Hi will be traveling from Madrid to Barcelona on February 11 2024. Was wondering how soon I should purchase the tickets. What train stations to leave out of Madrid. What web site is the best to purchases tickets. It is for 3 adults. Thank you.
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4088 posts
One general piece of advice: If you want to travel by rail, first read The Man in Seat 61's site. A former railroader, he seems to have ridden on all the rails and know almost all of the angles, from itinerary to booking strategies. If this sounds like a fan note, well, it's deserved.
Posted by
3 posts
Hello! We took the fast train from Barcelona to Madrid a few weeks ago. In Madrid you will probably leave out of Atocha. We used trainline.com to book our train tickets & it was very easy to use. The routes are usually posted 60 days or less on the site. I would recommend booking when they appear if you know your itinerary. The longer a person waits, the more expensive the tickets become.
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
6974 posts
The Man in Seat 61 is always a good start. https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/barcelona-to-madrid-by-train.htm
Basically you have four options on the route. Renfe or Iryo for full service options or the low cost alternatives Avlo and Ouigo.
The latter will sell you a ticket for less than €10 but has their disadvantages. For full service I recommend Iryo, www.iryo.eu , simply because their website is so much easier to use. Renfe's trains are nice but their website is not very user friendly.
Posted by
Hudson Valley
2267 posts
You'll certainly leave from Atocha station. The guidance for tickets to go on sale 60 days out is outdated for this route—both Renfe and Iryo are on sale now.
The Renfe site can be finicky, but I've never not been able to buy the tickets I've needed. Or the Iryo site for that service.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
334 posts
Tickets for your date should be available now. Tonight, we booked tickets for Madrid to Barcelona for February 14, 2024. We read through the Spain page
on seat61.com and studied all of our options. We decided to book on Iryo through Iryo.eu.
If you are unfamiliar with train travel in Spain (or anywhere in the world for that matter) it’s always very good advice to read what The Man in Seat 61 has to say.
Posted by
Citizen of the World
2014 posts
Book your tickets now through The Trainline for February 11 at www.TheTrainline.com.
Trainline has Ouigo tickets for $22 and Avlo tickets for $17. Your train stations are Madrid Atocha and Barcelona Sants. These are the least expensive tickets for high-speed trains and are non-cancellable and unchangeable. The prices will only go up from now until February 11.