Buying AVE train tickets

I think others may add on here, but I am offering this as we are planning Barcelona->Madrid next spring, and I've been researching this. The Man in Seat 61 website has some good information about buying these. As best as I can recall from having been through there, the Renfe site is a pain and it is easier to use the RailEurope site. I can tell you that the prices today for the train we need (which I can only do by using the same weekday for a date in October, since trains for next March will not be there yet) are the same on both sites (after you convert Renfe's Euro price to dollars at today's rate), i.e. the same advance discount. Part of the problem may be that these trains are not yet loaded in to the Renfe site. According to Seat 61, you should be fine getting these from RailEurope.

Since Rail Europe now offers the advance discount tickets for Spain, a recent improvement, there's no big reason not to use them. I see rates as low as $36 on a few departures. If using RENFE (from 29 euros), expect to use PayPal to avoid credit card approval issues. I do see lots of departures for sale at the end of September, for example, on both web sites.

Karen,

I agree with Laura in terms of using PayPal when booking your train tickets on the Renfe site.

I also see multiple departures for the end of September, from Sevilla >> Madrid on the Renfe site.
BTW, The AVE train only takes about 2.5 hours to travel from Sevilla to Madrid.

What date are you searching for?

I purchased our tickets, for our trip last Fall, via the Renfe site without any problem, however, others here on the forum prefer using this site:
https://www.captaintrain.com/en

You may find this article helpful if using Renfe to book your tickets.

If traveling to Granada, make sure to book your tickets way in advance! :-)

Have a wonderful trip!

EDIT: Make sure you choose as follows, when using the Renfe website:

• Departure: Sevilla-Santa Justa
• Destination: Madrid-Puerta De Atocha

After you choose the time of departure; "morning, midday or night", you will only see the trains for that time period, but you can scroll up or down by using the tiny grey arrow next to the time, to see more trains traveling later or earlier.

EDIT: Make sure you choose as follows, when using the Renfe website:
•Departure: Sevilla-Santa Justa
•Destination: Madrid-Puerta De Atocha

This is key in finding your trains. There are different stations in each city, including another Atocha station in Madrid. If you plug in the wrong one, you won't get any results or just weird ones. Given your description, I suspect this is what happened.

Thank you everyone. I've done enough research that I am choosing the correct train stations. Although I am not traveling until October, I wanted to check out the ticket website early. I've looked for tickets many days in July, August, and September, and no matter what I do, cannot get the Renfe website to display any AVE trains, only the very slow ones (6 hours, 51 minutes!). I feel that I am missing something, but cannot figure it out. So, it seems that I must just use the RailEurope site. Thanks again.

Karen,
Regarding your most recent comment here:

I've looked for tickets many days in July, August, and September, and no matter what I do, cannot get the Renfe website to display any AVE trains, only the very slow ones (6 hours, 51 minutes!). I feel that I am missing something, but cannot figure it out.

I think I figured out the problem you're facing when searching for AVE trains from Sevilla to Madrid.

I think you are choosing, 'Madrid - Atocha Cercanias', INSTEAD of, 'Madrid-Puerta De Atocha'!

"Cercanias" trains are commuter trains that travel within Madrid & when you choose, "Madrid- Atocha Cercanias", as your destination, the Renfe website will only show you the slow trains ;-)

Enjoy your trip!

EDIT: "Atocha Cercanias" is found within the Puerta de Atocha station (which is HUGE, by the way), but it's on a different floor level.
AVE trains arrive & depart from a different level that the Cercanias trains.

Here is a map of Atocha's station to give you an idea:http://www.adif.es/en_US//infraestructuras/planos/estaciones/plano_60000.pdf

Thank you! You are absolutely correct, Priscilla!

You're most welcome!
I'm glad I was able to help you figure it out.
Hopefully now you can book you tickets on the Renfe website.

When are you going on your trip?

Will you be visiting Granada?

If so, make sure you book your Alhambra tickets way in advance too! ;-)

Have a fabulous trip!

Spent all day not able to get paypal to go through. This morning I tried a Delta Amex and
the charge went through. After on the ticket saw a new tie in with Renfe and Amex so might be worth trying using an Amex card.