We will be in Malaga for the week up until New Year's Day when we plan to take the high speed train to Madrid. Would there be any problem with the train running on New Year's? Will the train be running as usual or on a holiday schedule? It's really hard to find any kind of schedule (even a current one) for it on-line. If anyone can point me to the right place I'd appreciate it. Thanks for your input. We've never been to Spain before and this forum is incredibly helpful!
What site for schedules are you using? Try dbahn.com or .de to see the schedules. Jan 1 probably would be a holiday schedule and as I vaguely remember you have to make one train change. I will see what I can find later.
The flight may be cheaper and more convenient as well as faster; remember to factor in the airport transfer to your lodging in Madrid compared to the train station transfer. And you tend to meet nicer people on the plane.
Very surprised you cannot find current schedules.
You will certainly not find schedules anywhere for your journey this far in advance. The only sites you should be looking at for accuracy are the the train operator www.renfe.com, bahn.de as already suggested and an agency called loco2.com both of whom link accurately, without bias, to RENFE for their information. There will certainly be journeys, as there is a great deal of 'local' movement at this time, but I am not certain of New Year's day journey volume.
If you want peace of mind and a particular journey start monitoring the RENFE website two months prior to your travel date and snap up the advanced discounted tickets when they appear.There are several guides on RENFE and advance discounted purchase available with a google.
Frank, the DB website is www.bahn.de NOT dbahn.com, that is a site about weight training!
Tuffbug, The timetables change every year on the second Sunday in December (this year 13/12/2015), so no site will currently have times loaded for end December/start January. These should appear some time in October or November.
But, for the purpose of planning you can assume the times will have minimal changes and just look up for a Sunday in November. Holidays usually have a Sunday timetable.
Thank you all. This is just the kind of information I was hoping for.