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One country rail pass or point to point for Spain

It has been suggested to book point to point train tickets through Spain's rail site. I have looked for fares and they seem higher than the one country rail pass, even with seat reservation requirements. We are a family of 4, 2 adults, 8 year old and 7 year old. Is the price difference because the rail pass is "kids fee"? We are going Barcelona to Madrid. Madrid to Córdoba. Cordoba to Seville. Also we are considering Perpignan, France to Barcelona. How would the rail pass help here? Or does it?

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73 posts

For most situations the point to point will be less expensive, but not all, so you really need to do the math and see. Sounds like you've done your research and as long as you're looking at train prices as much in advance as you'd be purchasing (the price goes up closer to the travel date as discount tickets run out), it may well be true for you.

For our Spain trip last year, the Eurail one country pass was a better deal, although it was close. In our particular case, we had several long AVE trips which are some of the more expensive point to point tickets, we were able to purchase the pass during a promotion where we got an extra travel day free, and as a group we were able to take advantage of the "travel together" discount on the pass. I would think a pass might also be cheaper if you're closer to your trip date and can't get heavily discounted point to point tickets.

A lot of people find using a pass isn't cost effective, especially with the reservations needed, but there are situations where that's not true.

Also, not sure if you've looked at the Renfe pass for Spain, but I think that one has free reservations, so one more thing to factor in.