We are staying overnight in Toledo on March 27th, during Semana Santa. I am not certain which processions will be happening that day, and would like to stay flexible with our departure time. There are frequent trains from Toledo to Madrid, so is it necessary to buy a ticket ahead for this busy time of year?
Molly
Those frequent trains are "Avant" trains, which are high speed commuter trains with fixed prices. In principle the number of tickets is still limited to the number of seats on the train, so they can sell out. AFAIK however you do not need to book these well in advance.
Rick warns that trains heading back to Madrid can sell out; I think he recommends buying the return ticket at the same time you buy the ticket to Toledo. I would point out that I've even see sold-out trains headed to Toledo. There are no guarantees you'll be safe waiting to buy either ticket, especially around a holiday. In a pinch, there are also buses between Madrid and Toledo, but they take a great deal longer than the trains, and I cannot guarantee they won't be full.
I'm hyper-cautious about giving advice on this issue because I once ran into a sold out-bus from Bilbao to a fairly obscure city (not San Sebastian) and had to wait 2-1/2 or 3 hours for the next departure. That was back in 2016.
While at Toledo’s train station last September— both the last train for the night returning to Madrid and the second to the last train of the night, were completely sold out. Earlier trains may have been sold out as well. Through both last year and in 2024, the government has a program allowing frequent train travelers in Spain to travel for free on most trains. The Spanish are able to travel for free on short and medium-distance Avant trains, and all local trains. This is having a huge impact on trains reaching their capacity and being completely full— with weekend trains often being run at capacity.
We also saw the same thing on another Avant train we boarded in Basque Country.
This year— more than ever— buy your train 🚂 tickets well in advance.
Wednesday is not a day for many processions, here´s the calendar for the whole week, https://www.semanasantatoledo.com/procesiones_miercoles.santo.html, in any case they will be at night.
Gosh, Kenko, I hadn't heard that. It's an important element in planning a trip to Spain.
The link is to an article on proposed free train travel in 2024.
After the article above was published last November, Spain’s President, Pedro Sanchez, announced that free train travel would be available to all who register and pay a nominal deposit. Even foreign visitors are eligible by buying a pass from Renfe and take a minimum of 16 train trips during a three-month period. This innovative program to get people to ditch cars in favor of trains to combat Global climate change has been a resounding success.
It applies to all Renfe trains 🚂 except the high-speed long-distance AVE trains. For AVE trains, a “BonoAVE”Pass is available at half the regular price. It’s designed for residents making the same roundtrip on the same route between two cities. Renfe normally puts high-speed train tickets for sale online 90 days in advance of the train’s departure date. However, they sometimes are for sale sooner on The Trainline’s website and even on Renfe’s website.
So, this year, more than ever— it’s important to nail down your train tickets well in advance so your plans to see Spain go smoothly.
Thank you SO much for clarifying this leg of our trip. Do any of you have a recommendation for sites to purchase tickets for the train. There are too many options for ticket vendors.
Molly
You can try www.Renfe.com where they are €11.10 each way (US $12.03). If you have any trouble finalizing payment with your credit card, try www.TheTrainline.com. The tix are $15.83 each way on Trainline. It’s an easy-to-use website that contracts with Renfe to sell its train tix and rarely has glitches. Once you enter all your data ( passport#, credit card info etc) you can quickly buy any other train or bus tickets throughout your trip without needing to tediously re-enter all your data again.
If you’ll be buying several train tix in Spain, it’s best to set up an account on the App.
Thanks to the forum members, especially Kenko who added the links, I now have train tickets for a reasonable price and the time is perfect. Now to figure out what we can do in Toledo with one night and one day.
Molly
Hey Molly, I’m really glad you secured your train tickets back to Madrid in advance. Two weeks ago, I tried to buy tickets back into Madrid from Toledo two days before traveling. I thought since it was mid February, mid week it wouldn’t be a problem. Wrong. The first four trains in the morning were sold out all ready. Ugh. May all others be warned.
Drop by our Portland RS travel group meet up every third Saturday at Panera Bread on Nyberg Rd at 10am. I’ll be back from this trip and give you the lowdown on Toledo. 😉 we love new friends.
