Hi all. I've been watching Renfe for the ticket I wanted to purchase on January 10 from Valencia to Cordoba. There was one available at 9:14am that was the fastest,. As of a few days ago, it wasn't yet available. This morning it shows that the train is full. Can that be correct? If so, I guess the only other option I have is one of the other times, with a change in Madrid, correct?
Thank you for any help you can offer.
It does help, thank you.
In looking at the other tickets, one has a connection at Atocha with only 2 minutes to change trains. Are the platforms right next to one another, so I just hop off one and on to the other?
The other option has me getting off the train at Chamartin, then getting on another at Atocha with about 30 minutes between them. How does that work?
Edit to add: Per the man in seat 61, it looks like I would be able to take a free shuttle from Chamartin to Atocha that runs every 3-9 minutes and take 10-15 minutes. That's cutting it close!
I appreciate the help. I'm afraid I underestimated the complexity of this part of my plan.
There’s no need to worry, sometimes tickets are not available to purchase less than 30 days prior. That was my experience for a recent trip.
Prior to the release the timetable showed “train full” on the date I was interested in. It’s not true though.
So I should/can just wait? How long is it safe to wait until buying a ticket in January? I checked Trainline too. They say "not available to buy".
I think you have no choice but to wait. Would not be surprised if the tickets would be released on Dec 10th or several days later. That would be in line with my recent experience. I doubt the beginning of Jan would be in great demand anyhow.
Thank you for responding. I'll keep checking and try not to worry for now.
I am looking at Trainline.com. Tickets for the 9:14am train are available up until December 14 and then on no dates after that. So I agree that you wait and keep checking regularly until your date is released.
You’re running into the timeline for the release of the revised European train timetables which will occur at midnight on December 14.
Some national train companies will not release train tickets for sale until after that time.
Trainline, which Renfe contracts with to sell its train tix, sometimes has Renfe tickets for sale before Renfe does, so keep checking both websites.
This is a sector I have travelled on for the past 15 years. I’m also waiting to book Valencia to Cordoba for early 2025. The train you mention, the fastest departing at 9. 14 a.m. arriving Cordoba 12.42 p.m. (with no change in Madrid) is the one I have mostly travelled on.
As mentioned this option is currently only bookable up to 14 December. I’m hoping after 14 December this direct train will be introduced for early 2025, more than likely, but not 100% guaranteed.
If you decide not to wait to book for 10 January, and choose a train via Madrid with a tight connection i.e. 30 mins, you might consider booking two separate tickets to allow extra time in Madrid. 30 minutes is nowhere near enough time for me particularly at Madrid Atocha.
I book 1 ticket for Valencia to Madrid Atocha, and a 2nd ticket for Madrid Atocha to Cordoba. It doesn’t cost much more but alleviates the stress of a 30 minute connection.
The train I will be booking on the same sector as you, if the direct one doesn’t open up for 2025 is:
1st Ticket - Departing Valencia 6.57 am arriving Madrid ATOCHA at 9.08 a.m.
2nd Ticket - Departing Madrid ATOCHA at either 10.00am or 10.25 am to Cordoba.
We find January is very busy on the trains.
I hope this makes sense.
When I've been to Spain, I always found the Renfe site so glitchy, I decided to use Trainline instead. I've never had a problem doing it that way. Just my experience of course, I'm sure many people have used the site with no problems.
Okay, this must be an odd coincidence given the info I've been provided by those of you who have experience with how the Renfe site works, but I signed on this morning, just to check, and the time and date I wanted was available, so I reserved it. I did have to order a snack for the ride since I couldn't figure out how to bypass that page, but it was only a few euros. I figured I'd have problems when I tried to pay based on info I've read here, but I put my CC info in, chose to pay in euros and it went through! I've got the ticket saved in my phone on the 9:14 train, so that's done.
I feel so relieved to have that done, especially since I was able to get the quickest, and only, direct train for the day!
I'm very glad you have that settled. It's an uncomfortable feeling when you aren't sure the train you want to take is actually going to run, or that you'll be able to grab a ticket before it sells out.
Great!
Sounds like Renfe’s timelines are improving if they sold high-speed train tickets any sooner than 30 days before the train’s departure. This was 52 days in advance.
Now you can relax and focus on having fun.
That's a relief. And you probably got a good price by staying on top of it.
This discussion thread has me wondering when I need to buy train tickets. I already have the Spanish hotels reserved for the first two weeks of May. We land in Madrid and spend 4 nights, then Toledo, then Cordoba, then Granada, and fly to Portugal from Sevilla. When should we get serious about train and bus tickets, or can we just wait until a few days before travel?
@kentfast, Renfe has the stated policy of putting high-speed train tickets on sale 90 days in advance of the train’s departure date, and regular train tickets 60 days in advance. You will want high-speed train tickets for your itinerary.
However, I have seen high-speed train tickets go on sale on the Trainline sooner than the 90-day timeframe and—as KRS just experienced— sometimes Renfe’s tickets go on sale as little as 52 days in advance. Last year I was only able to buy a high-speed train ticket from Madrid to San Sebastián 26 days in advance of the train’s departure. With Renfe, there is no reliable timeframe you can count on to buy train tix because they follow no predictable schedule when releasing them for sale online.
You can buy IRYO high-speed train tix up to one year in advance for Iryo’s routes which include Madrid-Barcelona, Madrid-Seville, Madrid-Cordoba, Cordoba-Seville. Madrid-Malaga and Madrid-Valencia.
Renfe currently is the only operator of the Madrid-Toledo route and the Granada-Seville route- although buses do the latter route in just 15 minutes more time for less than half the price of the Renfe trains.
www.IRYO.eu
www.TheTrainline.com
www.Alsa.com
Did you know you can buy train tickets via the Rick Steves website?
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains
I saw this post, we are heading to Spain on a RS tour next year. I started to get concerned about where to get tix and when, and I discovered this service. I’ll use it next year. I’d rather book through Rick. Wish I knew about this 2 years ago. It was a lot of fun booking a train on the Czech railway website. We had quite the adventure when we were told to get off the train at the wrong station!
Do people here know that there is another operator of fast-speed train in Spain without all the annoyance that buying on Renfe entails? I've switched to IRYO and could not be more pleased with their service and their buying process.
Do people here know that there is another operator of fast-speed train in Spain without all the annoyance that buying on Renfe entails?
Iryo only run on certain routes where they can make the most profit.
They are not a national operator.
In this case the OP wanted to travel from Valencia to Cordoba- well Iryo only run between those cities via Madrid with a change of train taking between 5 and 6 hours for the throughout journey.
