My husband and I are travelling in Spain in September/October and I have most of our train trips booked already. However, I have been unable to book Madrid-Toledo and Toledo-Madrid-Salamanca later in September. The Renfe schedule shows nothing after September 3rd. I am puzzled as to why I can book other trains up to and even later than these.
Can anyone shed any light on this for me?
Chris
To quote the Man in Seat 61:
In theory, tickets should go on sale 60 days ahead for all trains
other than AVE trains which should open 90 days ahead. However, this
isn't exact - Renfe is a law unto itself, and loads dates in large
blocks as and when it feels like it, often significantly less than 60
days and often loading some trains before others. If you go online
and don't see the complete train service which you're expecting to
see, and it's more than a month to go before departure, the chances
are that all trains are not yet loaded.
Thank you very much for that speedy reply. I won't panic then, and will keep checking daily.
Chris
We're hoping to do a day trip to Toledo from Madrid in November. Should we make reservations as soon as the schedule is out that far or can we wait until closer to the date in case our plans change?
We are going to Spain in late September and I do not plan to buy advance tickets from Madrid to Toledo. I am told trains run frequently (every hour) and I dont want to lock myself in to a time frame, particularly on the return back to Madrid as we are only going for the day. May want to return in later evening.
Unlike a lot of other express-train routes, the fare between Madrid and Toledo is fixed. You don't have to worry that the price of the ticket will escalate if you wait till shortly before your travel date to make the purchase.
However, it is not a safe assumption that you can saunter into the train station 15 minutes before departure and buy a ticket. Those trains have all-reserved seating, and they do sometimes sell out. (You can verify this on renfe.com.) In his guidebook Rick particularly warns about full trains returning to Madrid from Toledo, but I've seen "full train" on the schedule going in both directions.
Following up on acraven’s comment- when I went to Toledo I booked the return ticket for the latest time I foresaw wanting. When I was ready to head back earlier I was able to change it at the station’s ticket window. (I ran the risk of the earlier train being full, but had the sure-thing of the later train.)
Chris, as others have said, there's no cost benefit to booking early. The only reason to book in advance is that morning and evening trains are used by both commuters and day-tripping tourists, so they can sell out if you wait until the last minute. If you buy 2-3 days in advance, you should not have a problem.
I was trying to book Toledo-->Madrid-->Granada and kept getting the error message, but when I entered only the second leg (Madrid-->Granada) I was able to purchase a ticket. I am planning to buy the Toledo-->Madrid leg closer to our trip. Just wanted you to know, in case Madrid-->Salamanca is available and you are able to get a lower fare by booking before the first leg of the trip is for sale.
Thanks so much, ebennet12. That's exactly what I had already done with the trip TO Toledo from Cordoba, book the first leg because it was available, and am now waiting to book the Madrid-Toledo leg, but I had not done it for the Toledo-Salamanca. I just now booked 2 of the last 3 seats for the Madrid-Salamanca leg, and will keep watching for the Toledo-Madrid leg to open up. Your post was very timely for me, and greatly appreciated.
Chris
I have stayed overnight in Toledo on three occasions. On my last trip, I chose to purchase my return ticket at the train station on the day of travel . . . mistake! Unfortunately all the trains for the next several hours were full (and this was mid-day, not end of the day!!). Rather than wait hours in the train station, I trekked across to the bus station. Taking the bus was another cultural experience, but one I would not choose to repeat, as the sun was especially brutal that afternoon as I walked to the bus station.
I'm returning to Toledo again in September and have set a calendar reminder to purchase Madrid/Toledo round trip tickets approximately 30 days prior.
The schedules for the trains I had been waiting to book for September just got loaded now, and I have done my bookings.
Chris
