Best time to book train tickets ahead of trip

There is no need to rush to buy tickets. The longer you wait the more they will cost, but the difference between buying them now or in a few months is probably not that big. On the other hand, if your schedule is set and you don't need the flexibility you might as well buy them now.

But forget about Trainline and buy the tickets from www.iryo.eu instead. It's in general a good idea to buy the tickets from the company that actually runs the trains. And while Renfe is also an option for you, Iryo has a much better website where buying tickets is much easier.

Note that 4 train companies operate on the Barcelona to Madrid route and that Iryo only list their own trains. (Not sure how many companies operate the other routes). Trainline shows all the companies.

Several You Tubers have filmed the different trains and given reviews.

Your timing needs to be between when they release routes (Usually 60 day ahead, some as much as 90 days) until about 30 days before when prices start to climb. Those are general rules for the State railway Renfe ( https://www.renfe.com/es/en ), but you do now have competitors on those routes in Iryo ( https://iryo.eu/en/products ) and Ouigo ( https://www.ouigo.com/en/trains-in-spain ). Trainline is a third party site, most like to buy from the company running the train, but trainline is convenient, meaning you may pay for that convenience.

As for rates, yes, if you wait until the day of prices are high, different times of day also vary, but really, it comes down to if you find a train that works in your schedule, and the price looks OK, buy.

One note, your Seville to Barcelona leg will require a change in Madrid, so allow time for that change.

Hi. I find Trainline very handy to shop and buy train tickets. Confused about the above post that says to look only on the iryo website. Great that Renfe now has a competitor. But the iryo website seems to only show iryo trains, whereas Trainline shows all the trains. When buying, I always like as much info / as many choices as possible. Trainline does charge a tiny fee (maybe 3 Euros per ticket?), but I'm glad to pay that for the convenience of their user-friendly website. Anyway, to answer your question, look at train prices for next week vs. a month or two from now to get a feel for how much you would save by buying in advance. And then, like was said above, lock in whenever you feel your plans are set enough to warrant the savings. Have a great trip!

One note, your Seville to Barcelona leg will require a change in
Madrid, so allow time for that change.

No, there are direct trains from Seville to Barcelona.

Have a look at the various websites to get some idea of prices maybe. Renfe sometimes come out with special offers. We booked all our trains for our January trip when Renfe did their Black Friday deals which worked out a lot cheaper even than iryo. I saw later they did a 'January sales' special offer and a St Valentine's one, so these good deals do come up....

I liked using trainline for Spain.

As previously stated, you can shop and compare all the different train companies in the one app or website. Sometimes the trainline ticket prices are exactly the same as the official site because the commission is deducted from the ticket price. In other cases, a small fee is charged on top of the ticket price but it was worth to me it to avoid the hassles of renfe and having the convenience to compare all the different train companies at one time.

If my schedule was set (especially when hotels are booked), I pre-purchased my tickets for the long routes 30 to 60 days before. For local local day trips, I sometimes bought the tickets the night before or even a few hours before.

I liked using trainline for Spain.

As previously stated, you can shop and compare all the different train companies in the one app or website. Sometimes the trainline ticket prices are exactly the same as the official site because the commission is deducted from the ticket price. In other cases, a small fee is charged on top of the ticket price but it was worth to me it to avoid the hassles of renfe and having the convenience to compare all the different train companies at one time.

If my schedule was set (especially when hotels are booked), I pre-purchased my tickets for the long routes about 60 days before. (You can go to the site and try dummy booking for 30, 60 or 90 days from today and you will find that there is a sweet spot for discount tickets). For local local day trips, I sometimes bought the tickets the night before or even a few hours before.

You can book all your train tickets now either at www.TheTrainline.com or at www.IRYO.eu/en
IRYO begins selling its train tickets one year in advance of the train’s departure date.
The best deals will be for non-cancellable nonrefundable tix but IRYO also has flexible tickets. Once you’ve nailed down your itinerary, I don’t see any advantage in waiting to book your tickets. Buying 5 months in advance is how we got two tix from Barcelona to Madrid on an Iryo Frecciarosa train for €22 each. The cost never decreased from that price.
Have a great Trip!