AVE Spain Travel Question

Posted an answer for you under "Transportation".

Hi, Christine, I didn't use "Passes". It is very hard to use credit card online to purchase train tickets via Renfe web site. I read helpline a great deal, some fellow travelers don't have any problem at all. This is my recent experience with train ticket purchase: I searched my train schedules and printed them out. When I landed at Madrid airpot, I went straight to the little Renfe window and bought all the tickets at once with 2 different credit cards. For some reasons, the transaction could not be completed with 1 card. I found out someone used my Capital One in Russia 2 weeks after I returned from my trip. So you either pay with cash, or you cancel your card after the trip. We took the early morning train ride from Seville to Granada, it worked out well. Little encounter with bus station, I found out most of workers at bus station do not speak English. Another tip for you, if you need to ues ATM at Madrid airport, there is a Caja Madrid ATM machine between terminal 1 and terminal 2.

Q1) Passes? You mean "tickets"? As many as you need, I guess. Q2) Yes, it's safe to use a credit card for online purchases -if you can. Using the Renfe website is problematic when using a non-Spanish credit card, plus you have to register and approve that credit card before the attempt to reserve tickets. Q3) Hmm.. If "better" means "cheaper", then yes. It's a better option - but slower, too, and not as comfortable as the train. Q4) Whew, I can't imagine a Granada-Barcelona trip by Alsa bus unless you get a night bus (12 hours) and you can sleep on the way. Just for Granada-Madrid, this takes 5 hours then another 8 hours to Barcelona. For this, I'd recommend either a plane from Granada to Barcelona or the train from Granada to Madrid and then Madrid to Barcelona. The train takes 4.5 hours from Granada to Madrid and then another 3 hours via AVE to Barcelona. Happy Travels!! Saludos, MadridMan @ you-know-where!

Hi Tracy, HJ and Madrid man Thanks for all your tips. I guess I am confused with the RENFE website when it states, "2 passes for 2 month period", etc. Does going from Madrid to Barcelona count as "1 pass"?

Hi Christine, Don't rule out air travel which we used for our Madrid-Barcelona and Barcelona-Sevilla portion of our trip last October. I thought the fares are cheaper than using the train. The only drawback is if you have lots of luggage because you can possibly pay more because of high luggage fees. Check out Vueling Airlines.

the granada to barcelona bus trip is horrible! we did it a few years ago. the plan was to do an overnight train. we werent' too concerned about getting tix in advance. waited til we got to seville which was about 5 days before we were going to need the ticket from granada to bcn. SOLD OUT! really. where we were in seville said we could try again at soem office in granada and we did but no luck. that is how we ended up on the overnight bus. we were optimistic though and thought "how many people are really gonna be on this?" as we had visions of sprawling out to get some sleep. Wrong! it was packed. i was uncomfortably crammed into a window seat with a guy next to me that held a huge package on his lap the entire time.
don't do it!!!

Hi Christy Thanks for your advice. I think I decided to take the AVE train from Barcelona to Madrid. Then from Madrid take a bus to Toledo for a day trip. Then from Madrid, take a AVE train to Sevilla. From Sevilla, I will take a bus to Granada. I haven't bought a ticket yet but will probably buy from Vueling.com or EasyJet for a one way flight from Granada back to Barcelona.

Good plan Christine.