Purchasiing tickets on Renfe

Print out the ticket that you purchase on line. Present it when you board the train. It will have the coach number and seat number on it as well. Never any problem doing that.

Thanks for clarifying what I should expect when I purchase my ticket. The only problem now is I have tried repeatedly to book a ticket on the Renfe but only get errors that their unable to process my request at this time. Talk about frustrating! I checked with my credit card company and they say everything is in order on that end. Is this a common event that their web site is down?

I had the same problem. Renfe does not like American Express. My Visa didn't work either. I finally went to Rumbo.es and bought my tickets. There is a small fee, but they will email you the tickets and you can print them out.

I never heard of Rumbo.es. At this point I'll try anything. THANKS!!!!

Yikes! Is this site only in Spanish? I don't see a link for the English version. I did find a translation site out on the web I can run the words through (http://www.spanishdict.com/translation) but that that is a bit painful.

Oh, I found the English button at the bottom of the page. Now I'm good to go.

Jill, have you registered your card with Verified by Visa? That enabled me to buy tickets in Renfe without any problem. I also used Rumbo.es first. The train tickets are only available in the Spanish version. You can figure it out by comparing to Renfe.

Rumbo.es lets you books flight and hotels but I see nothing for trains. Am I missing something?

You have to use Rumbo.es in spanish to book trains. Click on the "Trenes" on the menu bar.

That explains why i did not see anything on the English side. With Rumbo do I get an e-ticket or do they mail you a ticket?

With Rumbo you get the same printable ticket in a pdf file that you get from Renfe. It actually comes from Renfe, and your credit card statement will show 2 separate charges, one from Renfe for the ticket, and one from Rumbo for their handling fee. The printable ticket will be an attachment that you get from Rumbo by email, so it's important to enter your adress correctly!

Well, I hope I have more success in booking with Rumbo than I have with Renfe. I really appreciate everyone's assistance with this issue. It has been very frustrating.

Everyone else's success stories gave me confidence that I, too, would be able to purchase tickets on the Renfe website. I was prepared. I followed the instructions on Tripadvisor and Seat61 to the T. I was persistent. I tried numerous times over the course of 3 days and during different times in the day and night. Was I successful? NO!!! The entire process was extremely frustrating. I have a Chase Visa credit card and also a Chase Visa debit card (both are Verified by Visa). Both were declined. I called and spoke with Chase 4 times, and each time the rep I spoke with claimed to release the hold on my account. One rep even waited on the phone with me while I tried to complete the transaction, but he said he wasn't seeing the transaction on his end. I also tried to contact Petrabax, but never received a response from them. I then decided to do what a few others resorted to, which was to purchase 2 preferente tickets from rumbo.es. This purchase was also initially declined, but it took just 1 call to release the hold for the transaction to go through. Although I spent an additional $10 EUR ($14 USD) for 2 tickets, it was well worth it to finally have confirmed tickets in my possession...and I saved $135 over RailEurope's fares! BTW, rumbo does offer estrella and web fares. I am just happy that I don't have to deal with the Renfe website anymore!!! Good luck to everyone else!

Michelle, Your experience mirrors mine exactly. Since my husband speaks Spanish (some what) he called the Renfe. Of course he could not get through on the English line so he ed the Spanish line. That got him to a English speaking associate. After about 20 minute conversion he got out of her that they DO NOT expect credit cards from banks out side of Europe. This of course sounded crazy to us. My husband wouldn't let her off the phone until she gave as some kind of alternative. She gave us the name of a travel agency out of New York who could books trains for Spain. The company is www.petrabax.com. We called them and the rest was a breeze. We worked with Ceneida Batista who was extremely helpful on giving us tips related to train travel. They charged as 20% above the Renfe price but she was able to see discounted fares I could not on the Renfe so, we actually came up spending less on our tickets (in most cases) than if we had used the Renfe. We found out why the Renfe stopped taking credit cards from banks outside of Europe. People would charge the tickets, there would be a photo id of the person on file that matched, and a signature that matched and yet people would deny the charges and the credit card companies would refuse to pay. The Renfe was losing money that is why we can't book tickets on the Renfe. So, the Renfe is good for researching trains but that is it. I researched the day and time of each train I wanted and then sent it to Ceni or I just called her with the info. and she sent us e-tickets.

It is not true that Renfe won't take credit cards from outside of Spain. I had no trouble buying tickets on Renfe after I first made a purchase on Rumbo.es. It is essential that you have your card registered with Verified by Visa or the Mastercard equivalent, and even then they may not take your card, but they definitely will take some cards. The explanation I heard was that they will not take your card for a first purchase on the website, that is, if you have not previously used it to make a purchase from Renfe in Spain. But apparently the purchase through Rumbo.es counts (it actually shows up as a purchase directly from Renfe on mycredit card bill.).