My wife and I will visit several cities in Spain between 9/29 - 10/14/26. We are both over 60, but I see the only train travel discount card must be purchased in country so it appears to be of no benefit for us since it would involve last minute intercity bookings a short time before the reservation dates.
In any event, when looking ahead to the intercity reservations we will make:
Madrid Atocha - Toledo,;
Toledo - Salamanca;
Salamanca - Cordoba;
Cordoba - Granada;
Granada - Madrid Atocha;
The one-way prices vary widely on the routes looking 30, 45 and 60 days out and sometimes are less expensive closer in time to the selected dates than farther out in time.
Does anyone have any good planning tips or strategies for train bookings? We do not want to include buses in our plans and will of course have luggage with us on all journeys. Also, we will use Trainline because of its ease of booking and past experiences with it in other countries.
Thanks in advance for any help
Posted by
Wengen
4001 posts
Currently the Spanish network is still suffering from some interruptions. And thus things may look a bit weird. Then yes, prices can vary a lot. RENFE is a law upon itself when it comes to ticket sale.s
My advise is to not forget that this is a holiday and not an exercise in ticket optimization...
Lastly: "AVANT" trains, like on Madrid - Toledo and Cordoba - Granada. have fixed prices, and those you do not need to book in advance.
Posted by
306 posts
- High speed trains are available further in advance. High speed will be Renfe Ave, Alvia, Avlo, Avant, and the private train companies Iryo and Ouigo. Slower trains will be "Media Distancia" and there's no competition on those routes so tickets are only available close to your time of travel and the prices are fixed. My advice is to just get a sense of the typical price by doing a few searches for different dates. I've found cheap fares on the competitive routes like Madrid-Sevilla, Madrid-Valencia, etc. from 7 euros for an Avlo ticket. For routes that are only possible on Renfe, just check to see if all the trains have been added to the Renfe website for your dates. If all the trains are listed for September/October that you see in June/July, that's probably what the price is. If you only see 2/10 trains for that day and the cheaper June/July times aren't added yet, wait and check until you see those pop up.
- Madrid has two main train stations so be cognizant that if you're connecting in Madrid, you may need to travel from Atocha to Chamartin to catch the next leg of your train.
- Relevant to that, Toledo to Salamanca and Salamanca to Cordoba, will require a transfer on the Cercanias commuter rail system between Chamartin and Atocha. For these trips, make sure you don't book a budget train. Non-Avlo Renfe tickets come with automatic free Cercanias tickets, just scan your renfe ticket at the turnstiles for a free commuter rail ride. Building in time for this connection will also be time consuming in terms of the overall journey time.
Posted by
OP
Franklin, Tennessee
241 posts
We will be staying in Madrid from 10/11 - 10/14 in an Airbnb in the La Latina neighborhood after arriving by train mid-afternoon from Granada on Sunday 10/11/26. We tentatively plan to take a day-trip by train to Segovia on Monday 10/12. Any particular suggestions or warnings for us to be alert to in our planning?
Posted by
OP
Franklin, Tennessee
241 posts
Plectrude, regarding your comment “Toledo to Salamanca and Salamanca to Cordoba, will require a transfer on the Cercanias commuter rail system between Chamartin and Atocha”.
We will be traveling with a medium size suitcase and a smaller roll behind bag each.
How difficult will the transfer between stations on the commuter network be? I have found that for each of these journeys we will have about 1.5 hour hours connection time. Would it be better to just take a taxi or uber between the stations instead?
Posted by
306 posts
It's not especially difficult to transfer to the Cercanias and you would be fine carrying bags/suitcases. You might find it confusing if you're not an experienced train/subway/Spain traveler, but it's not very strenuous or difficult. It's the basic European commuter rail train you'll see in any large city so there's space for luggage.
If you want a taxi, it's super easy to find one outside the station and Cabify, rather than Uber, is the best app to use for a taxi ride. Cabify is great and cheaper in major Spanish cities where it's available.