Any Difficulty to Ride Eurail Trains with Transfers from Barcelona to Amsterdam

There is no such thing as a Eurail train. Eurail is a travel agency that bundles a Europe-wide pass that is both cumbersome and requires the user to purchase seat reservations on express trains in many countries.

You will take a French TGV from Barcelona to Paris Gare de Lyon. then you will have to transfer to Gare du Nord on the Paris RER D train, then you will take a Thalys train direct to Amsterdam. Both the TGV and the Thalys require seat reservations, and the RER transfer is on you, although only 2.10 EUR.

If instead of a Eurail Pass, you just buy the tickets, the seat reservations are included in the price. The RER is still on you.

I actually recommended this to a friend, who bought tickets and then, wouldn't ya know it, the French rail workers went on strike for his travel day, so he ended up flying anyway.

Is there a reason you want to use a Eurail Pass instead of buying tickets outright?

What Sam said.

Also just a note that since the middle of last month, you also have the option to take a Spanish fast train from Barcelona to Lyon. The operator for those trains is Renfe.

https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20230713-renfe-s-first-lyon-barcelona-trains-arrive-in-france-to-compete-with-sncf

Good point. I stand corrected. I should have referred to Eurail as the agency. I did not know how cumbersome it could be. There is no reason why I would just purchase the Eurail Pass instead of buying the tickets outright, unless I determine that it is more cost effective. A round trip does look more expense unless I plan some changes; however, I will certainly consider convenience regarding seat reservations and other factors that I see in your comments. Thanks for the information about the Spanish fast train from Barcelona to Lyon.

Just so you know, if you use a Eurail Pass, the Ave train to Lyon, the TGV to Paris, the Thalys to Amsterdam is 3 seat reservations.

Sam, thanks for letting me know about the 3 seat reservations. Are there trains on the same route(s) that do not require reservations, even if those trains are slower or not express trains?

If you take slower trains, it will take at least 2 days to get from Barcelona to Amsterdam, considering that high speed express trains with limited stops take over 11 hours.

The travel time differences between the high speed trains and the slower trains are greater than I expected. At least that gives me an idea of my options. Thanks

On a long trip like that, there are a couple of options I'd consider.....

• Stop at an intermediate point for one or two nights to break up the long trip. It would give you an opportunity to include another sightseeing location in your trip.
• Although you've said you don't want to use a budget airline, that would be a much more efficient use of valuable travel time. For an 11 hour+ rail trip, I'd certainly consider that.

I agree with the others concerning the Rail Pass. Those don't provide the same value or benefits they did in the past. Depending on the rail network, it's often possible to get discounted tickets if purchased in advance, and those include the compulsory seat reservations. Discounted tickets sometimes have some conditions (ie: non-refundable).

There are two Lyon Amsterdam trains a day that by-pass Paris where you change at Marne la Vallée or Brussels.
For train info, correct ticket prices and routing, download the apps for France SNCF, Connect, and Spain Renfe. Train line is an agency that doesn't post all the prices and routes. There are more ways to go.

You asked if there are any difficulties. Yes a real one with minimum two connecting trains: delays. Barcelona to Paris, and its variations, is a route I know well. I'm on this line 5-10 times a year. In my experience, 70% of the time there's an incident somewhere that affects our arrival: left luggage that requires bomb squad, trouble-makers requiring police call at a station, cut wire, mechanical malfunction, and two weeks ago on our way north to Lyon, a suicide further up the tracks halting all the trains on that heavily traveled track and creating a 2-hour detour. An incident on a previous train will have ripple effects onto your train. Everyone changing in Lyon from the delayed trains had to jump on whatever was available, seat reservations be damned. That included those who were Brussels and Amsterdam bound, who now had to re-route through Paris, change stations across the city, and sweet-talk the Gate du Nord gate agents to let them on the next departing trains without seat reservations.

This is typically what we do in these situations: accident, strike, etc. Our train was an unusually sold-out local to Geneva, but they allowed us to board. In 1st class, people stood, sat in the aisles, sat on suitcases, sat on the floor next to the toilets. That's just the reality of train travel and we've been in these situations more than once. Plan for the best but be prepared for hiccups.

Glad you came here with your question. We'll give as many tips as possible. Personally, I'd fly (though that has its own circumstances 😅).

Ken, both options make sense to consider. It seems that rail travel may be better when going from point to point rather than longer distances that require 11+ hours and/or multiple connections.

Bets, glad you mentioned the type delays that can and do happen. I was concerned about missing a connecting train or some type of problem causing delays and re-routing which I will not have time to do on this trip. I am working on a backup plan just in case.

Thanks for the tips!

Any difficulties? How about nearly all trains in the southwest cancelled today due to the heat wave. Tomorrow will be better, but now all the trains for tomorrow are full.
My husband was south of Bordeaux. In order to get home, he drove to Paris with friends this afternoon and will take a train home to the south from Paris tomorrow.
This is extreme, but the point is that anything can happen. We need to be flexible.

Bets, that is an extreme difficulty with nearly all trains in the southwest trains cancelled and as you said anything can happen - and it does. Thanks for the post. It certainly shows the reality.

Our train was an unusually sold-out local to Geneva,

The local never sells out. What you had was a crowded. train to Geneva. SNCF does not run enough trains on that route. As a result often more people board than there are seats.

Theoretically locals don't sell out but the SNCF TER from Lyon to Geneva was listed as "fully booked" on the SNCF Connect app. In the past, I have never seen the words "fully booked" or "complet" next to a SNCF TER but we did see it on the Rhône Alpes train toward Geneva, and I saw again yesterday in the SW, Nouvelle Acquitaine,in the heat. This appears to be a recent change.

I can only speculate what it means because we were all scanned and allowed to board. It could mean that no more tickets will be sold, but that's speculation.

Those are difficult situations. I also downloaded the SNCF Connect app and you would not be surprised at some of the reviews or maybe you already know.