steve
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 1 year ago
I have a two month Eurail Pass and will be in Madrid. I'd like to visit the wineries in Calatayu and I see that the RailEurope goes there from Madrid. Will I be able to use my Eurail Pass to travel on that railway?
nltrainer
Traveller
1333 comments
R-E is NOT a train company-it is a coöperative of many years of the 33 old state railways in the couuntries that participate-and now also on various other railways that run public service. in ESpana the main and often lamented for bad service comp is RENFE and it among the 3 most pass-unfriendly railways there is. It will accept passses-but about ALL trains MUST be reserved-at extra cost and this is NOT possible online-go to any counter when there. Its site is-guess what: renfe.com and there you search for connections. It will show timings-not too far advance (tipically you USA want to arrange all thing sway too long before) and full prices. Use that to plan (time taken, dep.)
Note: most likely you will not stay 2 monthes in ES-the main bottleneck for most unknowing newbees is the direct AVE/TGV su[erfast tren Barca-Paris-cost an awful lot extra and is hard to book. Go to the better site "community.eurail.com for advice on how to and all newbee Qs have already been asked and answered
steve
Traveller
1 comments
Thanks!
MisterSteve
Traveller
896 comments
actually it's Eurail/Interrail that is the marketing cooperative that sells the passes. RailEurope is a ticket sales company owned by french state operator SNCF but registered (my guess is for tax reasons) in the UK. As said in Spain the trains are run by RENFE and the website is cumbersome even for the simple task of buying an ordinary ticket, but done in advance they could be cheap enough to make a Pass a bad idea.