The bus price looks like a good deal to me, I’d buy it.  Where did you find the train prices?  110 Euros looks like a good price for this ticket, too.  From the Spanish rail website it appears that there are special as low as 60 euros on this route, but I’m not sure how you’d book one in advance since neither the French: www.sncf.com  or Spanish: www.renfe.com rail system seems to sell this ticket on-line. 

Bus
Train

Should have posted them on the first post.

For the 60 euro tickets, is it ok to buy them in Paris. Which would mean I would buy them a couple a days before the trip. Or should I buy in advance?

I’ve checked the SNCF website. (There is a typo in OldLady’s link, but you can go direct to http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ to book.) That same night train shows up at 138 Euro for two (that is 69 Euro per person) in a 4-berth cabin.

This price is for PREM tickets which you buy online and print out yourself. PREMS are date and train restricted (use it or lose it). IMHO it is a great deal, and you must go and grab it NOW, because PREMs seem to dangerously close to be sold out on this particular train.

I made the payment to the website you sent gave me with the French I know, but I haven’t recieved an email confirmation. I made the reservations last night and I check my email today and still nothing.

Do you happen to know if they take a while? Or did my order not go through?

That’s weird. I thought you should be able to print out your PREM ticket from SNCF right away after you’ve paid for it. Do you have some kind of confirmation number? Did you create an account which you could go back to and check?

Otherwise my suggestion would be to call your CC company and ask if there is an authorisation on your account originating from France. If not, then your transaction may not have gone through.

Any other ideas, anyone?

  Maybe you won’t hear until Monday?????  Weekends are not “business as usual” in Europe and tickets/credit card transactions may get some human intervention before they’re confirmed.  I think I waited until the next business day to get a confirmation from the Trenitalia website.

I was thinking the same thing, Oldlady. I’m going to wait until tomorrow. I checked online and no money has been withdrawn from my bank account. If nothing happens, I’ll assume something went wrong and the transaction fell through.


I also asked in my first thread about metros and taxi. I bought a guidebook, Let’s Go, and I think that’s all I need to learn about transportation. I checked out MTV Europe and Europe on a shoestring, but I think Let’s Go suits me best.

There is a page on sncf website where you can check your bookings. You go to the main page, then click on “train” link, then on the left side toward the bottom you find the link “Retrouvez vos références de dossier SNCF et ®iDTGV“ (this copy/paste thing may or may not work). It is in French, but you just need to enter your first name, last name, and the e-mail. Leave everything else unchanged and click on “Valider.”

Does anything show up when you do that?

  In most cities taxis are expensive.  If three or four of you can squeeze yourselves and your gear into one taxi you might save money on the airport to town run in some cities.  Otherwise, save taxis for “It’s midnight, it’s raining, I’m carrying too much gear, I’m not sure how to get there and I’ve twisted my ankle”.  Public transit will get you anywhere easily and quickly — once you get the hang of it.  Most cities have an underground suburban light rail (S-bahn in German cities, RER in Paris) a subway (Metro in Paris, Tube in London, U-bahn in German cities) and then a whole raft of buses and trams.  Subways are usually the easiest to navigate because of the limited number of stops and easy maps of what goes where.  In most cities you can buy a pass that’s good for all forms of transportation for a day (or several days if you choose).  I almost always buy at least a full day pass.  It often saves money and I find the convenience of not having to buy additional tickets worth it, even if it ends up costing a bit extra.  Besides the inevitable “oops, I took the wrong train/bus” issue can be remedied without additional cost…  

Thanks for the link, Seva. My email doesn’t show up, so I’m guessing the reservation fell through. Before I bought the tickets, I waited a while so maybe the page expired or something.

Thanks for the insight Oldlady. I’m going with a buddy that lived in New York, so I’m sure he’ll be helpful is using metros and such.