UKC

Hi all,

I'm trying my hardest and failing so any help would be greatly appreciated. Is there a website that I can easily book and compare prices for travel by train to Malaga. Ideally from Newcastl to El Chorro But I can work out the UK part.

raileurope is pants, as are all of teh other sites I've tried. thetrainline only does the UK, but there must be a similar site for European travel?

I've looked at flights but I'm looking to go around Christmas so they are quite expensive, and I can get a student railcard

In reply to Martin1978: I used bahn.de for traveling round eastern europe. That was good but not sure if it covers western europe.

In reply to ralphio: Thanks, they don't cover Spain though.

I see a gap in the market here...someone should design a website that links all european trains! Either I'm missing something or it really is this difficult!

In reply to Martin1978:

I would check out Seat61: http://www.seat61.com/Europe-train-tickets.htm

In reply to john arran: Thanks for the link. My head hurts reading that, it isn't as easy as you'd think it should be!

I'm going to change my dates and take my chances with easyjet, got to be less headache than trying to book trains!

Thanks for the help anyway.

In reply to Martin1978:
Just to back you up - I have looked at booking trains from Barcelona to Britain several times. It has always been a complete and utter ball-ache to find the timetables and reserve, the cost is always at least twice that of flying, the journey takes 24 hours at least, and you *still* have to lug all your stuff half way across Paris from Gare du Nord to Austerlitz. Easyjet is much easier!

In reply to Martin1978:

there are 3 main rail operators that you need to use: RENFE in Spain, SNCF in France, and whatever in the UK (trainline or other). All should have English versions of their websites. I managed London-Lyon-Malaga last year, and it was affordable but very long - I also made the mistake of booking a seat instead of a bed on the overnight through Spain, and suffered for it. Hope you manage to work it out!

In reply to Martin1978:

I've looked into this rail journey several times and come to the conclusion that its very expensive compared to flying by a budget airline or even a scheduled airline. It also takes a hell of a long time with no smooth connections. The cost of an overnight sleeper is even worse, and a lot more than breaking your journey by staying in n hotel.

Another alternative I've researched and actually done is ferry/tunnel and driving both via Calais and Sander or Bilbao. That again is two days and hellishly expensive in terms of fuel and tolls.

Air travel is so much cheaper (and quicker) that the alternatives are non starters unless you are wealthy.

In reply to Martin1978: Thanks all, Easyjet have come good at £140 direct with them, which for the festive season isn't too bad.

I can't believe how expensive the eurostar is to Paris, nevermind the rest of the trip. And driving is out of the question unless diesel halfs in price before December!

Glad I'm not the only one who had problems/finds it expensive. I would rather fly anyway

Cheers, Martin