Train ticket

For train tix - try Captain Train website and see if that works better. You can take a high speed train in 2 hr 45 min. Flying time is 1 hr 10 min, but you have to get airport to airport and trains will leave you in city centers. More efficient on train. What's the price difference?

Thanks. We are 4 people. Flight is a total of $227 and train is $333.
Leaning towards train because don't want the hassle of the airports.

All right - try this and see how it goes - I'd go train despite the price difference. https://www.captaintrain.com

That website is not letting me buy tickets for Spain.

Hmmmm...I see what you mean. A good resource for train information is a website called http://www.seat61.com. The suggestion on that website for train tickets if you're having trouble with Renfe is to use this site: www.petrabax.com. I took a little look at the site and put in a random April date since I don't know when you're traveling. Prices varied from 55 dollars for a train leaving at 8pm and were as high as 150 for some midday trains. I saw trains at some pretty reasonable times for about $80 per person.

Maybe someone else will chime in that they've used Petrabax. I have been able to buy tickets from the Renfe site but it was a few years back and I remember thinking it was frustrating.

Have you followed the steps on the TripAdvisor tutorial? http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187514-c80518/Madrid:Spain:Buying.Renfe.Tickets.Online.html

Good that you're using PayPal; I got nowhere with my credit card, but PayPal worked immediately.

If you have followed all those steps and you still can't get Renfe's website to work, then here's what that tutorial says (about halfway down):

"Many Americans who have had a problem buying tickets have resorted to Petrabax, or Palace Tours that represent Renfe in USA. This is their website: http://petrabax.com/renfe/ and http://www.palacetours.com/renfe. Another agency that people have used is Rumbo.es. They can get you the discounts and charge about 15 euros for the service. http://www.rumbo.es"

As for flying, by the time you figure in the cost as well as the time of getting to and from the airports, and the hassle of using airports, you would have to get significantly cheaper flights to make it worthwhile. And remember that while you can get to the train station about 20 minutes before your departure and still be fine (you do need to allow time for security, as well as time to find your departure area - not necessarily easy in Madrid Atocha Station), you need to be at the airport at least 60 minutes before your flight.

I had the same question last year when I was in Spain for the same trip you're talking about. I ended up flying since it was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper (I paid $35 for my flight). Yes, you have to get to the airport earlier and it's not in the city center, but I was trying to travel as economically as possible and the high-speed train was incredibly expensive. I didn't have any problems at either the Madrid or Barcelona airports, and the transportation was easy to get to and from the city center. Just my two cents.

If you can get a "verified by Visa" code for a Visa credit card or a "securecode" for a Mastercard, it is may work. It's an extra layer of security. If you have either card, it's a good idea for other purchases in Spain. I have a Capital One cc which used to be eligible for securecode, and which I used in Spain. It's no longer offered, so I've had my card rejected on more than one site, but not all.

Mhakim,

I have always had great luck purchasing my advance rail tickets for Spain from www.petrabax.com. They are, of course, slightly more pricey than buying from RENFE, but the site is so much more user friendly. Many folks on this sight tend to favor Captain Train. I have found their prices to be significantly higher than Petrabax - remember the Captain's prices are in pounds sterling.