What do you mean by “third party rail” service?

Ie) eurorail, eurolines ect

You can always just walk up to a ticket window or an automated kiosk at the train or bus station and buy a ticket. A rail or bus pass is just a different (and sometimes cheaper) way to pay for your train ticket, not some sort of requirement.

There are several trains every day between Paris and Nice. It’s about 5 1/2 hours by train, so nearly as fast (when you add time to get to/from airports and security time) as flying. Use the German National rail company website for schedules anywhere in Europe. http://reiseauskunft…?

would you recommend buying a pass or buying each trip ticket/voucher individually?
Thank you!!

The trip planner recommends a France/Spain pass. The trip planner is the best general recommendation you’ll get and it’s based on an estimate of standard fare calculated from the countries and distances involved. There are some situations where it seems a little off, so: Do you have a reason you think it’s wrong for your itinerary? My guess is that standard fare for your tickets in France will probably be as much as the price of your France/Spain pass, so your travel in Spain would be effectively “free” with the pass.

If you’re willing (and able, some tickets aren’t available on-line, may have pick-up options that don’t work for you, etc. ) to hunt up and buy non-refundable advance purchase web fares from the French and Spanish national rail company websites, you may beat Standard Fare and travel more cheaply than with a rail pass. However, one minor change in plans (you decided to sleep in an extra hour some morning) with a non-refundable ticket purchased some weeks in advance will negate any savings.