Train or Rail

The answer is, it depends. You have to do the homework and pricing each leg and total price to the pass. With advance purchase discounts and the supplemental reservation charges for using a pass, it is doubtful that a pass would save. But you will not know until you do the pricing. An open jaw ticket could have saved a lot of money for this trip. Have you looked at a map? It is a very long way from Venice to Seville with multi train changes.

Hi Vivian. My advice is: The trains make sense for Madrid to Barc and Sevilla to Mad; check renfe.com for schedules and to compare Spain pass vs. buying discount tix in advance. For Venice to Sevilla, it would be an extremely long train ride; fly that leg. There probably won't be a non-stop flight on that route, but even with a connecting flight, it would probably be ten hours faster than taking a train. check skyscanner.com for flights. Enjoy your trip!

I wouldn't bother with a eurail pass for what you plan to do. Also I wouldnt take a train from Venice all the way to Sevilla even if life depended on it. That is a 30 hour journey with 5 to 7 train changes (depending on which option you choose). Sorry, but the Wright brothers took care of that over a century ago. You can very easily take a non stop flight to Seville (SVQ) with Ryanair from either Venice-Treviso airport (TSF), summer only, or from Bologna (BLQ), just over an hour away from Venice. Also Bergamo (BGY) has Ryanair dailies to Seville. Iberia via Madrid is another option. Two hours on the air and you are there, at a fraction of what you'd pay for a crazy never ending train ride.

Vivian, from your last post, it looks like you are planning to fly all your segments. You don't want to do this. As Bob said above, for your Madrid to Barcelona and your Seville to Madrid segments, the train is much better and easier (and, when you add up all the time getting to and from the airports and waiting for your flight, faster). But for Venice to Seville, flying makes more sense. If that was your plan, great. You probably don't need a railpass, as it would be more expensive than tickets bought online in advance. However, these tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable.

From what I received, the train is not a good option for us. Thank you for all your help and ideas. I will start booking my flights soon then. Our travel date is the beginning of May. Hope the weather will be good for us. If you can think of any suggestions to make Seville wonderful visit, please let us know. Sightseeing is great but we want some cultural experiencse. Thank you.

Thank you. I was thinking that since I am already at the Madrid airport, I should find the next flight to Barcelona. I will be arriving at 14:15 and the next flight to Barcelona is 15:55 with Vueling. Is this enough time to go thru custom and find the right departure gate? Is this a very big and complicated airport? The cost is around $80 vs. train ticket at $165. The flight is only 1.25 hr long. I maybe able to save money and time that way. Please let me know. I am so appreciative for the info.

It could be tight if you inbound flight is a little late. Explain again why you are not flying direct to Barcelona. Your travel plans seen a bit disconnected. You using a lot of time and money for your schedule. Is the inbound flight to Madrid a direct flight from the US. It seems a little late for direct flights.

I have the same question. There are no flights coming from the US after Noon. Actually the last one, from JFK is shortly after 10. That means you are arriving at Barajas from somewhere else in Europe. So I also wonder why you aren't flying from that European hub directly to BCN. BCN is one of the largest airports in Europe and any other European hub will have flights directly to BCN.

Wow!!! Everyone seems to know a lot about these things and I know nothing :)
We are leaving LAX the night before and arrive in Madrid at 14:15. It is a direct flight that we booked last year with air mileage we have accumulated over the years. We didn't plan to go on a cruise when we booked the airline tickets so we just have to work with it for now.

No Vivian, we are all very experienced travelers (We have nearly a year in Europe over the past 18 years) and we are trying to read between the lines about what you are doing and way since the initial info you provided was somewhat limited. We are having to guess at somethings. Most US direct flights from the midwest/west coast arrive in Europe in the AM - sometimes pretty early. Those planes are refitted and return to the US in the PM. That is why the PM arrival was questioned as whether it was direct or not.

Vivian, Assuming you can't change your Frequent Flyer ticket to Barcelona, then I agree that just staying at the airport and flying to BCN probably makes more sense than taking the train. However, I'd choose a later flight. An hour and forty minutes leaves you no extra time if something goes wrong like a delayed flight. Also, after immigration, you will need to collect your bag (if you have checked one) and then go check-in for your next flight and also possibly switch terminals. If you miss your flight from MAD to BCN, you will likely have to buy a new ticket.

We are very light travelers (one backpack and one carry-on/person). If I book the later flight, I will have to wait about 5 hours in the airport and arrive very late in Barcelona to find our hotel. That's why we are debating if we should take a chance with a tight flight schedule. Please advise.
Thank you