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Train tickets 2 days in advance?

Traveling to Spain in late May with a very loose agenda taking several train trips - would prefer to go to the train station a couple of days before each trip to by tickets - is this reasonable?
Agenda - at least 2 nights each place, maybe 3
Barcelona
Madrid
San Sebastian
Sitges
Collieuore France
and back to Barcelona

Posted by
1178 posts

I believe San Sebastian and Sitges are on opposite coasts of Spain. Sitges is less than 1/2 hour from Barcelona via the train (not and AVE, but local). The travel time, by plane or surface from San Sebastian to Sitges will be considerable.. Madrid to Barcelona is 2 1.2 hours by AVE train. Not sure of the travel time to Collieuore, France from any of the named cities.

Posted by
55 posts

To answer your question, it should be. Our family of four had to wait until we arrived in Spain to buy tickets from La Coruna to Segovia because they were never posted at a discount on the website. I figured it wasn't benefiting me to buy them in advance, so I would keep things flexible. We had three seats in one car and one in another, but that didn't matter to us. In the end, it was better that we waited.

Once at the end of Semana Santa, my travel companion wanted to change her train ticket from Seville to Madrid on and they were completely sold out on Easter Sunday, but that is high season. I would think in May you would be fine.

Happy Travels!

Posted by
11294 posts

The best way to answer this is to look at the prices for yourself.

Use http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/index.html; if you have any trouble using it, here's a VERY detailed tutorial: http://tinyurl.com/cu48wk5. Check the prices for your dates (advance purchase) and the prices for tomorrow (last minute). If you can live with the last minute prices, wait until you get there. If you like the savings, and can live with the restrictions on advance purchase tickets, buy now.

Posted by
15573 posts

Like you, I was flexible about some of my train trips. I was able to buy online and print the tickets out at my hotels. It was easier and faster and cheaper than making a special trip to the train station.