I am trying to buy a train ticket from Cordoba to Barcelona in a silent carriage . Are seats assigned automatically at the time of purchase? There is an option to pay a little extra to choose a specific seat but it is only possible to do so after entering and confirming payment. Is there a way to know what direction the seat is facing to reserve a seat that is facing forward? Thank you very much.
If you don’t pay extra to select seats, you don’t get reserved seats. You sit in any open seat. So if you are traveling with someone and you want to guarantee that you sit together, you would need to pay for the reservation. Generally, you don’t know which direction the train will go, so you don’t know if you will be facing forward. Occasionally there will be an arrow showing the direction of travel.