Is “trainline” a legit site to buy tickets for Renfe? Sometimes trainline pops up and other times Renfe (in purple banner at top)? Just want to make sure I’m paying correct site. Please advise.
Trainline is a private reseller of tickets. In other words -- a travel agency. I have no experience with them but other reports here have been positive. I would not hesitate to use them if necessary.
Renfe is the national Spanish train operator, i.e. the company that actually runs the trains. Trainline is a ticket reseller that wants to charge you a booking fee.
However, Renfe's website is not the most user friendly so using a third party to buy tickets is not totally unreasonable. Depending on where you're going you can also have a look at their competitor Iryo that has a much more user friendly website, www.iryo.eu
Just so you get to the right website it's here: https://www.thetrainline.com/en-us
I've read there is another that is simply trainline but I haven't seen that myself.
I just booked a trip throught that site as Renfe was down again.
Seems legit as the tricked look exactly the same.