Hey MadridMan,I am traveling to Spain for 10 days in the beginning of September. I plan on visiting Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Ibiza. Should I buy a Eurail pass or should I travel from point to point? What would you reccomend I use to travel between these locations?

Hi. There are fast trains between those 3 cities (via Madrid). That's the way I'd go. I doubt a Eurail pass would work out cheaper than a couple of return tickets from Madrid.

Saludos!

yes, california mike use the renfe trains of spain ,the eurorail pass is to travel from country to country in europe, spain's train system is very inexpensive, you shouldn't have a problem! www.renfe.es

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Fast trains between those 3 cities?. There are only fast trains between Madrid and Seville. The fastest train from Madrid to Barcelona takes 6 hours 30 minutes!!. This is very slow, compared to 1 hour flying with Iberia and, amazingly, it's cheaper to fly than to take the train!!!.

As for the Eurorailpass missmadrid is right. This is intended to travel among different countries. Furthermore, you can't buy this pass in Spain. The equivalent pass you can buy here is Inter rail . However, this won't provide "free unlimited trips". You still have to pay lots of supplements.

Another choice is Explorer Rail . This is a special pass to travel only in Spain.

Check also Spain Flexipass.

Anyway, unless you travel a lot by train, it isn't worth to buy any passes. Furthermore you can get cheap fares to fly Madrid - Barcelona or Madrid / Barcelona - Ibiza with Iberia, Spanair or Air Europa.

Regards,

Antonio

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The best tips from your favourite hostal in Madrid.
Hostal Chelo at http://www.chelo.com

[This message has been edited by Antonio (edited 08-22-2000).]

Your question was addressed to MadridMan but in these forums it is usually OK for anyone to respond: I recommend AVE Madrid-Sevilla if only for the experience. For your other segments: check with Spanair - they sell a 'Visit Spain Pass' (3 to 5 flight segments at about $60/each). There's also such a thing as a SpainPass (Rail) and Spain Rail and drive Flexipass, but neither of those will get you to Ibiza.

You might have to buy your Visit Spain Pass before you depart for Spain.

Hi Antonio - when I said "fast train" I wasn't thinking of the AVE, I was kind of translating "rapido"!

Saludos!

As used by Renfe, 'Rapido' is an oxymoron. Rapidos are the SLOW Trains; where available Talgos and InterCities (IC's) are reasonably fast. The Talgo technology was designed by Spanish Engineers in Spain - the design of the Chassis of Talgo railcars allows trains to maintain reasonably high speeds over less than perfect railbeds and very mountainous terrain (hills and curves).

Unfortunately, the Amtrak Powers that be did not really give Spain's Talgo technology a fair shake in the development of Acela. If they had, it would probably already be up and running rather than 2-years behind. The regular Talgo doesn't require a new railbed - like AVE or those other ultra high speed trains (TGV, Thalys, Eurostar, etc.).

Eddie,

I have found a Visit Spain offer at Iberia USA site , but I can't find the equivalent at Spanair. Where is it?.

At the Spanish site there is only a Spanair pass. This is a 10 trips ticket that costs 120000 pesetas.

There is also a special offer for young people called Chek 'n' Fly . It is only 5000 pesetas each way and you have to buy 2 of these tickets. The only problem is that you have to wait until there is availability on the plane!!.

As for Talgo trains , they have developed a new generation of Talgos able to run faster than AVEs. I hope the government will choose these trains for the Madrid - Barcelona high speed line.

Regards,

Antonio

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The best tips from your favourite hostal in Madrid.
Hostal Chelo at http://www.chelo.com

Sorry, Antonio (and any others I may have misled):
Maybe Spanair doesn't offer it anymore or maybe Spanair's participation in EurAirPass has overshadowed it. It had to be purchased along with a 'qualifying' transatlantic fare (not just Iberia as Iberia's does). They had it in '99 but I looked in the most recent Spanair timetable I picked up in April and didn't see any reference to it. Sorry, I don't want to post any misinformation.

Iberia has had its 'Visit Spain Pass' for at least 10-years. It's my guess that Iberia claimed proprietary rights to the name and didn't like Spanair's use of it - in which case they (being a government-owned carrier)would have had little problem making Carlos Bravo stop using it.

This is a footnote question to the original post. I will be traveling in Spain and Portugal for a month and a half. My boyfriend and I are going to do a sort of counter clockwise trip from Barcelona, through the north to Galicia, down to Portugal, back in to Spain through the South, up the Costa del Sol and then over to Madrid (best for last!).
I have been comparing the prices for Spain Flexipasses and they seem about the same as purchasing the train tickets point-to-point. I am leaning toward buying tickets there and mixing with bus travel. A friend who travelled in Spain said it is more expensive to buy the tickets there, and she points out the advantage of unlimited travel in a day. To me, however, the 24 hour rules and extra fees for couchettes etc. seem more like UN FASTIDIO.

What do you think? Is November 1- Dec. 18 any kind of peak season (perhaps in the north ski areas, eh?)? Will it be less stressful to get the pass? I prefer not to plan so much, but to linger where we like it, and move on when we are tired of a place.

Will we be stranded for not making reservations earlier than 2-3 days ahead for most trips?

Sorry for the barrage of questions! Thanks so much for any advice, this is a great board.

Alfavela