Hello everyone. In January, I'll be traveling from Valencia to Malaga on a Sunday. As of right now, there are a few train options, but if I look at a Sunday in November, there's a train leaving at 9:14 that is not on the January schedule. That's the train I'd prefer. Does anyone know if it will be offered for January, but maybe just isn't on the schedule yet? I appreciate any helpful info you can offer. Thank you!
Posted by
Wengen
2495 posts
RENFE is notorious for opening ticket sales for trains at random times, whenever they feel like it. It is now October. I would not worry about trains in January till December.
Posted by
OP
MD
636 posts
Thank you WengenK. That's what I suspected, but it's good to hear it from someone else. I'll just keep checking the site every so often until I find something closer to what I want.
Posted by
Brooklyn, NY
4262 posts
We experienced this also this past September. Just be aware, that your American credit card may not work. Both times we purchased tickets we had to use PayPal.
Posted by
OP
MD
636 posts
Barbara, I've heard that before. I don't have Paypal, but I think I can get tickets from Trainline if I can't get the Renfe app to take my CC. I suppose worse case scenario, I can buy tickets at the station, but hopefully I can get all the details wrapped up before I leave home.
Posted by
Washington DC
28081 posts
Those will be high-speed trains, and the tickets will probably be much less expensive if you buy the tickets well ahead of time.
I don't think you need a PayPal account to use PayPal for online payments. You do need to be careful about two things:
The default method of payment is a direct debit to your bank account, but you can change that to a credit card, so you can use the credit card you wanted to use but which was rejected by the foreign website.
The default currency of the transaction will be your home currency (via dynamic currency conversion--which will cost you significantly more). You can change the currency to whatever is local to the website to avoid the extra expense of DCC.
PayPal isn't always available as an option, but I used it myself when buying Norwegian train tickets in 2022 and have needed it very occasionally in other situations.
Posted by
Brooklyn, NY
4262 posts
We don’t use PayPal while at home. But we have run into other occasions when it was needed to purchase tickets.