booking train tickets online Barcelona to Madrid

As always, The Man in Seat 61 has answers. https://www.seat61.com/Spain-trains.htm

In theory, bookings should open 60 days ahead for all trains other than AVE trains which should open 90 days ahead. However, this isn't exact - Renfe loads dates in large blocks as and when it feels like it, often significantly less than 60 days and often loading some trains before others. If you go online and don't see the complete train service which you're expecting to see, and it's more than a month to go before departure, the chances are that all trains are not yet loaded.

Renfe is notoriously difficult to deal with and they may not take your American credit card unless it is registered with Verified by Visa. Try Trainline; it is much simpler.

https://www.thetrainline.com/

It’s interesting that the entire schedule after September 15, doesn't seem to be online. Some trains between Madrid and Leon dropped off the schedule after 15 September, but unlike the Barcelona trains that are not there at all, Leon is at least on the schedule. I’m having trouble with the payment system. I was able to buy one set of tickets from the Renfe site for late September, but now I can’t get another set to process. For one way travel, just don’t put in a return date, just a departure date. In a different thread, it was stated that Renfe was changing schedules for trains after September 15, so it’s possible they all are not loaded yet. I sent Renfe an email, but doubt I’ll get a response.

Edited: was able to get the 2nd set of tickets, but had to use a different credit card.

Thank you for the suggestions. I know there is a fast direct train less than 3 hours, the other options are not direct on any other website I look at. I will keep trying I guess in hopes that the schedules are just not there yet for direct service.Fingers crossed.

I want tickets from Madrid to Barcelona on the same date and am having no luck either. I'm trying to be patient and checking every day.

My guess is that they are slow with working out the fall schedules and/or prices. Maybe too many employees are on summer vacation.

Here's the response I received from Renfe. The last couple sentences are the most pertinent.

"We inform you that there is no official commitment about this term, information and advance sales are normally available 60 days in advance, although some services have extended or reduced that period. In addition, there are occasions in which, due to changes in the service, it is not possible accomplish with the objective of the expected date at first, so the website informs that there are no trains available or they are blocked, that means, that they are not available for sale. This does not mean that there are not trains, it is just that we still do not known with certainty what will be their timetables or the number of availabilities seats that will be in each one of them.

Regarding your question, we regret to inform you that we do not know the exact moment of the sale. Please, continue consulting our web site www.renfe.com. "

I'm grateful you asked this question because I was just about to ask it myself. thanks for getting the official renfe response and thanks to all you helpful folks, now I know to just keep trying.

this is great info as I am in the same situation, Sevilla to madrid then madrid to Barcelona...I guess I will continue to check ticket availability on a daily basis. -casey

Early/mid-September is a traditional date for schedule adjustments, as are early December and early June. These changes may be minor but they often hold up the schedule publication or sale of tickets. Not all countries are equally involved/affected, but Spain is one that often takes longer with these updates.

I have been in the same situation waiting for AVE tickets from Barcelona to Cordoba, then onward to Grenada on Sept. 24. The first thing I did almost every morning was check the trains--which finally were open on Aug. 9. I found LOCO2, a British company, to be easy to use for the tickets. Good information on their website, little less expensive than EuropeTrain, Print at home ticket capability. Renfe was incomprehensible. Good luck and enjoy the trip.

I just checked the Renfe site, and the AVE trains are listed for Barcelona-Cordoba for September 24. They are not posted for Barcelona-Madrid for the 22nd. Only an R Express train is showing up. I found the Renfe site easy to use when I purchased my tickets to Lugo and Santiago de Compostela, so am not sure what trishpegram found incomprehensible about it. Loco2 works just fine too.

I was able to use renfe.com to buy one of the tickets I needed before leaving home this year, but as I moved through the process I started seeing webpages in Spanish rather than English. That makes me nervous when I'm performing a financial transaction, and I do have a bit of background in Spanish. For folks with no knowledge of Spanish, I think it would be a hair-raising experience.