Check schedules and fares on the Renfe website. Rail schedules are adjusted all over Europe in early June, so you're probably not seeing all the options that will be available, and the low-priced fares for August will not necessarily be loaded on the first day tickets become available for purchase. Take a look at the schedule for the appropriate day(s) of the week later this month to get a better idea of what trains will be running in August. The fast trains (taking about an hour) go to the Figueres Vilafant Station, not the "Figueres" Station. It appears there's an 8:10 AM departure on weekdays due into Figueres Vilafant at 9:07 with an adult fare of 17.90 euros one way if you bought a ticket for Feb 22 today. The fare for that same train is typically over 22 euros on other days, so I don't know what's going on with Feb 22. Fares do vary from train to train as well as from day to day, and they tend to increase over time as others buy the cheapest available seats.
At a glance I'd say the price you quote in Canadian dollars is probably about the best you can do for the fast trains. However, there are a couple of ways to save money here:
- Take one of the non-express trains. Those take about twice as long, so you're trading time for money. The regular trains go to the Figueres Station, which is a bit closer to the Dali Theatre-Museum. There's a local bus linking both train stations to the center of town, a few blocks from the DT-M. The buses seem timed to the train arrivals at Figueres-Vilafant; I don't know how well they're aligned with arrivals at the Figueres Station. In any case, it was my experience in 2016 that if the train was late (as my express train was), the bus didn't wait, so one should be prepared to walk or pay for a taxi. I think it was about a 20-minute walk from Vilafant to the DT-M, but you can check that on Google Maps.
The fare for the non-express trains won't show up with a standard search on renfe.com, but I can tell you that it is always the same no matter when you buy the ticket and which train you take.
- Take advantage of the probably much cheaper hotel rates in Figueres by spending one night there and reducing your Barcelona hotel stay by one night. Yes, that's a hassle, and I'm not necessarily recommending it, just pointing it out as an option. It makes more sense for people who also want to see lovely Girona, which is located between Barcelona and Figueres. Unfortunately, Figueres itself--aside from the DT-M--isn't one of Spain's most interesting towns, so it's not like it's recommendable as a full-day trip from Barcelona. Which might be why its hotel rates are low.
The Dali-Theatre Museum was quite interesting to me even though I am not at all a fan of surrealism, so I do think it will be a worthwhile trip for your family. I'm sorry about the rail fare, which is a large chunk of change for a family of 4 unless you're willing to take one of the non-express trains.
As far as I know, the museum doesn't totally sell out way ahead of time, but it does get some bus tours and I'm seeing a lot of sold-out individual time slots around opening time, which I suspect are being bought out by bus tours. I'm not sure you'll find the museum less crowded then if you manage to buy early-morning tickets. It wouldn't be prudent just to show up without having purchased tickets ahead of time, because you might be told the first available tickets are for 2 or 3 hours later, and then what would you do in Figueres?
Given the cost of the express trains, I'd consider booking an early- or mid-afternoon time slot and taking a portable lunch to eat on one of the regular trains.
