Just spent a frustrating hour on the Renfe website trying to reserve tickets on the AVE from Barcelona to Madrid. It never worked and then error codes started popping up so I give up. Anyone have a recommendation for a Spain or US based travel agent that can help with tickets:
Didn't want to just find any travel agent online and trust we'd get good service, rates and advice.
Thanks!
Hi,
YES, if all of Spain is this poorly organized, YIKES! I am sure it is not. And I am really excited about going there this spring.
I think I have found a solution beyond the 46-step process outlined at Tripadvisor when you search their site for renfe (the Spanish train system). Yes, it is 46 steps and worth reading because it will make you knowledgeable and calm your nerves as YOU are not the only one encountering the Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole that is Renfe.
At renfe at the first page you should select Welcome, which means I want English. And only the first page will be in some kind of English. The second and following pages are in deep Spanish. Where poblacion, which translates everywhere I could look into 'population', actually means 'city name'. Oh, gosh, and I never was able to buy tickets.
After a long time and MANY tries, over many days...I tried this. Google search: renfe. It comes up and as one of your options is...a selection that has six options, 3 on the left, 3 on the right. And immediately below that in small case letters is "more results from renfe.com". I clicked on that more results thing and it opened ticket buying that was ALL in English. And I was able to buy tickets. Whee!!!
Early purchase can deliver home printed tickets at 50% off full fare.
Make sure your credit card company is aware of this purchase from Spain arriving at their door step. If you don't notify, they will refuse the purchase. That is reasonable, you are sitting in the USA and someone wants to buy tickets in Spain with your card number.
So notify your credit card first, and arrange for a three day window in case you can't complete the purchase when you want. Then go to the 'more results from renfe.com. and good luck.
wayne iNWI, since November 21 we have had 4 days above 32.
Two suggestions
As HJ said, register for the site before trying to purchase tickets. If your credit card is not Verified by Visa you will have the opportunity to do so during the purchase process. I guess I must just have gotten lucky when I used it last summer to buy tickets about 40 days out from my travel date - I didn't have a single problem! Turista class is actually quite luxurious and comfortable, so you don't need anything better. I found a ticket from Barcelona to Madrid for 39 euro.
Hi,
In my long post above I forgot the last KEY piece of information for getting a good website to purchase train tickets in Spain. Google: renfe. Off the offering with six option, 3 on left, 3 on right, you click on 'more results from renfe'. Then you click on 'Passengers and Timetables'. That gives you a 100% English language site to do your purchase. At least it did for me.
wayne iNWI
The man in seat 61 recommends this if you are having problems with RENFE
I believe Petrabax tacks on additional service charges. It is totally possible to successfully buy tickets from the Renfe site.
Instead of Wayner's suggestion of "three onnthe left, three on the right" ( which does not show onnthe website when I access renfe.com) and "Passengers and Timetables", just go straight to the Purchase page. Entered your desired journey from the drop-down menu which should appear after you type a few letters. If you do not know which station, use the starred one ( asterisk) and it will select the right one.
I had zero problems buying lots of tickets in 2011. I did not even sign in to my registered account, as that caused error messages every time. Just went straight to Purchase and it worked smoothly.
( the web page I start with is www.renfe.com/EN/ viajeros/). It is the top one that shows up when I google Renfe. It may not stay in English as you proceed to purchase, but you should be able to figure it out.
From another "Spain" post here on line now:
Go to Tripadvisor and search for how to buy tickets on RENFE (Spain's train system).
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187514-c80518/Madrid:Spain:Buying.Renfe.Tickets.Online.html
also try,
http://www.seat61.com/Spain-trains.htm#.UwzynZFICkQ
This is a complicated process that only the Spanish could create, but doing so on-line saves you time and money. NOTE: you must carefully select the date and specific time for the train you desire as the ticket is only good for that date and time. Be sure and take the AVE train (high speed) and purchase second class tickets (coach) and then be delighted with the experience. In Madrid the station is conveniently near the old town section. Arrive 45 minutes prior to boarding.
I did not have the web sites when posting earlier...
I was able to buy tickets off the renfe site. It was not easy and was frustrating but here are some tips.
Buy them in Spanish on Safari not on google chrome.
On google chrome you can see instant translation.
I pulled it up but bought on Safari.
Can choose seats after purchase.
Use Visa.
Took a few days. If you try too many times on one day you get errored out so just wait til the next day.
It took me 2 days for purchase but saved money on being able to get a discounted rate.
I was able to print out the tickets and also get an email with the confirmation page.
Hello Tami and Phil-
Go to petrabax.com and they are the best. I was in Spain in 12/2013 and bought all of my train tickets from them. The website is very organized and reliable. Prices are already in dollars. Yes, there is a mark-up but it is very minimal. I think it is worth to pay a minimal mark-up than going through renfe and get stressed out on whether your transaction went through or not.
I had even a question about a train fare and called petrabax. Guess what? I was able to talk to a live person without a long wait and she was able to help me. Very professional. I would not go anywhere else.
Purchasing direct from renfe provides the opportunity to obtain substantial savings on tickets. These savings are not passed on by a third party provider. However, if you desire ease of use then a third party provider is an option.
Actually I was able to get low fares with Petrabax. If Renfe offers a discounted fare, it is a crossover to Petrabax with a minimal mark-up. I was able to get tickets for $17 per way from Madrid to Segovia on the AVE. And if you convert $17 to euros, that is the discounted fare in the Renfe website. You just have to get your tickets 3 months in advance. I was able to get super great fares.
Hi I live on suburbs of London and am going to Madrid in September. We will be going to Toledo whilst there. I tried for a week to purchase tickets on the renfe site without success so yesterday I tried raileurope SNCF without any hope of being able to purchase tickets within Spain but as they were advertising for all Europe I tried. I entered departure station and destination staio I then entered date going and returning to my surprise the renfe timetable came up I picked my departure and return dates the page came up to enter passengers details which I did. I was then directed to page to enter debit card details i did this and paid for tickets and was sent a confirmation email to check my details and print out my booking confirmation and my tickets the tickets were from renfe and our seats were booked going and coming with seat reservation numbers all perfect so do use this rail Europe SCNF it is so clear and easy to use
^^^ This was a bump to a pretty old thread, but others should know that the RailEurope site does not offer the deep discounts found on RENFE. In may cases, you will pay about double the price. That is why people go through all the hassles to use RENFE, the discounts are very significant.
Use the Spanish RENFE website to get the discounts. It can be done and not frustrating. Trust me. There are great tutorials on Seat 61, TripAdvisor, Rick's websites/books/forums, among others, which tell you exactly the step-by-step process, what the Spanish terms mean, etc...
After reading everything out there, and spending a frustrating hour trying and trying myself, my conclusions are in order to use the RENFE website to get the deep-discounted Promo fares (if booking early enough), you need to use a credit or debit card that has a Verified by Visa (VBV) password associated with it. My regular airline-branded Chase card does not use VBV (Chase does not use VBV), and THAT is why the error messages were popping up. Once I switched to trying my bank-branded Visa Debit card I was automatically prompted to subscribe to VBV during the purchase process. Once I established the password, I logged back out (to reset the website), and tried the purchase again. The website then asked for my VBV password and the transaction went through perfectly the first time.
As far as the difference between the RENFE Spanish website, and the American portal to it, Petrabax, I could not find any direct cost comparisons or anywhere that indicated the % markup that Pertabax adds onto the standard RENFE prices. So I did the comparison myself. My wife and I are taking three train trips while in Spain. All three trips were purchased almost three months in advance of the travel dates.
All prices shown are discounted Promo fares in Turista Class (Second Class), which were available when I booked.
For Barcelona - Madrid (AVE 2 hrs 45 min)
Purchase via Renfe: €57.60 ea x 2 = €115.20 or about $154.72 USD
Purchase via Petrabax: $98.00 ea x 2 = $196.00 USD
For Madrid - Granada (Altaria 4 hrs 30 min)
Purchase via Renfe: €41.05 ea x 2 = €82.10 or about $110.27 USD
Purchase via Pertabax: $70.00 ea x 2 = $140.00 USD
For Sevilla - Barcelona (AVE 5 hrs 30 min)
Purchase via Renfe: €69.95 ea x 2 = €$139.90 or about $187.90 USD
Purchase via Petrabax: $119.00 ea x 2 = $238.00 USD
SAVINGS RECAP:
Total via Renfe: $452.89 USD
Total via Pertabax: $574.00 USD
Total Savings using Renfe for the three trips vs using Petrabax = $121.11 USD
So, to me, it was worth using the RENFE Spanish website to save the $.
Hi further to my post on SNCF rail Europe we are going Madrid to Toledo so not a long journey. On renfe. our tickets were 25euros each return trip on SNCF £44. So about the same price but I do not know about other journeys just to clarify we paid the same price on SNCF but could be different for longer trips
I tried booking via Renfe about 20 different times on different days. I tried all the different recommendations.
I ended up booking via Petrabax.com. It was easy and done within a few minutes. I was also able to call someone and ask a question with no problems. They were very helpful.
Just a note. Yesterday I had my "fight with renfe" It's always an adventure.
I was unable to get it to take my credit card so I started over with the ticket and selected the PayPal option. And... that worked great. Be sure to change your country when you get to the PayPal payment screen.
I have been reading this thread with interest, as in 3 weeks I need to try buying my tickets. I had never even heard of “Verified by Visa” before. I will have to check with my CC company and see if they can do this. I have Chase too, though, like Allan above, so I may need to use another credit card. I was planning to apply for a different one for the trip anyway, trying to avoid the foreign transaction fees. Or try Paypal.
Carol, if you are still reading this, you say, “Be sure to change your country when you get to the PayPal payment screen.” Is the default Spain, and we need to plug in US?
Yes, at the top of the PayPal page there was a drop down menu or something like that to select your country. I only figured that out when I could not figure out how to put in my address. LOL! Then I noticed it and changed that selection to US and it was even in English! Easy!
I just called my Chase Credit card company and tried to get the “Verified by Visa” feature. The representative insisted there was no such thing, no password system, that all I would need for an online purchase was the security code from the back. I take this to mean that Chase simply does not offer “Verified by Visa”. I have another credit card ordered, but will probably not have it in time to make my ticket purchase. Just for fun, I may try the Chase card anyway, to see it fail, and then call them later to complain. But in the meantime I will try Paypal. So, thanks, Carol! And thanks to you all. What a great resource these forums are!
