Hi,<BR>I tried to make reservation to Barcelona-Granada overnight train by using 902 Renfe number and was told that I can make reservation only 48 hours in advance because I need to pick up my tickets. I'm far away from spain and I'll arribeve only in the beginning of October. May be at this time no tickets will be left. What options do I have ?

www.europebyair.com fly for $99

by all means -- FLY. the train takes at least 9 (more like 12) hrs, i think.

Unless you are taking an overnight train and have a separate room. Then you can use the money you would spend on a hotel and airfare and find a unique way to get from point a to point b.

I've used overnight trains in Spain, usually booking on the same day or the day before. They shouldn't be too busy in October except around weekends. There may be another option if you can't get the accommodation you want, such as the overnight train to Madrid then a high-speed train to Granada in the morning.

There is no high-speed train to Granada, a 6 hours journey from Madrid.

I agree that for an October journey you can probably book the day before travel or on the day of travel, either direct or with a change in Madrid (which makes a long trip: Barcelona 2300, Madrid Chamartin 0800 to 0810, Granada 1405. But for a small extra fee you can use any suitable agency. Here is a list.<BR><BR>USA<BR>Euraide, offices in Florida and Germany: http://www.euraide.de/. Telephone in USA 1 941-480-1555. Fax 1 941-480-1522. E-mail [email protected]<BR>Rail-owned DER travel agency in the USA: http://www.der.com<BR>UK<BR>Trainseurope Ltd, of Cambridgeshire and London, take credit card bookings by phone and mail tickets to any address. Have the widest access in Britain to rail systems and tickets. http://www.trainseurope.co.uk/ - E-mail [email protected]. Phone 00 44 900 195 0101 - calls from Britain cost 60p per minute, maximum &pound;5, but if the enquiry results in a booking, the cost of the call is deducted from the final invoice.<BR>German Rail UK: www.deutsche-bahn.co.uk/ Phone : 00 44 870 243 53 63 Fax : 00 44 20 8339 4700. E-mail : [email protected] <BR><BR><BR>You probably know that the through train with restaurant car and sleepers leaves Barcelona Sants at 2100 and reaches Granada at 0809. I agree with Kitty. I expect that Beth and Lori were thinking of the long day journey. As a night journey this is good: long enough to sleep fully, not so long as to get dull.<BR><BR>Please write if I can help further.<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London<BR>

That's true. You have to pick up your tickets within 48 hours and the overnight train would required booking ahead to secure a spot. There are travel agencies overseas that sell tickets on behalf RENFE but add a surcharge. I found some agencies from the Rough Guide (the guide book that I used for travelling to Spain. Sorry, Fodors). But we didn't get any tickets as the train we wanted was full. We enquired about 3 to 4 weeks before departure date in end of August. We flew Iberia instead. If you really want this, I would get to it soon. But we booked the other tickets (Madrid to Sevilla etc) using the 902 number no problem and pick up our tickets once we arrived in Madrid at the RENFE office inside the airport.