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How far in advance can you buy train tickets in Spain?

Hello :) I'm trying to buy train tickets from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid in late May. I've tried the Renfe website and it says there aren't any trains available. Is it possible that the train tickets aren't available for purchase yet? I'm hoping that there is actually a train between the two points. Am I missing something else?

Posted by
6560 posts

I just looked and the schedule for that route only goes out to 6 May. Just keep checking back.

When we took the Santiago to Madrid route in 2019, the train arrived at Madrid’s Chamartín station.

For planning purposes, if you’ve never been to Santiago de Compostela before, the train station is one mile down hill from the cathedral.

Posted by
315 posts

Rome2Rio indicates there is indeed a train between the 2 cities. My recent experience with buying train tickets for Spain is that you just need to check every week or so. I used Trainline, as I could not get the Renfe site to take my info...was finally able to get tickets from Bilbao to Segovia on March 14, for travel May 1. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to how or when Renfe makes tickets available.

Posted by
6414 posts

As TheOrdinaryRebecca mentiones, there is no way to know with Renfe.

To quote The Man in Seat 61: "In theory, tickets should go on sale 60 days ahead for all trains other than AVE trains which should open 90 days ahead. In practice, Renfe is a law unto itself and loads what it likes when it likes, in blocks of dates, sometimes as little as 30 days before departure and often loading some trains and not others. Did I say 30 days? I've seen Madrid-San Sebastian trains from 22 July onwards not open for booking until 7 July!"