Sorry small typo, I mean that going from Germany to Czech republic would make it 6 countries. And that is why I am confused as to why I can use a 5 country pass.

You’ll be buying a ticket (at the train station) for the Spanish portion of the trip, so you don’t need to have your railpass cover Spain.

The same is true for the Czech Republic. You’ll buy a ticket for the portion of the trip that’s in Czech Republic so your railpass doesn’t need to cover Czech Republic.

Railsaver recommends this because buying the inexpensive point-to-point ticket is cheaper than buying a railpass that covers an additional country. A combination of a railpass and some point to-point tickets, like railsaver recommended for your trip, is usually the cheapest option. If you’re super worried about this and willing to waste about $100, buy a 10 day global railpass.

What ticket are you buying and where (what web site) are you buying it? You’ll want to wait until you get to Europe to buy the point-to-point tickets mentioned in your post.

Actually, it’s all pretty easy. The whole train thing is really easy — like taking the subway in a major city, with the same kind of choices on how to pay for the ticket — either buying a ticket at a ticket window or automated kiosk for the train you’re taking today or buying a “pass” that covers a number of individual rides. Don’t confuse a railpass with traveling by train. There is no reason you need to buy a railpass at all. You can always just buy a ticket at the station and hop on the train. A railpass is simply a different and sometimes cheaper way to pay for the tickets.

oldlady- thank you. It makes so much more sense now that you explained it. I think then my best option is probably the 4 country, 8-day pass supplemented by a few city to city tickets. Just to clarify, even though I am leaving out of Portbau, Spain since I end up in Paris, France the Railpass only needs to cover Paris?

Two more short questions. Since the Barcelona to Paris trip is long, I was thinking about doing it overnight. Is it possible to get a city-to-city ticket from Barcelona to Portbau late and then take the overnight train from there to Paris? Additionally, how much do reservation of overnight cost if I do have a railpass and where would you reserve it?

And would you recommend I make reservations for any portion of my trip, (i.e. are certain city routes very crowded it late-may early-june) My trip starts in from May 18-June 12

In regards to the city-to-city tickets, I used the links in this forum for the countries and was able to see the schedules, so that made it much easier.

You will need to buy a ticket from Portbau to the French Border, then your railpass will be your ticket once you’re in France. Since you are arriving in France ( a country covered by your pass) on a train from Spain (a country not covered by your pass) the conductor can validate your railpass on the train as opposed to the usual process of having it validated at the train station before you take your 1st train.

You could break up the route since you’ll be paying for the Spanish portion of the ticket but I think the best option would be the direct overnight train leaving Estacion de Franca at 19:57 and arriving at Paris Austerlitz at around 8:30 the next morning. For one thing, since that train has no connections and leaves after 7:00PM it will only use one day of the railpass. If you write out train number, date, time , Barcelona > Paris and show your rail pass the ticket agent will sell you the ticket you need to the French border (I think Girona Is the border crossing). The agent will probably speak English, so writing it out probably won’t be necessary, but I usually do to avoid any possible confusion. You will need to reserve a berth on this train, which is not covered by the railpass.

I would buy the reservation at the train station as soon as you arrive in Barcelona. I’d figure about € 30 for a berth in a 6 berth couchette and € 40 for a berth in a 4 berth. I would only buy a reservation if the specific train you want to take requires it (all major overnight trains do). Day train reservations are usually about € 5, but the fanciest name trains in Spain and Italy are more expensive.

You’ll need to use the individual national rail company websites to price or buy tickets, but the German rail website has schedules for all of Europe, so for the most part you only need to use it. http://reiseauskunft…