Spanish train questions

I just returned from Spain and used Trainline to purchase my train tickets to avoid any possible credit card issues.

The Madrid to Seville tickets are for a specific train and have a seat reservation. So, you cannot just take a different train.

I would just take a taxi from the airport to the train station. They are cheap and readily available.

The trains were very crowded in March, so you definitely want to make sure you prepurchase the high-speed train tickets.

And you need to go through security at the train stations and then another ticket check prior to boarding. So, you need to be at the station well before your train time to figure out where to go. There are multiple security stations and I found it confusing trying to locate the correct one.

1. Is it necessary to pre purchase a train ticket from Madrid airport to Madrid train station? I see from the Omio app that it is $6 and runs on the hour and takes a 1/2 hour.

What terminal are your sons arriving at at MAD? If arriving at Terminal 4, I would recommend the following advice.

If your sons purchase a Renfe AVE (i.e. the Spanish national railway operator's high-speed train) ticket from Madrid to Seville, that ticket actually includes travel at no extra cost on Madrid's suburban rail network (Cercanías) up to 4 hours prior to the departure of the AVE train.

You simply scan the QR code on the AVE ticket and it will let you through the ticket barriers at the Cercanías ticket at Barajas airport, from which you can take line C-1 to Chamartín and transfer to any train going to Atocha (C-2, C-3, C-4, C-7 or C-8).

If your sons are arriving at T1/T2/T3, the Cercanías station is unfortunately only accessible from T4. In this case, I would recommend taking the express bus that runs from the airport straight to Atocha station.

(A cab is, of course, always a possible option! If your sons are reasonably comfortable on public transport, however, I don't think any of the options from MAD are that difficult.)

2. If they pre purchase a train ticket from Madrid train station to Seville train station for 1:00 pm for example, can they take the 12:40 if they are there in time? I'm wondering if the ticket agent will allow them to take an earlier train if there is space available.

Long-distance rail tickets -- such as from Madrid to Seville -- are for specific trains, like how plane tickets are for a specific flight and they can sell out, since every passenger has an assigned seat. It is best to plan conservatively for the particular train.

3. From the Rick Steves 2017 Spain book (the most recent one I have), it says the Spanish train websites don't accept US credit cards. Is this still the case with US chip credit cards?

I have not had a blanket issue with US credit cards, but will say that I have had better luck with Visa/Mastercard than with American Express.

I’m going to be that person that says not to schedule a train on the same morning you arrive. Lots can go wrong and the Spain high speed rail tickets are only good on that particular train. If you are coming in the morning, i would take an afternoon train.

Another option is for the sons to spend a night or 2 in Madrid first, then take the train to Seville. That is what I did. This way, there is no worrying about trying to time the train with the arrival of the flight. And with the new EES system, there is no way to predict how long passport control will take. I got lucky and had no lines, but lines can easily get backed up as there are now multiple steps for entry--EES, eGates, border agent.

And yet another option is to purchase a ticket on an IRYO train in the Infinita Class that allows time changes for no fee.

Thanks for all the info and suggestions. My two sons will be arriving at terminal 1 so I’ll suggest they take a taxi or express bus to the Madrid train station. I’ve forwarded this topic to them so they can see all the responses. I also suggested they purchase a train ticket for a time several hours after they arrive. Thanks again!

The term "Madrid train station" is confusing as there are several main line stations in the city, but all high speed trains to Seville seem to originate at Atocha. From Terminal one you have a choice of Taxi, the C1 railway or the 203 bus.

The term "Madrid train station" is confusing as there are several main line stations in the city, but all high speed trains to Seville seem to originate at Atocha. From Terminal one you have a choice of Taxi, the C1 railway or the 203 bus.

Thank you for the clarification.

If you purchase your train ticket directly from the train company, you have a chance of being able to change it to an earlier (or later if something goes wrong) train, if there is space available. But if you purchase through RailNinja or Omio, you're out of luck.

The Chamartin train station has been under construction for ?? years. It seem to be more destruction than construction. Bring food and water, as there are very few, if any, concessions or places to sit. I expect it to be finished sometime after the Sagrada Familia.

We are currently in Spain and used OMIO to purchase our tickets before we left the US. Here are the answers to your questions as of our experience in the last week.

1. We took the Bus #203 from the airport to the Atocha train station in Madrid. It is 5€ each and they would not accept our pre purchased tickets from Omio. Luckily we had 10€ on us. People were paying with their phones though so maybe they used Apple pay.

2. We pre-purchased our train tickets and arrived two hours earlier at the train station than expected and could not exchange them for an earlier train. However, the only reason for that, as they were fully refundable and exchangeable, was they were Ouigo train tickets and there was no Ouigo kiosk at the Atocha station. Ouigo was not our first choice, but it was the only train set to depart in our estimated time frame. The Atocha train station is large with many people going through it. I didn’t want to wait and take the chance of not getting a ticket to Barcelona once we arrived in Madrid and having to sit for hours at the train station. Instead we found a cafe and had brunch while waiting for our train.

3. We have used contactless “tap” for all credit card purchases and have not had to use the chip portion of our card.

I did worry after the bus wouldn’t accept our prepaid bus tickets that I had been scammed by Omio, but the train tickets worked perfectly. I downloaded the Ouigo and Renfe apps to my phone and I had QR code boarding passes for the trains, which worked perfectly. I did this before we left for vacation but once you put in your email that was used to purchase the tickets and the reservation number, the apps pull up your tickets.

Note on the Atocha train station. The bathrooms are in the boarding area which you are not allowed to enter until one hour before boarding. There is a One Hundred restroom on the top floor of the station and it is 1€ per person, per visit.