And another reason for not buying weeks in advance is that there may well be a Eurail Select or Eurailpass special - these have popped up in spring the past few years - but usually by now and offer usually a free day on some type of passes if you buy by a certain date, etc. And again if you have bought previously then you cannot trade your pass in to get the new (and temporary) special. The home page of www.budgeteuropetravel.com IME always has a list of any railpass specials on it - and again they come and go and i have no idea that there will be one this year as it is getting late - but when things like the volcano threaten business the Eurail folks often seem to offer these type of specials. Keep posted anyway - i do not say to wait until the day before your trip to buy but say a month before or so - to give time in case there is an error on your pass, etc so you can return it and get the corrected one - rarely happens but leave time but not several weeks IMO

Thanks for the tips, I will keep my eyes open.
My friend who've been in Europe almost yearly, warn me yesterday that she saw often in Portugal and Spain signs "No Eurail pass allowed" at some train stations, so was advising me not to buy it.

If the prices are the same, I wonder what the convenience of the pass is if you have to be reserving in advance a seat to climb on the train. It maybe just easier to buy tickets there when there is more competition having several trains going the same route....

Mia

pookymimi - A Eurailpass valid in Portugal and Spain is good on practically every train in those two countries and on all - yes all mainline trains run by the vast state-owned railways.

The pass is not valid on a few minor so-called 'private' railways - i know on none of these in Portugal and only a very few in Spain - mainly the narrow-gauged trains running along the northen coast from the French border via San Sebastian, Bilboa to Santander - trains that few tourists would ever take.

Your friend is simply wrong or mis-construing something - of that i am sure.

I would like to know what exact stations in Spain she saw the "No Eurail Pass Allowed" on?

It sure was not a RENFE station - the Spanish Railways that is for sure.

There are 'private railways' in a few countries besides Spain where that may be true (like Switzerland) but not in Spain nor Portugal.

If the prices are the same, I wonder what the convenience of the pass is if you have to be reserving in advance a seat to climb on the train. It maybe just easier to buy tickets there when there is more competition having several trains going the same route....>

the advantage could be saving a whole lot of money over just showing up at the station and buying a ticket

and not sure about the competition having several trains things - all trains between two points will have the same fare structure - there is no competition in these countries with state-run railways. So price is the factor.

Thanks for taking time to reply .