Okay.. I've never used these hotel trains, so if you find a more knowledgable person here, listen to them.

1) I think you cannot buy tickets online at Elipsos' website when you are in the US. They forward you to RailEurope, where you cannot get a quote for that routing yet.

2) Go to Elipsos' website, click on "fares", pick "Spain" as the country where you want to buy the ticket, and "brochure" as how you would like to see the prices. Then you can pick your starting point Barcelona and destination Paris. After that you will get an overview of regular and discounted fares (and the restrictions). Maybe you can use that chart to compare any quote from any US reseller of Elipsos to see if they charge a lot more or not.

Topping this for the nightcrew - I looked some more at the website suggested but I still can find no way to purchase and print. There did seem to be an option to pick up at a RENFE boutique but it only listed Madrid??? I did find a wonderful fare of 69E - I want that price! Anyone have any magic for me?

Keep topping as it seems folks have booked these hotel trains online

69 euros seems a great deal

???

Thanks for trying to help me PalenQ! The 90 day out mark is approaching and I'm still puttering around on the website. Anyone out there who can help? Thanks!

Ok let's try again - i'm curious myself and it seems you should be able to do it from European sources online???

Maybe calling Renfe International information number ? 902 24 34 02
Spain's international prefix is 34.

suec1, were you able to find out how to do this? I'm having this problem myself.

It seems that you can only purchase the Elipsos tickets in Europe (Spain, France, etc.).

The following is from the Elipsos website:

You can obtain information, reserve a seat or ask for your ticket to be sent to your home address by dialling the RENFE Information and Ticket Reservation number: 902 24 02 02

I wonder if you could purchase the tickets using the SNCF site.

I am having trouble as well for the Elipsos train from Barcelona to Paris. We will be a total of 4 persons who would want "doubles with showers". No matter whether I use the Spanish site or the French site, or try to book 2 or 4 at a time, I get the same message, in effect "Following a technical error, we invite you to try later on." If I select "double first class", that works OK. Anyone know why the website will not allow tickets for the berths with a shower ?
Thanks.

If you are determined to book this train before Europe - highly recommended IME and if you can't get the European online sites to work then yes call BETS 800-441-2387 - though they work thru RailEurope their service IME is expert and personal. And once in a while RE even has good prices on these trains - but generally you will pay more but if all else fails it may be priceless.

I've done Elipsos trips three different times and for whatever reason had difficulty booking on-line.

I would use as agency such as BETS UNLESS you are going to be in Barcelona several days ahead and willing to take a chance that the type of accommodations you want (Gran Classe) aren't already sold out.

Thanks, PalenQ & Dukey. My trip isn't till December, so I will keep trying until I get in the timeframe that I can use my actual travel dates on the websites. I would like to get the tickets before we leave, just in case, but was hoping to avoid RE, as it looks like it would be about $1000 extra for the 4 of us. We might chance it and try to buy them once we arrive in Barcelona - I don't know if those seats would normally sell out. Thanks again.