Toledo to Seville via Rail

An hour sounds fine for the transfer at Madrid P. Atocha station, even though it's a large station. The only reason to book the Toledo departure ahead is that Monday mornings would be popular with commuters and any one departure possibly could sell out (no standing room on the reserved trains).

You can get deep discounts on the Madrid-Sevilla ticket by buying in advance. They usually go on sale 62 days in advance. The Toledo-Madrid tickets are always the same price. I don't see where the flexibility comes in if you are going straight from Toledo to Sevilla and have a fixed departure time from Madrid.

Half an hour is the minimum transfer time I'd allow. You may have a longish walk between trains and Atocha is a large station. You'll have to go through security to board (doesn't usually take long) and keep in mind that Spanish trains close their doors 2 minutes before departure, if you aren't on board, you've missed the train.

I spent 2 nights in Toledo and found it very convenient to store my suitcase in a locker in Atocha and just take an overnight bag with me. If you do that, allow another 15 minutes to pick up luggage. It's off the big garden and about a 5 minute walk from the entrance to the long-distance trains.

I just purchased tickets from Toledo to Seville for Monday, September 25. On Renfe, you have to make two separate purchases. On loco2.com, you buy 2 separate tickets with one purchase. We bought both tickets, because as a previous poster mentioned trains could be full on a Monday morning. While I was deliberating which train time to purchase, the fare from Madrid to Seville increased. It was even higher the following morning.

I would just buy the Toledo-Madrid ticket now and have that locked in. No savings, but you really cannot be flexible with the time. Allow an hour layover at Atocha just to be safe (I'd feel ok with 45 minutes but any less cuts it close if there are any delays).

Trains between Madrid and Toledo use the lower level at Atocha; trains between Madrid and Barcelona use the upper level; I don't know which level the Seville trains use.

If you arrive and depart from the same level at Atocha, 15 minutes between is plenty. You'll just go from the train into the departure lounge, then back out again as soon as your new track is posted. If you arrive and depart from different levels (I did, since I came from Toledo and went to Barcelona), use the elevator that connects the departure lounges. This way, you not only don't have to find your way through the large and confusing station, you don't have to go through security again, so this saves a LOT of time. The elevator is outside, in the track area, near the high-number tracks; ask for it if you have any trouble finding it.

Using this elevator, I had 30 minutes to make my connection, and still had time to kill.

I had to buy my tickets in two segments. When I looked on Renfe, it only showed two connections from Toledo to Barcelona all day. I used Bahn to find all my options, then booked it as two tickets on Renfe. When booking on Renfe, use Paypal, since US credit cards rarely work (mine didn't), whereas Paypal goes right through.

This TripAdvisor tutorial was invaluable in knowing how to use the Renfe website: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187514-c80518/Madrid:Spain:Buying.Renfe.Tickets.Online.html

In the end, it took me five websites to book these tickets (Renfe, Bahn, Paypal, TripAdvisor - and Rick Steves to learn about the others!). But in the end, it worked fine.