Having difficulty finding a train from Barcelona to Madrid Airport. What train do i take? From what station? I mean what are the names of the stations that i have to use? Is it better to fly?
Also, from Sevilla to Barcelona:
The train takes me back to Madrid then to Barcelona. Is flying a better idea?
It's really difficult to figure out the Renfe website.
It's not my first time booking train tickets in Europe. But this website seems very bad.
Help!
From Barcelona to Madrid Airport you will need to book from Barcelona Sants station to Madrid Atocha station. In Madrid you would change from the AVE (high speed train) to a local commuter train. The Madrid airport station is “Aeropuerto T4” for terminal 4; if that isn’t the terminal for your flight the Madrid Metro serves the other terminals.
I’m not sure if you can buy a thru ticket from RENFE all the way to the airport, or if you would need to buy a separate ticket for the leg to the airport. I did the latter when I was in Spain years ago traveling from Toledo to MAD airport.
Yes, Renfe's website is a textbook example of how to not design a website if you want it to be user friendly. But for the Barcelona to Madrid trip you can also look at Iryo, www.iryo.eu, which offers a much better website. There are no high speed trains to Madrid's airport (yet) so you need to change at Atocha station to a local train or metro.
Regarding Seville to Barcelona, Renfe has a few direct trains every day that don't require a change in Madrid. Try to book one of them.
I’m not sure if you can buy a thru ticket from RENFE all the way to the airport, or if you would need to buy a separate ticket for the leg to the airport.
A ticket on any High Speed or Long Distance RENFE train will include a code that can be redeemed for a free ride on the commuter rail in the destination or arrival city. This doesn't need to be done in advance, and you can get the ticket while making the connection at Atocha.
Thank you for the helpful information and the specific station names.
I will try to find the direct train from Sevilla to Barcelona but as of now, i cannot find anything.
Can you be a little more specific to what train goes from Sevilla to Barcelona directly?
Alsp thank you for the link to the other train website. will use it now,
SimSim, The 'direct' train still takes a route via Madrid but doesn't require a change of trains. Most of Spain's high-speed rail lines are in and out of the capital—there isn't a "straight line" infrastructure connecting extremes.
When you look at schedules on Renfe's site, under the arrival time you'll see "AVE", "AVE-LD", AVE-AVE", etc... Anything with a dash means a change of trains is required, and those are the train types. The direct trains are just one "AVE", no second part. Torre De Oro is a train does connect Barcelona and Sevilla, following the coast, but it's not high speed and takes quite a bit longer.
Thank you Scudder
That was helpful. I did actually find direct trains. they are 5h:50m long.
not bad when you calculate the travel time to the airport from Sevilla, plus having to be there 2 hours early, plus landing in Barcelona airport and taking transportation to downtown Barcelona.
All in all its probably the same amount of time, but more relaxed.
Thanks!
SimSim,
I booked our Seville to Barcelona (direct, no change of train) through Trainline. Renfe was very difficult. It was really easy with Trainline. Someone on this forum suggested train vs. plane....extending our vacation to seeing additional sights from the ground, rather than flying overhead! A final "tour"... Happy Travels!
