Hello,
My husband and I will be in Spain for 3 weeks in April, 2026 and will need a total of 7 train segment for a total of 5 train trips as follows: 1)Seville to Toledo via Madrid (2 segments), 2)Toledo to Madrid, 3)Madrid to Segovia, 4)Segovia to Leon via Madrid (2 segments) and 5)Leon to Madrid. I’m not expecting you to do the math. Buying the Spainrail pass is more expensive but I thought initially it was justified as it guaranteed us a seat and more assurances if we wanted to change our train, etc…. Plus I liked that it included the local Cercanias trains, so less hassle.
That said, I now have a concern about getting the Soainrail pass. Our first train trip would be the 2 segment Seville to Toledo via Madrid ride. I know once we buy the Spainrail pass, we need to reserve our first trip first and the Madrid to Toledo portion of the train trip won’t be available for ticketing until early February. Same is true for Toledo to Madrid, our second train trip. I’m able to purchase every other train trip either now or by early January, but would have to wait to buy these until after I buy that first train trip again, not available before early February.
In your opinion, am I safe to wait until early February if I want early morning trains on all these trips or should I just buy point to point now or as soon as they come available?
Posted by
Washington DC
29813 posts
Toledo-Madrid and Madrid-Segovia roundtrips are relatively inexpensive.
Not many folks on the forum have mentioned using a rail pass in Spain, but I think two people complained about the difficulty of getting tickets after purchasing the pass. As you seem to be aware, the process of using a pass in Spain is somewhat odd. I think it could prove to be a mistake to try to use this pass, but I have zero experience with it myself. I have, however, stood in line for multiple hours at Madrid Atocha, when I thought I needed to buy a ticket at a staffed counter.
The express trains in Spain (AVE, etc.) come with assigned seats. I believe all your trips will be on express service.
When you buy tickets for express trains, I think you'll find at least two categories of tickets available, one of which allows one free change. I believe there's a fee if you want to cancel the trip entirely.
Spanish express trains do sometimes sell out, but I'd be very surprised to find April tickets sold out in February. I make no guarantee, however.