Need advice on scheduling trains Cordoba-Madrid-Toledo-Madrid

you could search trains schedules for the specific days you are traveling on the Spanish rail site renfe site
it is at http://www.renfe.com/

There is no price advantage to buying the Madrid-Toledo-Madrid tickets early. Rick mentions the possibility of sell-outs late in the day on the way back to Madrid, and I have occasionally noticed trains marked as sold out when I've looked up schedules for the next 24 hours to respond to questions on this forum. Beyond that, unless you're traveling around the time of a holiday (or perhaps on Friday or Sunday??), I don't think sell-outs are very likely. There is bus as well as train service, though the bus is a little slower and the terminal is not at Atocha Station.

I think you'll find that round-trip tickets are much cheaper than two one-way tickets, so do plan to buy the round-trip.

You can check the status of the trains on your travel dates as frequently as you like between now and the day you depart for your trip. I think you'll find that nothing is sold out up to that point. That will give you more time to research what you want to do in Cordoba and how much time you may want to have there on Day 2.

Train times coinciding with Spanish lunch hours

ALT 9367
Dep 12:02 CORDOBA-CENTRAL (Spain)
Arr 14:05 MADRID-PUERTA DE ATOCHA (Spain)

AVN 8142
Dep 14:50 MADRID-PUERTA DE ATOCHA (Spain)
Arr 15:23 TOLEDO (Spain)

Thank you, we are indeed traveling to Toledo on a Friday and back to Madrid on a Saturday so I would be more comfortable with getting the tickets in advance. Right now tickets to Toledo for tomorrow (Friday) are almost sold out. Saturday tickets back to Madrid are still available but it is the beginning of March and we are going in April which will be more busy I am sure.

One idea is to arrive to Toledo around 4 pm (similar to what djp_syd suggested). We would see the Cathedral then instead of going there on Saturday. But that means leaving early from Cordoba and there is much to see there too.

The second option is to arrive to Toledo around 6-6:30 pm when everything is already closed, spend the time walking around, go to Mirador del Valle and enjoy the streets at night. Next morning we would go to the Cathedral when it opens at 10 AM. Or perhaps visit the Jewish quarter first and go to the Cathedral around lunch time at 2 PM (should be hopefully less crowded?). Take either the 6:25 or the 7:25 train to Madrid.

If we choose the second option, is that still enough time to see everything comfortably?

For me, there's considerably more than a day's worth of sightseeing to be done in Toledo (and I skipped the El Greco Museum), but it all depends on the depth of your interest and how you feel about my very favorite activity, which someone else on this forum dubbed "walking around and looking at stuff". To me, Toledo was far more visually interesting than Madrid, and I don't dislike Madrid.

I would caution you against banking on being able to make the cathedral your first stop. I was in Toledo around the time of a major religious holiday (poor research on my part). I don't know how much that affected visitor traffic to the city, but on the day before the holiday the area around the cathedral was a madhouse. I had to stand in line for quite some time to get a ticket to see the cathedral, and then I had to kill time before I could go inside. I have no idea whether that's a common occurrence. I suspect that Toledo's proximity to Madrid makes it a popular weekend getaway for Madrileños. In theory, it would be possible for you to arrive and find that all the day's tickets were gone. It wouldn't be the end of the world since you'd be able to return the next day, but I recommend having a back-up plan in mind so you can scuttle off to see something else if the cathedral is a no-go on your arrival day.

It's a good idea to buy your Madrid-Toledo-Madrid tickets in advance, especially for the weekend, but you can do that a couple days in advance - for instance when you arrive in Cordoba. Allow at least 1/2 hour to transfer in Madrid after your train from Cordoba. Atocha is a big station, Friday is a busy day, and some people find it confusing.

Sunset in Toledo on April 15 is at 8.53.

Thank you for these tips, especially the one about the possibility of no tickets available to the Cathedral. I had no idea the tickets are issued for specific times of entry. I am assuming in that case there is a line early in the morning to be able to buy tickets for 10 AM, is that correct? If we go in the morning (Saturday) should we plan to get there around 9 AM or even earlier?

As far as "walking around and looking at stuff", I am hoping to do this on Friday afternoon/evening and maybe on Saturday early in the morning, that is the reason for staying overnight. Our friends who did a day trip told us it was hardly possible to do during the day because of how crowded it was. We can even take an 8:25 train back to Madrid on Saturday to have more time.

I only know how crazy it was on the day I happened to visit the cathedral. I hope that was not normal. I don't see anything about timed tickets on the cathedral website, nor do I remember reading about such a procedure. Perhaps I am confused and I simply took a look at the long line and made a decision to wander off for awhile and return later. I did end up standing in line to buy a ticket and then standing in line to get into the cathedral, but perhaps the ticket itself wasn't timed. Sorry to cause confusion. Just figure that it may take you longer than expected to see the cathedral.