Granada just because I couldn't fathom 16 hours on a bus) but seats do sell out, especially during tourist season. When I was studying in Seville one of my friends almost missed her trip to Italy because she put off making a reservation on the overnight bus to Madrid and the only reason she got on the bus was because one person who had a ticket didn't show up. Better safe than sorry!

Melinda

Were you able to determine if the Flexipass is a good deal for your trip? We are going to the very same cities (and the same order) the end of June and beginning of July. While we are not going to plan to sleep on the trains I was wondering if purchasing the pass was considered a cost savings? My teenagers would qualify for a youth pass.

The 2nd class pass costs $165 for 3 days, $30 per additional, 1st class pass $215, $35 additional, according to one web page. Given that, we drop the E17 fare from Seville->Granada from the pass.

www.renfe.com shows these fares, in Euros
Barcelona -> Madrid 2nd E44, 1st E58, Night 2nd E40 1st E53
Madrid -> Seville AVE 2nd E64, 1st E95
Granada -> Barcelona E47 Night E49
I'm ignoring sleeper compartment cost, since that will be the same in with or without a pass.(?)
Thus, the total for 2nd class, with night trains, individual purchase, is E153, and 1st class E197.

There are a bunch of unknowns here: cost of seat reservation with pass, surcharge for AVE, etc, exchange rate in July, additional pass use (such as stopping off in Cordoba). So is $165 + extra fees < E153? Or $215 + extra fees < E197? Borderline, and dependent on extra fees and other unknowns. Plus there may be errors in my numbers. I can see why you aren't sure.

Another factor to be considered is the dollar's current weakness against the Euro. 2003 Railpass prices were defined last year when the U.S. dollar was stronger. So, anything you can buy at last year's prices should be a bargain with the Euro currently trading at about $1.15