I am just starting to wade into the murky waters of the renfe site for the first time. I am looking at tickets for a family of four Barcelona to Madrid. Currently I am at the screen where I choose a fare with several little icons next to them (M, P, P+ and F). I think I have figured out that "P" stands for promo and P+ stands for Promo plus fares, but what do the others mean? The children will be 4 and 6 at the time of travel, is is better to book at these rates than trying to figure out how to get a child ticket? Any advice at all you have for this Spain newbie would be much appreciated!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17429 posts
Kate, I haven't dealt with child tickets so I would have to go to Renfe and study up on that. It may only apply to children 4 and under but I'm not sure. What I do know is that the "M" fare, standing for Mesa, is a very good deal when you have four people. That fare (which is generally even lower than the Promo fare) is per person when you buy the whole set of four seats around a table. Since that is a nice seating configuration for 4, you could just do that as a single purchase and not have to fuss with getting seats together, etc.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17429 posts
OK, here is what I found on the Renfe site for child fares on the AVE train (like Barcelona to Madrid). It applies to children from 3 to 12 years old: " The discount is 40% and it cannot be used in combination with any other offer. In general, no proof will need to be shown." So the Mesa fare is better. Just go with that. Also, make sure you have read up on purchaseing from Renfe, especially the part about informing your bank of a foreign purchase and (separately) registering you rcredit card with Verified by Visa. And if you still have trouble, try a different computer. Recently someone repoprted good success with Google Chrome.
Posted by
OP
217 posts
Thank you for your quick reply! So if that fare is available, you would recommend booking it? Seating around a table would be ideal for us as the kids love to color on long train rides. I think the current rate is 42.70 for the date/time we are looking at. Any advice on if we should select turista, turista plus, preferred or club?
Posted by
OP
217 posts
(Sorry, I was typing my response as you posted your response about the children. Thanks for looking into that option, too:)
Posted by
Niagara Falls, New York, United States
31 posts
Kate, I would check this out: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187497-c91911/Barcelona:Spain:Buying.Renfe.Tickets.Online.html
This is amazingly comprehensive. Good luck!