Travel advice for booking trains in Spain

My advice is to use https://www.trainline.eu/ or https://loco2.com/
*But you are correct; the schedule is not up on any of the sites for some reason

It always takes longer for schedules to be finalized and published in Spain for travel after the annual, Europe-wide Dec. 9 train schedule change. I'd wait a week or two before looking again.

Consider flying to Barcelona from Granada. You may be surprised, it costs much less and is shorter than the 7 hour train ride. I was surprised too (going from Barcelona to Sevilla was the same situation)!

some helpful info here: https://www.seat61.com/Spain-trains.htm#How_to_buy_train_tickets_for_Spain

I've been having the same trouble, and, making it worse is that the schedules that ARE up are incomplete and, some days, some trains appear and others don't. I second the loco2 suggestion, but it often doesn't sell tickets any earlier. My "best" advice is to do what I'm doing, and just keep checking. You could also pay a bit extra for flexible reservations and then change when a more appealing route is published, but I know that's not ideal either.

Caroline

Not to change the subject, but are you sure you only want to spend one day in Seville? It is my favorite city in Spain and definitely worth more than basically a 'drive by'. Same with the other cities, as well? You'd really be better off just doing Madrid and Seville in that time frame.

On the topic at hand, the bus from Seville to Granada is better as well as flying from Granada to Barcelona. You do realize the train from Granada to Barcelona is 7+ hours, right?

This itinerary is misguided. I'd say the biggest problem is trekking all the way from Granada to Barcelona on Dec. 14 only to turn around and go Madrid the very next day.

We don't know where you are before Dec. 11 and after Dec. 15, but in a vacuum I'd say you should just stay in Madrid with a side-trip to Toledo and a side-trip to Segovia.

Or, if you prefer warmer weather, do Seville and Cordoba. What you have now is way too heavily weighted toward time in transit as opposed to time for feet-on-the-ground sightseeing.

You could just spend all your time in Barcelona, but a) That doesn't make a lot of sense when you're starting and ending in Madrid and b) Three days really isn't enough for Barcelona.

If you decide to proceed with the idea of visiting Granada, get your Alhambra tickets immediately The official ticket agency has some left at the moment, but they do sell out.

Winter train schedule not available until after December 8.

I agree with NP. You have very little time in each destination. You will be spending most of your time traveling and not seeing anything. Are you sure this is what you want to do?

Most of your questions on the train schedule/tickets seem to have been answered.

We just returned from a little under 2 weeks in Spain with no pre-booked train tickets. I was able to navigate through the schedules and find tickets that worked for us while travelling, but we did have some flexibility in modifying our loosely planned itinerary. If I booked the tickets at least a day or two before, I usually got what I wanted. (Sunday was the trickiest to get tickets though). This was intentional as I was travelling with my 81 year old mother and needed flexibility in changing our schedule as needed.

Is your itinerary set in stone?

We would have loved to see Granada, but I ended up cutting it from our itinerary so we could have a little more time in other cities. Although there was a bit of regret, overall I am glad we did that. We also cut a day from Barcelona and from Sevilla. This enabled us to see Cordoba, Toledo and spend a day in Madrid.

It is obvious you are trying to cover the most territory you can in the short amount of time that is available to you. I have done this sort of travel and it can work, although exhausting. You also tend to shortchange yourself on some of the sights.

This is probably a far out recommendation, but would you consider this:

12/11 Madrid to Sevilla (train); night in Sevilla
12/12 Day trip to Granada; night in Sevilla - yes, this will be a long day; companies offer organized day trips there from Sevilla
12/13 Day in Sevilla; later afternoon/early evening train to Cordoba (only around 45 minutes); night in Cordoba
12/14 Cordoba to Barcelona (train) - there should be a 9:43am train that puts you into Barcelona around 2:30pm; night in Barcelona
12/15 Barcelona to Madrid (train)

Cordoba was easy to get around and did not require advance purchase of tickets to the Mosque. We also were able to see an Andalusian horse show on the evening of our arrival (purchased at the show). We only spent one night in Cordoba and it was sufficient for us.

You did not indicate if you will be spending any additional days in Madrid. If yes, you can plan to take an early train on the 11th out of Madrid and a later train on the 15th back to Madrid (to maximize time in Sevilla and Barcelona).

Thanks for all these helpful replies. We are spending a few days in Madrid on both ends of the trip and realize this is a bit of a whirlwind.

Sorry for the late reply but second the vote for Loco2.com. It is way better than the Renfe site which repeatedly wouldn't book me through to Toledo from Barcelona and would randomly switch back to Spanish in the middle of trying to book tickets. And for the tickets I checked the same prices as Renfe. I was even able to rebook tickets I booked on Loco2 using my phone while in Toledo.

No connection to them - just a satisfied customer.

Also I was really informed and amused by this site: The Man in Seat 61: A beginner's guide to Train travel in Spain . . .
https://www.seat61.com/Spain-trains.htm
A lot of useful information and insight into the sometimes wacky Spanish train system and pricing.

Have a great time,
=Tod

Thanks again. I see a train schedule now available when I search, yet still no tickets to be found. I hope I’m not out of luck! I also took the advice you’ve all offered and simplified the itinerary. Now we’re just going to Madrid and Sevilla and Granada - over the span of 7 days. I will get to Barcelona on future trip!

Everything’s booked except the train tickets! Dah.

When I look at the Madrid to Sevilla schedule for your travel week on renfe.com, I'm seeing only one train offered with no tickets, and it's an LD-AVE train (no AVE trains showing), so the schedule hasn't actually been published yet. When you see something that looks like the schedule for December 4, you're in business.

No worries for you -- they'll get to it. It's a bit wacky, but it will work in the end. Just keep checking each day.

Do consider the bus from Sevilla to Granada. It's just as easy and comfortable, and might be cheaper. We went with the schedule that worked best for us (train vs. bus) and wound up with the ALSA bus. It was perfectly fine, especially for such a short trip. And we paid 5 euro per ticket.

Enjoy your vacation!