Spain Travel Option 1

I'm going to start costing out various alternatives. I kind of guessed at some cities to see, I'm not sure we've made a final decision.



So, we fly out of Chicago on Monday, Oct. 14, arrive Madrid Tuesday, Oct. 15. This price assumes we take the direct flight on Iberia.

On Wednesday, October 16, we take the train to Lisbon, arrive Thursday October 17. Take the train back to Madrid Friday, October 18, arrive Madrid Saturday, October 19.

On Monday, October 21, we take the train to Seville.
On Wednesday, October 23, we take the train to Valencia.
On Thursday, October 24, we take the train to Barcelona.
On Sunday, October 27, we take the train back to Madrid.
On Monday, October 28, we fly home.

That's $996 for the flight, $400 to/from Lisbon, $466 for train in Spain.

Total cost for all that is $1,862 per person. That includes a sleeper car to/from Lisbon and 2nd Class, no reservation individual tickets on the rest of the trains. We should bear in mind that overnight train to/from Lisbon replaces two nights in a hotel, let's estimate that at $300 for future reference.

Rail Europe tells me a Spain Travel Pass for 4 travel days in 2 months is $546. However, it also tells me it can get me a travel pass for my specific itinerary for $273 for 2nd Class and $340 for comfort class. It's then $10-$15 per trip for a reservation. That reduces our flexibility, but ensures we get a nice seat together. There are lots of trains between these cities.

So, if we did 2nd class, no reservations, we could reduce our costs to $1,669 per person. If we add reservations or comfort class, we're probably back up to about that $1,862 value.

Total travel time for all this is approximately 50 hours, not counting getting to/from airports or train stations.