I am trying to buy train tickets ONE way from Madrid to Barcelona. The more I read the more information that is clouding my mind. This is what I would like.... a fast train From Madrid to Barcelona... first class one way for 2 adults.
I was going to book reservations on the Raileurope website for the AVE train but I don't see where I can reserve my seats.
Before I make a huge purchase and tickets that might be wrong, I was wondering if anyone could assist with my confusion.
THANK YOU!
Why pay a markup through a third party when you can purchase directly from the official site, www.renfe.com for best discounted tickets. They go on sale 60-90 days in advance. As mentioned many times on this forum www.seat61.com is a great source for info on buying tickets in Europe & Tripadvisor has a great tutorial. www.tripadvisor.ca/Travel-g187514-c80518/Madrid:Spain:Buying.Renfe.Tickets.Online.html
Buy your tickets at http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/larga_distancia/productos/. Click on purchase in the top right corner and all the rest will follow. The station names are in Spanish -- not a big deal. Rather than figuring out which station your train leaves from select Madrid (Todas) and Barcelona (Todas) from the drop down menu. For some reason, you can't select the class that you want to sit in from this page but when your results come up will be able to do that. Click Buy and then look to the left of the new screen and select Preferente and the tickets will reprice with the first class pricing and the trains that have first class seats available. Then you buy. You do not pick out your seats. They are automatically assigned. In over 30 years of taking trains in Europe, I have never bought multiple tickets in the same session and not been seated together in our assigned seats.
Unless you have some particular need for first class, use second. The difference is not that great. Remember, RailEurope is a travel agency and not a train company. You are better off booking directly with the national railroad site.
I've always been able to pick seats on the RENFE website before. That is definitely the way to buy Spanish rail tickets.
The discounts can be tricky to understand. In general, the cheapest fares are non-refundable or changeable (for any reason). The mid-tier fare can be changed. Discounted fares are limited and you are best to buy about 60 days in advance.
First class offers little else other than a meal provided. AVE trains are incredibly comfortable and spacious no matter 1st or 2nd class.
Buy tickets from RENFE using the Paypal option. Trying to use your credit card direct is very hit-or-miss and all of the tricks recommended by various experts are hit-or-miss. Just use Paypal and make it easy.
There's no need to use Rail Europe. It's easy to buy these tickets from Renfe, provided:
1) You have the Tripadvisor tutorial in front of you (the one Marika linked above - you REALLY need this to book on that website), and
2) You use PayPal rather than a US credit card.
Before deciding that you need first class, see what seats come up when booking. When I bought my ticket from Madrid to Toledo, I got the first class configuration (3 seats across the train car) for the price of second class (4 seats across the train car), without doing anything special (those were the seats that came up). The wider seats, by the way, are the main advantage of first class.
Tickets for this type of fast train are always sold with a seat assignment included, whether or not you get to select the seats. In the case of the Spanish trains, Rail Europe doesn't have access to the advance-discount fares that Renfe will sell when you go direct.
