My 18 year old son is taking a trip to Europe over his College Winter break. His itinerary is changing as he thinks things over...

He lands in Amsterdam, spends 4 nights. Now he's thinking of taking an Easyjet (67 euros) flight to Barcelona, staying there for about seven days.

Question is, would it be quite a bit cheaper for him to book his overnight train to Paris once he gets to Barcelona or should we use Raileurope's internet site and book before hand?

He may take the easyjet flight to Nice instead, but in that case the same question would remain: book over internet ahead of time or book when there. ???

Oh! Also, he'll be travelling Christmas day. Raileurope had a train leaving Barcelona on that day, the 25th. Would it be wiser in this case to book over the net, or will places on the train be available Christmas day, if he books 5 to 7 days ahead of time?

Thanks in advance for any replies --

Giselle

Dear Giselle

I don't think it will be difficult to get a train ticket for Christmas day itself, but of course in genereal, trains will be very busy these days. And note that from Barcelona to Paris, there's only one daily train (the night train), and you can't take this train without a reservation. So, in my opinion it would be wise to book ahead instead of getting the ticket a few days before departure. It will be a bit more expensive, I guess, but I'm not sure about that.

If booking here I'd call Budget Europe in Ann Arbor MI (800-441-9413) - their staff are really experts and can answer all your questions regarding these "hotel trains" However there are two different ways to go between Barcelona and Paris at night - either the direct hotel train or to take a local Spanish train to the French border at Port Bou and take a domestic French overnight train from there to Paris. The second option will be much cheaper as the hotel train requires pricey minimum sleeping option of about $60-80 for a 4-person berth. The French night train has regular seats at no extra over the train fare as well as couchettes - about $20. Again you can book both through Budget Europe, who is an agent of RailEurope, but, unlike RailEurope has staff that are extremely knowledgeable and will answer all your questions - something hard to do on the web site. Couchettes here, however cost $28 vs $20 in Europe and there is a $15 order fee imposed by RailEurope, plus the train fare. Why doesn't he do EasyJet back to Paris, no doubt cheaper!

Thanks for the info! I will check it out. I do think booking ahead sounds wise now that you've answered.

No, Easyjet does not fly from Barcelona to Paris. Neither does Ryanair. (He's flying Easyjet from Amsterdam to Barcelona for the 67 euros.)

For that matter, does anyone know of a CHEAP airlines that travels from Barcelona to Paris.

This Budget Europe people ROCK

Thanks bobby