I am trying to purchase tickets for Park Guell in Barcelona on the official website (parkguell.barcelona/en) several weeks in advance of our upcoming Rick Steves tour. I have gotten only as far as the payment page twice (2 different credit cards). Both times after selecting 'make payment' I received a message that time to purchase had expired even though I was well under the allotted 30 minute time to make the purchase. My card was not charged in either case, and I could not complete the purchase. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, suggestions are very much appreciated!
Posted by
Chicago
1139 posts
I would suggest trying another card. Spanish websites (tourist sites, train, etc) can be very persnickety about US credit cards. One of mine typically works, the other not - until I tried to book Sagrada Familia and the opposite was true. The error message you receive may be ambiguous - it won't necessarily give you a nice "card rejected" sort of explanation.
I have not had the same amount of trouble when on the ground in Spain. Only once in multiple visits did my usual card fail to be accepted and that was a number of years ago.
Good luck!
Posted by
Barcelona (Catalonia)
3071 posts
LOL!... I just responded to someone else on the same matter just a minute ago: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/renfe-travel
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6471 posts
I typically have good success in Spain with my Master Card.
Posted by
Everett, WA
1299 posts
I had the same problem. Eventually, (after several attempts) it went through.
Posted by
Southport, NC
378 posts
That happened to me a few weeks ago. I ended up using the PayPal feature instead of entering in a CC number.
Posted by
Washington DC
28081 posts
PayPal has always worked for me when I needed to use it--when it was an option, that is. You can choose to have PayPal hit your credit card; it will otherwise debit your bank account. Be sure the charge is going through in euros. PayPal will prefer to charge you in dollars, using an exchange rate that is bad for you. Switching to euros is possible; read the screen carefully.
If you don't want to use PayPal, you might try your debit card. I think most ATM cards are also debit cards.