Spain and Portugal - To Railpass or not to Railpass?
 

Hi boys and girls,

Need your help on deciding between buying railpass or not? The more websites I go to, the more confuse I am. gospain.about.com seems to think renfe is like alice in wonderland.

My itinerary is basically :
Lisbon > Porto
Porto > Madrid (fly Ryanair)
Madrid > Seville
Seville > Ronda
Ronda > Granada
Granada > Barcelona

Railpass have all those additional reservation fees. But renfe website, you see to know what you are paying with no more extra fees. Which is more economical and makes life easier?

Any advice?

A Railpass doesn't make sense if you are planning ahead. Renfe can be a headache at times, but it will save you a few Euros if booking direct.

I wouldn't buy a railpass. The railpass will be more expensive (particularly if you can purchase the webfares in advance for the most expensive routes like Madrid-Sevilla).

Also, for Sevilla to Ronda you'll want to take the bus. For Granada to Barcelona you're often better off (time and money) purchasing an airline ticket through one of the low-cost carriers.

I would not dismiss the railpass notion exactly without trying to see what fares renfe.es can come up and even to see whether you can use it - legions of Fodorites have said renfe.es just would not cooperate with them and they could not book online - recently so - so check and check railpass prices which i think many do not do when they automatically say the online discounts are cheaper - a few may be but railpasses are typically priced the more days you use them the cheaper per day they become.

Anyway here are some more sites for the OP to check out for great info on trains in these countries and pass info too: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com. If you were not going to Barcelona I am sure a pass would not be cost-effective or if you do as CathyM suggests take buses in Andalucia where trains run a more circuitous routing due to rugged terrain.

OP has 5 train days previsioned - below are the pass prices for the Spain-Portugal Railpass, which is sold only in 1st class and IME of years of traveling European and spanish trains first-class is well worth the extra price - just a much more leisurely experience even though second class on Spanish trains ain't that bad - just first class much nicer IME

So for a 5 day pass - Saverpass - p.p. 2 folks traveling together - solo pass about 20% higher = in first class would be about $60/day or about 40 euros (plus about 10 euros extra for seat reservations so 50 euros a day for first class.

and if you chose not to fly to Madrid you could take the overnight Porto-Madrid train and make that a sixth day making the pass about $55/day - compare these with first class fares at www.renfe.es if interested in first class travel, which for the average novice tourist I highly recommend.

3 days $243
4d $274
5d $308
6d $340
7d $372
8d $405
9d $437
10d $468

If you are not too far from Sete Rios bus station I would take the bus between Lisbon > Porto. They go every 30 min and are really comfy Mercedes coaches. http://www.rede-expressos.pt/default.aspx. Also cheaper than train. Most trains go from Oriente station.

Madrid > Seville route is operated by very fast AVE train but it's expensive unless bought at discount from RENFE website. Seville > Ronda and Ronda > Granada are reasonably close. Also check bus vs train on these routes. I would also fly from Granada > Barcelona; try Spanair. It's far by train.

Madrid > Seville route is operated by very fast AVE train but it's expensive unless bought at discount from RENFE website.>

The pass however can be used on any AVE train for a $10 or so supplement - as said lots of folks in the past report they cannot get renfe.es to work for them so if having to pay full fare then the pass is about half paid for by that one trip alone -not quite but close - and if you do Granada to Barcelona and have to pay full price then those two tickets could be more than the pass, which then you could also use for Lisbon-Porto and around Andalusia as the extra days on the pass are only about $32/day or about 22 euros - maybe as cheap as the bus?

anyway go to www.renfe.es and see if you can book Seville-Madrid and Granda to Barcelona at a discount price and if not check full fare and then compare to the pass.

To add to this discussion, if you are over 60, you qualify for the Tarjeta Dorada (Gold Card), or Senior discount card. This card allows up to 40% discount on Renfe. You can only buy this card in Spain in person, at the Renfe ticket counters (or maybe local travel agencies, don't know about that). It is good for one year and costs 5€. You have to show the card when you buy train tickets.

Are there any restrictions that come with the card, Bill or is it just a flat 40% discount by showing the card at the window - or do you have to book in advance, limited number of seats, etc.

thanks for the info above.

PalenQ,

Detail on Tarjeta Dorada here - http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/tar...ta_dorada.html

PalenQ: Depends on the segment as to the amount of discount. Madrid - Cordoba was 40%. Madrid-Toledo and shorter runs are a little less. My wife and I saved about net 80€ Madrid-Sevelle. You have to show the card at the window to get the discount, as I understand it. I did not try to buy tx on line after getting the card, so don't know how that would work. We bought normal tourist class seats a couple days before travel in person at the ticket counter.
The Barcelona-Figueres trip, we forgot our cards, so we paid full price at the window the day of the trip, but the discount would have been only about 20% according to the clerk.

Our of curiosity I visited Renfe site. Tried "to purchase" Madrid-Sevilla AVE fare for Nov 18. For two departures (6:30am and 12:30 pm) it showed 32.55 web fare; 81 - for the rest. Also senior card (Tarjeta Dorada) showed up as a choice.

thanks WomBatt, BillJ and hkt for the info

There is also an overnight Hotel Train running between Granada and Barcelona - I took it not long ago - saves time and a hotel cost and covers mainly unremarkable boring scenery IMO after it crests over the mountains in the Granada region.