Renfe pass and seat reservation changes

Susan,
I’d urge you to read the information about the Renfe Pass on this very helpful site before you buy it: sewt61.com/train travel in Spain

You don’t mention your itinerary, but if you post it here, we may be able to help you figure out if point-to- point tickets booked in advance ( at discounted prices) is a better option for you.

Wishing you a wonderful trip!

P.S.
I forgot to add this important excerpt from the website I linked above:

Important: When you make your first reservation, Renfe assumes that this is the first train you want to take with your pass and automatically starts the one-month pass validity from that date. This now prevents you from making reservations on any earlier date. So make sure that the first reservation you make is for the day you intend to start using the pass.

One more thing.
Renfe has a competitor now (since 2021) so you may consider comparing prices for train journeys at iryo.eu

I recall a couple of complaints earlier on this forum from people who purchased a Spanish pass--I think the one you are considering. They found it extremely difficult to book their trains. Now, the procedures may have changed recently for all I know, but I'd recommend some heavy Googling for recent comments about the ease or difficulty of using that pass, and checking TrioAdvisor would also be smart.

Thanks for the responses. I love the man in seat 61, but I couldn't find these answers. What I discovered was, yes, you can change the reservations later, so that is a benefit of the pass over point-to-point tickets unless you add the extra change charge.

The pass, I assume, just gives you access to Renfe trains, not those run by competitors.

Flexibility is good, but I've seen a lot of trains between Barcelona and Madrid and between Madrid and Codoba/Seville marked "full" on the Renfe website. I don't think that usually happens long before the date of travel, but you won't be able to change to a sold-out train.

Are you planning a trip that won't have hotels and travel dates locked down weeks in advance? I do that myself, but I think that approach is rather rare. If you buy long-distance, express-train tickets well in advance, they are likely to be far cheaper than the rail pass, and you won't have to pay extra for seat reservations. Spur-of-the-moment traveler though I am, I haven't bought a rail pass in the last 30 years.

I noticed that the Man _ in _ Seat _ 61 replies on a regular basis in the TripAdvisor "train travel" forum. The OP could post her questions on TA and maybe get a direct response from him.

I prefer using thetrainline.com. This website will also display OUIGO and iryo trains in addition to those trains on Renfe so it makes it easier to compare all the competing rides, times and prices on one web page. Plus, I always had difficulty using Renfe.

You can always compare the prices for Ave and avalo on the two sites and see whether or not there is any big difference.

If there was a trainline commission, it was only a few euros which imo was a small price to pay to avoid my aggravation with renfe. On many routes, there was no difference in price between the two sites.