Barcelona to Madrid

Train tickets are only 47 euros if you buy in advance and get the discount Web fares. Travel time is 3 hours. I am sure the bus, if there is one, would take much longer.

Haven't found the correct website then.
Is this the Renfe site?

https://w1.renfe.es/vbi/indexu.html You may need to get to the Spanish version to purchase the tickets on line, but start here.

When are you traveling to Spain? You can buy your tickets about 60 days before you travel and this will save you quite a bit of money (over 50% off) by buying the Turista tickets that early, they sell a limited number of these specially priced tickets and they do sell quickly so if you can buy them as soon as possible. Turista is second class which is fine, not that different than first class IMHO. You can still get the Turista tickets but the price goes up. And you may already know this but I want to pass it along to anyone that may not be aware, when using the Spanish calendar Monday/Lunes is always listed first on the left hand side instead of Sunday/Domingo (which is on the right hand side) where we are used to seeing Saturday/Sabado.

Remember the AVE takes three hours. Other trains will take longer but should cost less. Booking well ahead gives you the best price. Like airlines, however, you're locked into a particular train. If you can't make that train for any reason, your ticket is useless. You have to make new arrangements and buy a new ticket.

I have tried to get the Renfe site to accept my credit card in order to purchase the web specials, but to no availe. I get the error message that the card holder is not authorized even though I called my issurer today to allow me to make the purchase. Anyone have experience with this and a solution? Thanks,
Phil

Yes, it is a common problem. Some credit cards simply will not work; in most cases you must sign up with the "Verified by Visa" program or similar equivalent if it is a Mastercard. It helps to use the Renfe site in Spanish, and during daytime hours in Spain. There are detailed instructions on Tripadvisor in the Madrid forum. Look through the FAQs on the upper right. If you still fail you can try rumbo.es; a Spanish travel agent. They charge a small service fee per ticket (6 euros or more, depending on the cost of the ticket), but if it enables you to save lots more euros on the purchase it is worth it. I used rumbo.es twice before I had any success with Renfe.

Another thing to try is calling your bank back. Tell them that you authorized the charge but Renfe wouldn't put it through. They can check to see if Renfe even attempted it. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. In my case Renfe sent the charge and then refunded it. My bank was not rejecting it; Renfe was doing something weird. The bank representative/security person should be willing to stay on the line with you while you attempt the transaction again. Sometimes that works. (I didn't work for me because the Renfe site chose that time to freeze up and give an error message.) Good luck. It seems that once you accomplish it, it is easier on subsequent transactions.

Lola, Thanks. I tried and tried but no joy. Finally used the Rumbo site and got the tickets. Do you know when they close-out the web prices? Maybe when the web allocation is sold? Got tired of trying and just spent the extra to get it all done. Better things to do and think about.
Phil

I think they have a certain number allocated to Web prices, and then they are gone. I have watched and they disappear sooner for the most popular times of day (morning but not too early). for the day and time we wanted on the Barcelona to Madrid run, there never were Web prices, but we did get an Estrella fare. Web prices were still available for early morning runs, but we're on vacation and don't want to do that. So you did get the Web price, though, even though you have to pay the rumbo handling fee? You'll see on your credit card statement that the charge does come from Renfe (with a separate charge from rumbo for handling). So if you need any more tickets, it may just go through Renfe now, since they have accepted your card. Or not. It still seems pretty random!

I tried to purchase 6 AVE tickets through Renfe website for over a week at different times, different cards, after notifying my banks. I also tried rumbo website, they charged a booking fee of 16 euros per ticket, but my card did not work either. Finally I tried http://petrabax.com/renfe/ I requested the # of tickets dates and times and they provided a quote. I received the web and estrella rate and there was no booking fee. The service was excellent. If you are not able to purchase via Renfe directly you may want to try petrabax.

Are you sure there was no fee with Petrabax? Did they maybe build it into the fares? I talked to them before purchasing and the agent said they would charge a "small" handling fee. You cannot purchase from them on the web but only request tickets, so you don't see the fares ahead of time. I was not comfortable with that. The tickets I bought on rumbo had a 6 euro per ticket charge, but I saved almost 50 by getting the Web fare so it was worth it. If the ticket costs more (i.e. you don't get the Web fare) then the handling fee is higher.

Hi Phil: I had this very problem. If you go to Trip Advisor there is an 11 page essay about how to use the renfe site. I found it very helpful. After many attempts to use the site (Sun. March 6) Finally I had to switch from my usual visa with air miles to an old mastercard I seldom use. Of course I called the credit card companies before ordering the tickets to make sure they would not block an international purchase. Good luck! Also, when mastercard went thru, I called visa again to complain because I had lost the greatly discounted fares that were available on Sunday. The customer svc. rep. checked and the "international travel" code had not been placed as it should have been. To mollify me they gave me 5,000 bonus miles and agreed to waive my foreign exchange fees for the trip. That did make up for the lost discount!! Susan in Seattle

I hope vivian posts back because her statement about getting a Web fare wit no handling fee from Petrabax is not what I have read elsewhere. This is one person's experience posted on a different travel forum (fodors): "The Petrabax website that "wombat" found offered tickets from the expensive reserved seat class, claiming they were the only seats still available for one leg, and for another "Thank you for your inquiry. One way rate from Madrid to Granada October 24 at 5:00pm $111.00 per person tourist class." Reserving on Renfe site 2 tickets cost $123." In other words, Petrabax would have charged them almost double the Renfe fare, but it was built into the price. As far as I know, the only way to get Renfe tickets without a handling fee is from Renfe. It is well worth trying to book on the website, frustrating as it is, to get the 60% off Web fare. My personal second choice is rumbo.es, where ou can still book online yourself and choose Web fare. Their handling fee is about 10% of the Renfe ticket price.

hey, can i ask you of i can trust the site rumbo.es?
i bought a planticket there and they asked me to send copies of my creditcard and passport, is this normal? thanks!