I am finding the Spanish train service, Renfe, to have a rather baffling website, even with it translated. Other sites have suggested Omio, RailEurope.com and Trainline to be more efficient. The times and prices appear to be the same for what I want to do at Trainline.com. Is this a safe/secure way to purchase tickets? Can I print the tickets out at home?
Thanks.
Yep trainline is the best way if you can't figure RENFE out, though there is a little service fee. I have been using it since 2015 as I do not like the markup that Rail Europe adds to each ticket. When you buy a ticket using trainline it comes as a PDF attached to your email which you can print or display on mobile device. I have never heard of travelers here using omio.
Also keep in mind that RENFE the National Rail of Spain has not lately been following a set time when it comes to how far in advance you can buy train tickets. For example if you are going from Barcelona to Madrid tickets are available for purchase for a departure only up to December 14 2019.
Jeff -- I bought my ticket to Cordoba, and a later ticket to Madrid, on www.loco2.com. It was easy. They have a small service charge (new) but it was worth it to me. I could print the tickets out at home.
See you in about a week. Dick
Yes, Trainline is a safe and reliable way of buying train tickets (although, as noted, they now charge a small fee for tickets bought from U.S. IP addresses).
On my recent trip, I bought mine through the Renfe site, but one of our travel companions used the loco2.com site for theirs. We all got to our destination.
Another plug for loco2.com. They were great. I had purchased tickets through them for all of our trips through Spain. Turned out I needed to make a change to one of the legs (from Cordoba to Granada). I emailed them about the change and they responded within 2 hours, made the change at no cost. Super great service.
Beware as of November 6 Loco2 is going away and bought out by and becoming RailEurope.
https://raileurope.co.uk/
Well, in that case ... Trainline has worked well for me on trips through France and Germany.
Thank you to all.
Trainline was easy although my first choice in tickets was "sold out: and I had to upgrade the seating to get the times I wanted. Perhaps this is true? I didn't trouble to go back to Renfe and check it out. And there was about a 5% booking fee. Fine. No sense in quibbling over $30 compared tho the over all cost of travel. I am looking forward to Cordoba.
