Spain October Train Reservations

Nick - LOL! " . . . come back tomorrow" Thanks for the message to give it time.
Geoff: appreciate your detailed feedback about the bus... a strong alternative! I would purchase from The Trainline but you evidently were successful with ASLA - which I was not aware of.

Thanks to both!

The company's name is ALSA.

Agreed that tickets to/from Toledo just aren’t on sale yet—this is common. You don’t really need advance purchase those more than a day before, or even day of.* For whatever reason Renfe’s app is smoother than the website.

*I’ve heard of the return trains selling out, but I imagine that’s less likely on a weekday in October.

GeoffB and Acraven, does one's luggage go under the bus on the ALSA bus? I am considering the bus from Granada to Sevilla in early December.

Yes. It's actually easier to travel by bus than by train if you have awkward luggage.

I've never worried about luggage theft (I use cheap luggage--who would want my bag?), but I do keep electronics in my tote bag while in transit. If I'm on the ball, I remember to wear my money belt with my back-up cards and any excess cash. If I'm mentally out to lunch, the loaded money belt ends up buried in my purse.

Greetings, CTwanderer from your MA neighbor!

We, too, have been waiting for Renfe to release tickets from Madrid to Toledo for October dates after the 16th. I popped in my October 20th date today and was shocked when the schedule appeared. Fully anticipated the “We’re sorry. No trains available” spiel. Successfully purchased tickets so you should be all set for the 17th.
I’m also waiting to purchase tickets from Toledo to Cordoba for October 23rd. Still waiting!!! 😁
Good luck!
Peg

I have been waiting for train schedules to appear on Trainline for Seville to Granada on Oct 20. I noticed yesterday that they opened but I was running out to an appt so did not book. Logged in today and none appear. Could they have booked up that quickly? Bus is still an option.

The schedule for Thursday, October 19th for trains from Jerez to Seville are still not fully populated -- based on the schedule for prior Thursdays, which shown all of the MD options as well. We were able to purchase tickets for our other two legs, on 10/23 and 10/25, and did so on Trainline.

Scratching my head over this one, but ended up booking a private transfer for the journey, just to have everything squared away and not have to worry about it anymore. A bit of a splurge, however we will be picked up directly at our hotel, and dropped off at our apartment in Seville so we'll save taxi fare on transfers from the train station(s).

This forum keeps me positive about our plan! [shout-out to Scudder & mcraven]

Peg from MA: found the tickets for our day-trip to Toledo... thx! The Trainline is simple to use.

Mars & Milgreen: We need to get from Sevilla to Granada om 10/25 - only train I see is one at 8 a.m. - unlikely we would make it. And the Alsa bus leaves at 5 p.m. - which would make us miss most of our 1st day in Granada.

Should we remain hopeful about more trains from Sevilla to Granada... or plan a private transport (wouldn't know where to start to find one) or rent a car for that part of the trip?

Thanks all!

CTWanderer: a google search on trains from Seville to Granada on that date show another train option, at 3:37 pm and it's a shorter trip than the morning train. just cannot understand why it doesn't come up on the Renfe website for you.

We booked through mytransfers.com (I think I saw that recommendation in the tripadvisor forum), but we won't actually know how reliable until that day.......fingers crossed!

I bought my long distance train and bus tickets for my trip to Spain, directly from RENFE and ALSA, not trainline or any other ticket reseller. I bought my tickets about 4 weeks before my trip. I took the bus from Seville to Granada. The trip was about 3 hours. The train was supposed to take 2 hours, 47 minutes. The bus worked out OK. I took the train from Madrid to Toledo and the train again back to Madrid. If you still can't find any trains available 3 weeks before your trip, maybe look for an ALSA bus. The is a smallish but non-zero chance the trains you want are sold out.