I'm trying to make sure an itinerary change works but this train connection is making me nervous.
I can buy this ticket for 5/11/24 and 5/25/24 so it's not that it's too early.
I can also buy all days up to 5/13/24 and then it's sold out until 5/20/24.
I've tried RENFE, Trainline and Rail Europe.
Thanks in advance:)
The Trainline shows there is only one high-speed train from Bilbao to Zaragoza on May 18 and it is “sold out.” This could be because the Spanish are able to buy train tickets at train stations in Spain while Americans and other visitors must wait to buy them online. By the time they go on sale online— they may already be sold out. The Spanish government extended a free train travel program for the Spanish through 2024 with the effect that many of the fast trains are booked out way in advance by those living in Spain. Because of this, the government announced it would be adding trains to many of the routes this year.
That said, I do see tickets available up to April 27.
It doesn’t make sense that trains in May are sold out but there are still lots of tickets available for April. That may mean Renfe simply has not put many train tickets beyond April 26 up for sale yet.
I would keep checking on The Trainline website to see if trains beyond April 26 become available later this week. If that’s the case, tickets for May 18 may go up for sale soon thereafter.
It is crazy and really not the way to run a national train company, but that is loco Renfe.
@Kenko - thank you for this. My concern is that I can buy all sorts of days leading up to that one week and then all sorts of days afterwards and so I'm wondering if there's something more to the issue.
The trains say Sold Out.
I really hope to know if there is an issue. I'm about to cancel an entire two week plan and replace it with a new plan but I need to know if I can get from Bilbao to Zaragoza on 5/18 or I need to re-work the entire route idea:)
Rather than rework your planned itinerary, would you be willing to travel from Bilbao to Zaragoza by bus? Bus service in Spain is good.
My best guess is there will be tix becoming available for May 18, which actually is beyond Renfe’s 90-day timeframe it says it puts its high-speed train tix up for sale. (The Alvia train taking about 4 hrs from Bilbao to Zaragoza is a medium-distance high-speed train). That would mean they might put them up for sale in the next 11 days.
If you can wait until then, it may pay off.
@Pat - oooooohhh - the bus!!? I hadn't thought of that.
Yep - the bus works for me.
Back in action with the plan - thank you!!!
Trains don't sell out months in advance. If you are booking way ahead and seeing weird things, you are just to early. Inventory has not been loaded yet. Schedules aren't finalized yet etc...
RENFE is know for being very haphazard where it comes to publishing schedules and opening bookings.
So do not worry. This train travel, not space travel. Look again in April.
Postscript: During the last two hours, Renfe has loaded the train tickets onto its website for most of May. The high-speed train departing Bilbao at 3:20pm for Zaragoza is available every day in May except May 16, 17, 18 and 19.
Renfe states tickets for those dates are “Train not available temporarily.” Renfe does not say they are sold out.
You might want to check out Alsa : https://www.alsa.com/en/web/bus/home 3.5- 4 hours 4X on 5/18
Thanks all! If the trains don't show up for sale, I'm going to take the bus:)
Since you can book the bus even on the day itself there is no need to worry right now...
Backing the bus option. As I´ve mentioned before in other posts, US visitors tend for some reason to rely much more on trains than buses, but Spain has a great public transport system and buses are a very important part of it. Modern, well-equipped, very affordable, comfortable and with many connections. For long distances, Spaniards prefer the bus over the train (which is also good, of course!)
