Booking trains- Renfe and RailEurope question

This site is easier to use than RENFE and prices are comparable https://www.trainline.eu/search

Also be aware that you are bumping into the June schedule updates , and tickets are not available as of yet

I am generally able to use the RENFE site, but when I come upon irresolvable issues there, I go to this site/vendor: petrabax.com. Their site is much more user friendly and their prices are usually very competitive.

many prefer loco2.com website for booking Spain trains. It sounds, however, like you are in the June new scheduling situation. Numerous others have the same complaints for June bookings at the moment.

Check out the earlier 'Madrid-Barcelona train tickets?' post for an explanation. You also might find the 'Best mode of travel from 'Granada - Seville- Madrid' post useful.

Also, make sure you can still book tickets for the Alhambra (I am assuming you are planning to go here) for June 15th or 16th.

I continue to check daily - nothing available after June 6th as of 5 minutes ago.

If you read the seat61 website for train advice, he states it may only be 30 days beforehand that they post the June travel schedule on the Renfe site. Painful waiting, for sure, but perhaps the loco2 alarm one can set might lessen the preoccupation and stress.

Yep - read all that and had the loco notification set up a few weeks ago. But still, I fixate! haha

I just got my alert from Loco2.com that the schedules past June 6th are up and was able to book easily on their site. I tried Renfe and gave up after it kept changing my passenger number to 1 (I need to buy 5).

Rail Europe does now offer most of Renfe's advance-discount rates. But if you prefer refundable tickets, then there's not much reason to book ahead. Only the full-fare tickets are usually refundable, especially as you get closer to the scheduled departure of the ticketed train. Full fare for Tourista (2nd) class in the AVE train between Barcelona and Madrid can go as high as €127, depending on departure time.

But if you wait to buy when you're sure of your plans, there may still be some discounts available. It's also possible for certain departures to fill up, in which case Renfe's site says "Full Train." Tickets are not yet available for mid-June travel, so nothing's sold out now.

On our Spain trip a few years ago we booked all our train tickets ahead on Renfe with no problem and printed them at home. I didn't find it hard to use. Note that Spanish trains have security somewhat like airport security so you need to get there a few minutes ahead to clear security before your train.

Hi, I just booked one way tickets for July 1, 2017 on Renfe for 76 Euro or about $83. TripAdvisor has a good cheat sheet for buying Renfe Tickets. Create an account first enter your Passport under DN. Select Madrid (todas) and Barcelona (todas) as the stations. I used Paypal for payment after a few failed attempts using my credit card only and it worked like a charm.

I will be traveling in Spain by train the last week of Sept and first few weeks of October. Are these also months that they are posting new schedules?