Booking Spanish Trains

I just tried booking the first leg on Renfe, and after three tries, went to Trainline. That part went smoothly, including its accepting a "virtual" credit card.

One down...

Hi Jane, I will give the websites of the national train companies a try and if they give me grief, I use the private companies’ sites ( Iryo, Ouigo) for high-speed trains.

I use the Trainline for preliminary information and to buy tix in a pinch. I figure my time is worth the couple of bucks Trainline makes on the purchase. Considering how much time gets wasted on Renfe’s site before you learn the purchase is not going to go through— it’s well worth the small commission of 2% to 5%. And when high-speed train tix first go on sale with some great deals— that’s the time to snap them up before they start disappearing. If you use the Trainline App, you only need to enter your data once and it stores it for future purchases.

There are always a few who decry 3rd party resellers. It’s interesting that the National train companies themselves contract with Trainline and Omio. There is a real need for them with all the hiccups on the National train company sites. And when the least expensive high-speed train tix first go on sale— you can’t save money if Renfe won’t allow you to complete the purchase.

Kenko, I saw what you mean. I walked throught the Renfre purchase procedure three times, and then it wouldn't let me pay. Phooey on that.

I will try Iryo and Ouigo for the other legs.

Thank you.

Renee’s site can definitely be wonky with US credit cards. I have had 100% success with using PayPal for payment. Maybe give that a try before paying more on third party sites?

Do tickets ever free up for full Ave trains? This particular leg of the journey would be on October 4, a Saturday.

If trains sold out months in advance they would be useless. What you are seeing is not a full train, but a train that is not yet open for booking. RENFE is known for often only opening sales a few weeks before departure. When I was in Spain last May I could not book some trains until two weeks before my travel date. (I booked 5 days in advance in the end).

So just relax. Have a look at next Saturday to see what the usual offer on that route on a Saturday is. And then just wait till September or so, to book.

WengenK, thanks for the "wait and see" advice. I will do as you say. I may be twitching, but I'll try it.

And DebVT, you are right about PayPal. In fact, I first opened a PayPal account years ago - 2013? - when I was trying to book a bus from Madrid to Granada, and couldn't get the Spanish bus line website to accept my Visa card. I remember sitting in the public library, because at the time we didn't have internet at home, trying feverishly to book our trip. At some point, I checked the Forum, and saw a post suggesting PayPal for Spanish websites. And voila! I signed up on the spot, and was able to finish the transaction in minutes.

Thanks everyone, for your help.

I may be twitching, but I'll try it.

This cracked me up because I'm the same way. :-) I'm headed to Spain in March and I'm already dreading the whole train ticket process.

We had some issues with the Renfe site as well and it was frustrating! I think what may have worked in the end was purchasing through the Renfe app. It seemed less glitchy.

Last week I was able to buy train tickets through Renfe website using my phone (Chrome website, not an app). Used ApplePay and the whole process was seamless.

I'd just use Trainline. For your Sevilla to Madrid journey there are 3 companies.
Renfe won't mention the other two obviously. But Trainline will.