A beginner's guide to train travel in Spain www.renfe.com (2024)

	High-speed Spain: An AVE S103 about to leave Madrid Atocha for Barcelona, taking just 2h30 Buy train tickets for Spain Buy a Spain Pass www.renfe.com orwww.petrabax.com

See Spain by train

Once upon a time, Spain had one of the most backward train networks in western Europe. Now, they have one of the best, indeed, one of my favourite rail systems. High-speed AVE trains (Alta Velocidad Española) link major cities at up to 300 km/h (186mph), and if you book in advance online you can find some great cheap fares. This page will give you a heads-up on how to travel cheaply around Spain by train.

A guide to taking the train in Spain

Spain by train, in a nutshell - the key points.

Spanish train fares & classes explained

Railpasses for Spain & the Renfe Spain Pass

What are Spanish trains like?

How to buy train tickets for Spain

How to use www.renfe.com

How to transfer between Madrid Atocha & Chamartin

Train services between Barcelona & Madrid

Madrid Atocha station guide

Madrid Chamartin station guide

Barcelona Sants station guide

Tours & vacations to Spain by train

Travel insurance, mobile data, VPN & other tips

Hotels & accommodation in Spain

International trains to & from Spain

UK to Spain by train, the no-fly way

Trains from Barcelona to other European cities

Madrid, Seville, Malaga, Alicante to other cities

Trains from other European cities to Spain

Madrid to Lisbon by train

Paris to Barcelona by high-speed train

Other train travel information

Eurail passes- for overseas visitors

Interrail passes - for European residents

General European train travel information

Luggage on trains &Left luggage at stations

Taking your bike &Taking your dog

Spain's high-speed AVE trains: Madrid to Barcelona by train takes as little as 2h30, Madrid to Seville 2h30. There's no need to fly! These are AVE S112s at Alicante.

• Where do the trains go?

  The network links all the major towns & cities. For a zoomable train route map of Spain seewww.openrailwaymap.org. For the best printed map of European rail routes, see here.

• Who runs the trains?

  The Spanish national train operator isRenfe (pronounced Ren-fay), originally Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles but now a brand name in its own right. Its website iswww.renfe.com. Renfe runs Spain's superb high-speed AVEs and other mainline trains, as well as local and suburban trains nationwide.

• Local operators FEVE, Euskotren, FGC

  In addition to Renfe there are several useful regional train operators.

  Euskotren (www.euskotren.eus) runs narrow-gauge local trains from Hendaye & Irun on the French border to San Sebastian & Bilbao.

  Former FEVE routes: There's a metre-gauge network along the coast of Northern Spain, Bilbao - Santander - Oviedo - Gijon - Ferrol. FEVE has been absorbed into Renfe, regional trains such as Bilbao-Santander or Santander-Oviedo are now searchable on the main journey planner at www.renfe.com or tryhorarios.ram.renfe...homeHorariosFeve.jsp.

  FGC runs the local railway from Barcelona to the famous monastery at Montserrat,www.fgc.cat.

• Competing high-speed operators

  Since 2021 there are several open access operators competing with state-owned Renfe on the high-speed network, all bookable atwww.thetrainline.com so you can compare prices:

  Avlo is a lo-cost subsidiary of Renfe which runs Barcelona-Madrid, other routes planned. Their trains are one class only, with no-catering.

  Ouigo Spain is a lo-cost subsidiary of SNCF (French Railways) which runs Barcelona-Madrid, Madrid-Valencia & Madrid-Alicante, other routes planned. Two class, with basic catering.

  Iryo is a joint venture of Trenitalia & Air Nostrum using Italian-designed Frecciarossa trains) which runs Barcelona-Madrid, Madrid-Valencia and Madrid-Cordoba-Seville. Full-service, with 3 classes and quality catering.More info on Iryo trains here.

• Do you need a reservation? Should you pre-book?

  Yes! All long distance trains in Spain and even some shorter distance regional ones require a seat reservation, you cannot just turn up and hop on. There are usually places available even on the day of travel, but at peak times such as Christmas and Easter trains can get full. It also pays to pre-book: If you book ahead there are cheap advance-purchase fares, for example Madrid-Seville from €28, but if you wait to buy your tickets on the day you'll pay the full-price fare, for example Madrid-Seville€75.

• When does booking open?

  This is a major problem with Renfe. Renfe is a law unto itself and loads what it likes when it likes, in blocks of dates. On major routes where it has competition, it may open sales up to 11 months ahead. On routes without competition sales may open as little as 30 days before departure, and often some trains appear before others. Did I say 30 days? I've seen Madrid-San Sebastian trains from 22 July onwards only open for booking on 7 July!

  So if you go online and don't see the complete train service which you're expecting to see with over a month to go, WAIT, chances are that all trains are not yet loaded. Renfe is particularly lax in opening bookings for dates after the timetable changes at midnight on the 2nd Saturday in June and 2nd Saturday in December.

• Standard & Comfort class

  Renfe offers two classes,Standard (= 2nd class) and Comfort (= 1st class). These are the terms introduced in 2021, before that they were called Turista & Turista Plus and before that, Turista & Preferente. Don't get the new class names mixed up with the new ticket type names!More about classes & fares on Spanish trains.

• Fare types

  Renfe introduced a new fares structure for long-distance trains including the high-speed AVE in July 2021:

  Básico (Basic) = The cheapest fare, for travel in Standard (2nd) class.

  Elige (Choice) = A semi-flexible fare, you can choose between Elige (2nd class seat) or for a higher price, Elige Confort (1st class seat).

  Premium = The most flexible fare, you get a Comfort (1st) class seat &lounge access. A meal & wine is usually included onAVE & Euromed.

  More about fares & classes on Spanish trains

• Children & infants

  Children under 14 pay the child fare.

  Infants under 4 travel free as long as they don't occupy a seat, but it's mandatory to get a free infant ticket before you travel.

  This was introduced in 2014, a first for any European train operator outside Russia. You'll get the necessary free infant ticket If you add your infant with their correct age to a booking made at www.thetrainline.com, www.raileurope.com or www.renfe.com. However, you cannot book a free infant ticket on its own, so if you forget to add them to your booking you'll need to get one at a Renfe ticket office before you board.

• Seniors over 60: Tarjeta Dorada

  Anyone over 60 of any nationality can buy a Tarjeta Dorada card for€6 valid for one year.

  Renfe's Tarjeta Dorada (Golden Card) gives a 25% discount on all fares types for Renfe long-distance trains including AVE, Euromed, Alvia & Intercity trains. It gives a 40% discount on Renfe medium-distance trains, and a 25% discount on weekdays, 40% discount at weekends on short-hop high-speed Avant trains.

  Now for the catch, and it's some catch that Catch 22: You can only buy a Tarjeta Dorada in person at a Renfe station when you get to Spain. You cannot buy it online. But you can't buy tickets online in advance with the Tarjeta Dorada discount until after you've bought the card because you need to enter the card number to get the discount. So if you're planning a trip to Spain, it's better to forget about being senior and just buy a normal adult advance-purchase ticket now for perhaps €30 without any Tarjeta Dorada discount, than to wait until you get to Spain to buy a Tarjeta Dorada to get 25% off a fare which by that time (on or close to departure date) might have risen to €90. Just let that sink in...

  You'll find full details for the Tarjeta Dorada atwww.renfe.com, switch it to English, click Travel, click Discounts then look for Over-60s to find the Tarjeta Dorada page. You can buy the card over the counter at any staffed Renfe station, just present your passport as proof of age.

• How to buy tickets & check train times

  You can buy tickets at any Renfe station or online atwww.renfe.com, but see theadvice on using Renfe.com below. There's no booking fee, but Renfe.com is a pain to use with some confusing translations and quirks, it's also known for sometimes rejecting overseas payment cards. It's far easier (and quicker!) to buy tickets in plain English usingwww.thetrainline.com (in €, £ or $, small booking fee, works for anyone from any country) orwww.raileurope.com (various currencies, small booking fee),Omio.com (various currencies, small booking fee)orwww.petrabax.com (in US$, with a small mark-up). These websites all connect to Renfe's ticketing system and sell the same trains at the same prices with no payment problems and the same official Renfe print-at-home tickets.

• Real time information

  You can see whether a train is on time and which platform it will leave from, if you download thetrainline.com's app and run an enquiry for today. Trainline's app show real time information for all operators, Renfe, Avlo, Iryo & Ouigo.

• Combinado Cercanias: Free suburban travel with a long-distance ticket

  When you buy a ticket for one of Renfe's long-distance trains (AVE, Euromed, Alvia, Intercity) of any fare type in any class for a journey within Spain, you get free travel from any Renfe suburban station at the start of your journey and free travel to any Renfe suburban station at the end of your journey, in the following cities:

  Asturias, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cadiz, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia/Alicante, San Sebastian, Santander, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza. You also get free travel from/to any FEVE local station in Asturias, Santander, Bilbao & Cartagena.

  If your ticket includes this, it will say Combinado Cercanias in the corner with a reference number.

  At your starting city, you must use the suburban ticket within 3 hours of your long-distance train departure, and at your destination you must use the suburban ticket within 4 hours of your long-distance train's arrival.

  You can travel to or from any suburban station within that city's numbered zones, but not outside the zones - so longer rural routes such as Barcelona to Portbou or Latour de Carol are not included.

  Different cities have different processes: To access the suburban (Cercanias) platforms in Madrid, Barcelona or Malaga, place the QR code of your long-distance ticket against the scanner on the Cercanias ticket gates and they will open. In some cities, you may need to use the Combinado Cercanias code printed on your ticket to get a Cercanias ticket out of one of the Cercanias ticket machines, or go to a ticket window.

  The Combinado Cercanias offer applies to any Spanish domestic long-distance tickets bought directly from Renfe.com or from websites connected to Renfe such aswww.thetrainline.com,www.raileurope.com,www.petrabax.com.

  Competing high-speed operatorIryo offers a similar free suburban connection with their long-distance tickets, too.

• Luggage & luggage weight limits on Spanish trains

  You take your bags with you onto the train, putting them on the racks above your head and at the end of each car. Renfe is unusual in specifying a 25 Kg weight limit for passengers' baggage, which is a nonsense, first because a weight limit is totally unnecessary on a train as it does not have to take off, and second because your bags will not be weighed at any stage, so as long as you don't take the Mickey, this weight limit is pretty much irrelevant and can be taken with a pinch of salt. It's probably the result of employing an ex-airline senior manager. For information about left luggage at Spanish stations, see theluggage on trains page.

• X-ray baggage check at Spanish stations

  Before boarding a high-speed train at any Spanish mainline station, you must put your bags through an X-ray baggage scanner. This usually only takes only a few minutes, but don't turn up for your train with 30 seconds to spare! Sometimes this is at the entrance to a general departures area as at Madrid Atocha,Madrid Chamartin or Barcelona Sants, sometimes at the entrance to a specific platform as at Seville Santa Justa or Algeciras. The security check applies to high-speed trains and the platforms these use, not to regional or suburban trains.

  Security staff may confiscate things like penknives, so put anything like that in a pocket, not in your bag through the scanner. There are no metal detectors, security staff next to each scanner often have a metal-detecting 'wand' but on a recent trip this 'wand' was only used on me once in 8 occasions and even then it failed to find the corkscrew in my left pocket or iPhone in my right one. It's basically security theatre.

• Food & drink

  On most long-distance trains there's a cafe-bar serving tea, coffee, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and snacks. Of course, you're free to take your own food and even wine or beer onto the train.

  Add a meal box to your booking in Elige Confort on AVE & Euromed. You can add a meal box to your booking if you buy an Elige fare for Confort class on AVE, Euromed or some Alvia trains at Renfe.com. You can add it when you book or afterwards, at least 12h before the train leaves its origin station. You can't add it if you use 3rd party retailers.

  Meal & drinks included with aPremium fare onAVE & Euromed: An airline-style hot tray meal with wine is usually included if you pay the Premium fare onRenfe'sAVE & Euromed trains on Mondays-Fridays & Sundays. It's a hot tray meal at meal times, a snack box with a sandwich on some late-morning & mid-afternoon trains. Unfortunately, there's no way to check which trains only offer a snack box (although a noticeably cheaper Premium fare on a mid-morning or mid-afternoon train may indicate ones with the snack box), but after you buy your ticket it will have the word Desayuno, Almuerzo or Cena printed on it if breakfast, lunch or dinner is included. It will say Merienda (snack) if only a snack box is included. Incidentally, if the person sitting next to you in Confort class doesn't get fed, they probably paid the Elige fare, not the Premium fare - only Premium passengers get the meal, the staff have a list!

• WiFi: Renfe's front-rank AVE trains have free WiFi, the network name is PlayRenfe.

• Bikes: See the bikes by train page.

• Taking dogs & pets: See the dogs & pets section on the Europe by train page.

Luggage control into first-floor departures at Madrid Atocha. Only takes a few minutes, nothing like an airport.

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In July 2021, Renfe introduced a completely new fares structure for all its long-distance trains including the high-speed AVE, and also changed the terms it uses for 1st & 2nd class. It's easy to get confused between what's a class of accommodation and what's a fare type, so here's a run-down of Renfe's new classes & fares.

Standard & Comfort class

• Standard = 2nd class,Estándar in Spanish, formerly called Turista. Seats are usually arranged 2+2 across the car width.

• Comfort = 1st class, Confort in Spanish, formerly Turista Plus or Preferente. Seats usually arranged 2+1 across the car width.

  On the premier high-speedAVE or Euromed trains an at-seat meal & wine is included, see the food & drink section here, but only if you've paid the Premium fare, not if you only paid the Elige fare.

Básico, Elige & Premium fares

• Básico (Basic). The cheapest fare, only for travel in Standard class (2nd class). Básico tickets are non-refundable & non-changeable unless you pay a hefty extra fee to make them so.

• Elige (Choice). A semi-flexible fare. If you select this you get a choice of Elige to travel in Standard (2nd) class or Elige Confort at a higher price to travel in Comfort (1st) class but without any included food or access to lounges. Elige & Elige Confort tickets are refundable & changeable for a fee.

• Premium. The most flexible fare. You travel in Comfort class (1st class) and on Renfe'spremierAVE or Euromed trains an airline-style hot tray meal with wine is included - although on some departures you get a snack box instead, see the food & drink section to learn more. You can use the Sala Club lounges at major stations with complimentary drinks & snacks. Changeable without fee, refundable for a minimal fee.

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Sala Club lounges

If you pay the Premium fare for anAVE orEuromed train you can use Renfe's Sala Club (1st class lounge) at Madrid Atocha, Madrid Chamartin, Barcelona Sants, Cordoba, Seville, Malaga, Alicante, Zaragoza and several other major stations, the opening hours and full list are on the Renfe website.

Sala Club at Madrid Atocha.

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• If you just want to go from A to B cheaply, just book a cheap point-to-point advance-purchase ticket online. That's the cheapest & easiest option! But if you want to buy your train travel in bulk, and retain flexibility without having to commit to a specific train way in advance, it's worth considering a railpass, especially Renfe's own Spain Pass.

Option 1, Eurail & Interrail passes

• You can buy a one-country Interrail pass for Spain if you live in Europe, see the Interrail guide, or a one-country Eurail pass for Spain if you live outside Europe, see the Eurail pass guide. These passes give unlimited travel on all Renfe trains across Spain for various periods of time.

• Passholder reservations with an Interrail or Eurail pass

  Unfortunately, Interrail & Eurail passes do not offer hop on, hop off convenience in Spain because all Spanish long-distance train and even some regional trains require a reservation, for Interrail & Eurail passholders this costs around €10 for AVEs and similar front-rank trains or €7 for lesser trains. This must be factored into your budget.

  The next issue is that Interrail & Eurail reservations for Spanish trains often can't be made online. Passholder reservations for most front-rank high-speedAVE trains can now be made online using theInterrail/Eurail reservations service and some Alvia and Intercity trains can also be booked this way. However, others can't be booked online at all and most Media Distancia trains can't be booked online either, you have to go to a station when you reach Spain.More about how to make Interrail/Eurail passholder reservations in Spain.

  You should take all this into account when deciding whether to use a pass or buy point-to-point tickets which can easily be booked online with reservation included. However, there's one other type of pass to consider, the Renfe Spain pass.

Option 2, Renfe's Spain Pass

• Renfe offer its own Spain Pass to anyone resident outside Spain. This can be better value as it includes all reservations, no hidden costs. However, unlike Interrail & Eurail passes it does not give unlimited travel. One journey = 1 train ride, if you change trains, that's 2 journeys.

• You can buy a Renfe Spain Pass giving either 4, 6, 8 or 10 individual one-way train journeys of any length in a one-month period on all of Renfe's long-distance & medium-distance trains, including AVE, Euromed, Alvia, Intercity, Media Distancia & Avant.

• With the Renfe Spain Pass, reservations can be made for free and there are no extra fees or quotas - if there is an empty seat on the train, you're entitled to it with your Spain Pass, although be warned that Spanish high-speed trains can indeed get fully-booked close to departure date.

• How to buy a Renfe Spain pass

  You can buy a Spain pass online atwww.renfe.com/es/en.../renfe-spain-pass (has a few quirky translations and sometimes struggles with some credit cards). The passes are completely electronic. After setting up an account and buying your own pass, you can buy passes for your travelling companions as separate transactions. They will also appear as passes in your account.

  You have up to 6 months to make your first trip after you buy the pass, then one month to use the remaining trips after that first trip.

• How to make reservations with a Renfe Spain Pass

  You can make reservations to go with a Spain pass either at stations as you go or at www.renfe.com, but the online method isn't obvious. Here's how to make Renfe Pass seat reservations using www.renfe.com (feedback appreciated):

  1. After buying your Renfe pass, go to www.renfe.com and switch it to English by clicking the globe logo at top right and select Ingles.

  2. Log into your account and select the tab called My passes. You should see each Renfe pass you have bought for you and your companions.

  3. At the top of that page is a from and to field, like the journey planner used to book tickets on their home page. Use this to make reservations, the price will be shown as €0.

  You can only make reservations for one person/pass at a time. But if you click Choose seats you can select your seat from a seat map and can use this feature to select seats next to each other.

  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 an earlier date. So make sure that the first reservation you make is for the day you intend to start using the pass!

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AVE trains

AVE or Alta Velocidad Española trains are Renfe's front-rank high-speed services. Reservation is compulsory, there are standard and comfort class seats, a cafe-bar, power sockets at all seats & free WiFi.

If you pay the Premium fare, an airline-style hot tray meal with wine is included although on some departures you get a snack box instead,see the food & drink section above. AVE trains come in various types.

AVE trains come in various types,see the AVE page for more information, photo & tips.

A type S103 AVE at Madrid Atocha.More about AVE trains.

Euromed trains

Euromed trains operate the fast services on the Barcelona-Valencia-Alicante corridor, with Intercity trains operating the slower services. Euromed trains have standard & comfort class, a cafe-bar, power sockets at all seats & free WiFi. They run at up to 250 km/h on a short stretch of high-speed line near Barcelona, but mostly at up to 200 km/m on upgraded classic tracks. Euromed services use the same S130 Talgo trains used for most Alvia services, but with AVE levels of service: If you pay the Premium fare you get a comfort class seat with Sala Club access and meals included.

Euromed train at Barcelona Sants. These S130 trains are known as Patito (little duck) by staff. No prizes for guessing why...

Euromed comfort (1st) class.		Meal if you pay the premium fare.

Euromed cafe-bar.		Euromed standard (2nd) class.

Alvia trains

Alvia trains are the next rank down from AVE & Euromed trains, with standard & comfort class and cafe-bar. Alvia trains come in several types,see the Alvia page for more information, photo & tips.

Intercity trains

These run on many long distance routes, including Madrid-Ronda-Algeciras, Madrid-San Sebastian. Most are former Altaria trains, little articulated trains built by the Talgo company and hauled by a locomotive, they have adjustable wheels so they can run at up to 200 km/h on the standard-gauge high-speed AVE lines then run slowly though a gauge-changing shed to emerge on traditional Iberian broad gauge to complete their journey on the classic network. A few Intercity trains have been created by rebranding former S120 Alvia trains built by CAF, for example on the Madrid-San Sebastian route, which also have gauge-changing wheels. All Intercity trains have a cafe-bar, but you're unlikely to find WiFi or power sockets.

A Cartagena-Alicante-Valencia-Barcelona Intercity train at Valencia Estación del Nord.

Standard class.		Comfort class.

Intercity train at Alicante.		Cafe-bar.

Avant

Avant is Renfe's brand name for 'short hop' high-speed trains, one class of seating only. There are two broad types of Avant service: (1) Separate trains of varying types, such as the one shown below from Valladolid to Madrid and (2), a designated standard class coach on a longer-distance AVE train, which is why you see two trains leaving at the same time on routes such as Barcelona-Girona, one an AVE with 2 classes and higher prices, the other an Avant with a cheaper fixed price. They are of course the same train, the Avant is one car on the AVE designated for passengers making shorter journeys.

Avant train at Madrid Chamartin.		One-class seats on an Avant train.

Avlo, Iryo, Ouigo...

Spain's high-speed lines have been opened up to competition. Renfe now has a lo-cost brand calledAvlo, and competitor operatorsIryo & Ouigo now operate on key routes includingBarcelona-Madrid, Madrid-Valencia, Madrid-Cordoba/Seville/Malaga.See the Barcelona-Madrid page for a run down of these 3 operators.

AnIryo train at Barcelona Sants.

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When does booking open? Anything between 15 days and 11 months, Renfe is a law unto itself when it comes to booking horizons,see the introduction.

What can these sites sell? They can sell Renfe's mainline trains and sometimes competing high-speed trains run by Avlo, Iryo or Ouigo. They can't sell tickets for Renfe's suburban (cercanias) routes including Latour de Carol-Barcelona or Cerbère-Portbou-Barcelona, nor can they sell tickets for Euskotren (Hendaye-San Sebastian-Bilbao) or the former FEVE routes (Bilbao-Santander-Gijon-Ferrol).

Option 1, buy atRaileurope.com

The quickest & easiest way to buy Spanish train tickets is atRaileurope.com with cheap advance-purchase fares & print-at-home or collect-at-station tickets. You can choose to pay in €, £ or $. There's a small booking fee.

Raileurope.com links directly to Renfe's (Spanish Railways) ticketing system and charges the same price as Renfe themselves with the same print-your-own ticket delivery. Unlike Renfe's own site it's in plain English without any of Renfe.com's quirky translations and no credit card rejection problems.

Raileurope.com can book the lo-cost Barcelona-MadridOuigo Spain trains as well as the normal Renfe trains, but cannot book lo-costAvlo trains

Anyone from any country can use Raileurope.com as international credit cards are welcomed. It can also sell international trains between Spain and Portugal or France, as it links to the French, German, Italian & British ticketing systems. Who are Raileurope.com?

Important: If you have a baby or infant, remember to add them as a child and enter their age, they'll still go free but will get the free infant ticket which is now necessary in Spain.

Option 2, buy at Thetrainline.com or Omio.com

www.omio.com & www.thetrainline.com also connect to Renfe's ticketing system to sell Renfe tickets at exactly the same prices as Renfe with the same print-your-own or collect-at-station tickets, very easily, all overseas credit cards accepted. Both charge a small booking fee. They can also bookOuigo Spain trains &Avlo trains.Who are Thetrainline.com?

Option 3, buy atPetrabax.com, easy to use, in US$

If you'd rather pay in USD, usewww.petrabax.com. This is a US-based agency which also links directly to the Renfe ticketing system to sell the same trains as Renfe.com with the same print-at-home tickets. They add a small mark-up, but it's easy to use in plain English and it avoids the English translation and credit card acceptance problems people can experience with Renfe.com. Anyone from any country can use Petrabax, including the United States, Canada, Australia, India & Singapore.

Option 4, buy atRenfe.com

You can of course buy tickets direct from Spanish Railways atwww.renfe.com, in € with print-your-own tickets. Unfortunately, Renfe.com has more than its fair share of quirks and a reputation for rejecting a significant proportion of overseas credit cards. It's very fiddly to use.

Pretty much the only reasons to battle with renfe.com rather than buying easily fromwww.raileurope.com or www.thetrainline.com is that you avoid paying any booking fee and it may allow you to select a specific seats from a seating plan for an extra fee. However,www.raileurope.com or www.thetrainline.com allow you to specify seating options and they both show you your seat numbers before you pay, so you can alwayscompare them with a seating plan then run multiple enquiries if you don't like the first ones you are given, adding seats to your basket until you get ones you like. Then cancel the ones you don't need and pay for those you do.

If you want to try using Renfe.com please read the advice on using Renfe.com below. It frustrates many people, though I have to say it has always worked fine with my own credit card and it now also accepts PayPal.

Renfe.com also doesn't handle connections well, so if you want to book (say) from Bilbao to Seville you'll have to guess that this involves a change in Madrid, then book as two journeys, Bilbao to Madrid and Madrid to Seville - whereas Raileurope.com can generally book from anywhere to anywhere as one transaction, even if connections are involved.

So if you want a quick and easy transaction, use www.raileurope.com or www.thetrainline.com, but if you really want to avoid their small booking fee and are prepared to overcome confusing translations and a website which keeps slipping back into Spanish, try using Renfe.com with the help of theadvice below.

• Spanish train bookings only open weeks or occasionally months ahead

  Renfe loads blocks of dates as & when it feels like it. On major routes where it has competition, sales open as far ahead as 11 months. On routes without competition Renfe may open sales as little as 15 days ahead, it varies enormously. Renfe is notorious for late opening of sales!

  Certain trains may appear in the data before others. If you see only 1 train a day on a route you know has 5, no they haven't all been mysteriously cancelled, data is incomplete, WAIT!!!!!!

• There are alternatives to Renfe.com which are easier to use

  Using Renfe means no booking fee, it works OK for me and has always accepted my credit card. But it's fiddly to use and it rejects some overseas credit cards, especially American or Australian ones, although Renfe now also accepts PayPal. If you have problems there are several easier alternatives, www.thetrainline.com,www.raileurope.com & www.omio.com (same price as Renfe with small booking fee) andwww.petrabax.com (prices in US$, with a small mark-up). All these sites link to Renfe's ticketing system and sell the same trains at the same fares and the same print-at-home tickets. www.thetrainline.com allows seat selection from a seat map, although other retailers don't.

Step 1, use the journey planner

• Go towww.renfe.com.

• Switch it to English by clicking the globe symbol top right & selecting Inglés.

• I recommend registering for an account

  If you're registered you can always log in and check & reprint your tickets if you have any problems. Being registered also saves you re-entering your details every booking. Click the head-and-shouldersaccount symbol top right and click Register me.

• Use the journey planner: For a one-way trip, change Return to one-way. Leave Promotional codes alone. Enter journey details.

• For Madrid, select MADRID (TODAS), for Barcelona select BARCELONA (TODAS), Todas means all and the system will work out whether you need Madrid Atocha, Madrid Chamartin, Barcelona Sants or Barcelona Franca. For Seville, use Sevilla Santa Justa. For Malaga you want Malaga Maria Zambrano.

• The system can't always handle changes of train, it will only show direct trains plus a few popular connecting services that Renfe has manually programmed in, marked link. So if you ask it for San Sebastian to Algeciras it won't show any trains at all as there are no direct ones and no 'link' options have been programmed in, but of course you'll see trains if you ask it for San Sebastian to Madrid, then again for Madrid to Algeciras. It's another reason for usingwww.thetrainline.com orwww.raileurope.com which can find & book multi-train journeys across Spain.

• When you're ready, click Search for a ticket.

Step 2, select a train

• On the results page you'll see a list of trains, each shown with the cheapest available fare. Select the one you want.

Step 3, select fare & class

• You now see the choice of fare & class. It's important to realise that here you're selecting your fare type and classat the same time. See the explanation of classes & fare types above.

  Basico andElige fares both get you a Estandar (2nd) class seat.

  Elige Confort and Premium fares both get you a Confort (1st) class seat.

  Basico is non-changeable, non-refundable. Elige fares are semi-flexible, semi-refundable. The Premium fare is fully changeable, fully refundable and includes Sala Club lounge access and a meal served at your seat. You'll only see a Premium fare on AVE & Euromed trains.

Step 4, passenger details

• On the next page, enter your details. You can leave Second surname blank.

• Change DNI to Pasaporte and enter your passport number.

• Enter your phone number. Select your country code (type 'U' and select United States of America (+1) for USA, or United Kingdom (+44) for the UK. Enter your phone number with no spaces between the numbers and no preceding 0, for example 1844292884.

• Leave the Mas Renfe card section alone unless you have a Renfe discount card, which you probably don't.

• When you're done, click Customise trip.

Step 5, customise trip

• You now see a page of 'optional extras'. Pets, bikes, meals, refundability, seat selection...

  You can add pets, bikes, pay a small fee to make your Elige fare totally refundable, add a meal (on certain trains) to your Elige fare (meals are automatically included with a Premium fare), and so on. You can add seat selection from a seat map for a small fee, or at no extra charge with a premium fare. You don't get offered these options with 3rd party retailers (although Trainline offers seat selection), this is one advantage of using Renfe.com.

Step 6, pay & print tickets

• Enter your payment details or use PayPal if you want. Renfe uses the 3D Secure/Verified by Visa/MasterCard Secure system, you should enable your credit cards for this.

• Error GU001 at payment stage? If you get error message GU001 when paying, it could be your bank blocking an unusual foreign transaction, rather than renfe.com itself. Try another credit card, and/or call your bank and tell them you're making a legitimate payment on a foreign website. Renfe uses the Verified by Visa and MasterCard Secure schemes, and anecdotal evidence suggests that a card that doesn't work before it is enrolled in one of these schemes suddenly works once you've signed up.

• Print your tickets or download the Renfe app

  After you've paid, a confirmation screen appears, with a link to download tickets and save them to your PC. Or you can download the Renfe app onto your phone, sign into your account and your tickets will appear. You can now board the train.

  If you get stuck, call renfe for help on 00 34 919 19 05 04. It has a voice-activated system, say Ingles when prompted for English. Even if you didn't register the customer services staff can usually provide you with your booking's ‘localiser' which allows you to print your ticket at the station either at the staffed ticket office or self-service machines.

• Feedback is very welcome if you use renfe.com to buy tickets, especially as things change from time to time and I won't always spot it.

• If you have any difficulty, for example credit card payment errors,see alternative ways to buy Spanish tickets.

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Paying for a guidebook may seem an unnecessary expense, but it's a tiny fraction of what you're spending on your whole trip. You will see so much more, and know so much more about what you're looking at, if you have a decent guidebook. For the independent traveller I'd recommend either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide, both provide an excellent level of practical detail and useful background. You won't regret buying either of these guides!

Click the images to buy online at Amazon.co.uk

Alternatively, download just the chapters or areas you need in .PDF formatfrom the Lonely Planet Website, from around £2.99 or US$4.95 a chapter.

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The European Rail Timetable (formerly the Thomas Cook European Timetable) has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency & climate information. It is essential for regular European train travellers and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Published since 1873, it had just celebrated 140 years of publication when Thomas Cook decided to pull the plug on their entire publishing department, but the dedicated ex-Thomas Cook team set up a private venture and resumed publication of the famous European Rail Timetable in March 2014. You can buy it online atwww.amazon.co.uk (UK addresses) orwww.europeanrailtimetable.eu (shipping worldwide).More information on what the European Rail Timetable contains.

Rail Map Europe is the map I recommend, covering all of Europe from Portugal in the west to Moscow & Istanbul in the east, Finland in the north to Sicily & Athens in the south. Scenic routes & high-speed lines are highlighted. See an extract from the map. Buy online atwww.europeanrailtimetable.eu (shipping worldwide) or atwww.amazon.co.uk (UK addresses).

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Backpacker hostels

www.hostelworld.com: If you're on a tight budget, don't forget about backpacker hostels. Hostelworld offers online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in backpacker hostels in Paris and most other European cities at rock-bottom prices.

Environmentally aware, actively ethical adventures in Spain:www.wildsideholidays.com

For environmentally-aware guesthouses offering walking, hiking, riding or nature-watching in the Spanish countryside and national parks, trywww.wildsideholidays.com, a new site listing independent, environmentally-aware properties across Spain. It was started by British ex-pats Clive Muir and Sue Eatock, when they found nowhere to advertise their own wonderful property deep in the heart of the Sierra de Grazelema near Ronda in Southern Spain.

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Railbookers,railbookers.co.uk

If you want to tour Spain by train, with all your train reservations and hotels sorted for you to your own specification, contact train tour specialists Railbookers and they'll create the best rail holiday for you, hassle-free. They take good care of their clients and get a lot of repeat business.In particular, check out theirUltimate Barcelona, Madrid & Seville tour on their US & Canada site, or a top seller on their UK site,Madrid & Andalusia. They have offices in the UK, USA & Australia.

UK call 0207 864 4600,www.railbookers.co.uk.

US call free 1-888-829-4775, www.railbookers.com.

Canada call free 1-855-882-2910,www.railbookers.com.

Australia call toll-free 1300 971 526,www.railbookers.com.au.

New Zealand call toll-free 0800 000 554 or see website.

Tailor Made Rail,tailormaderail.com

Tailor Made Rail can arrange tours of Spain by train based on your own requirements, they welcome complex itineraries. As it's a package, they'll take care of you if anything happens on one part of the trip, for example, a national strike. They're TTA-protected - like ATOL, but not only for agencies that sell air travel.

Call their dedicated seat61 phone line 020 3778 1461 and quote seat 61 when booking. From outside the UK call +44 20 3778 1461. Lines open 09:00-17:30 Monday-Friday. Their website iswww.tailormaderail.com/destinations/spain.

Car hire comparison:www.carrentals.co.uk

The award-winning websitewww.carrentals.co.uk compares many different car hire companies including Holiday Autos, meaning not only a cheapest price comparison but a wider choice of hire and drop off location.

Always take out travel insurance

You should take out travel insurance with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover from a reliable insurer. It should cover trip cancellation and loss of cash & belongings up to a reasonable limit. These days, check you're covered for covid-19-related issues, and use an insurer whose cover isn't invalidated by well-meant but excessive Foreign Office travel advice against non-essential travel. An annual policy is usually cheapest even for just 2 or 3 trips a year, I have an annual policy withStaysure.co.uk myself. Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed connection, see the advice on missed connections here. Here are some suggested insurers, I get a little commission if you buy through these links,feedback always welcome.

www.staysure.co.uk offers enhanced Covid-19 protection and gets 4.7 out of 5 onTrustpilot.

www.columbusdirect.com is also a well-know brand.

If you live in the USA tryTravel Guard USA.

Get an eSIM with mobile data package

Don't rely on WiFi, download an eSIM with a European mobile data package and stay connected. Most newer mobile phones can download a virtual SIM including iPhone 11 & later,see device compatibility list. There's no need to buy a physical SIM card!Maya.net is a reliable eSIM data retailer with a4.5 out of 5 Trustpilot rating and arange of packages including unlimited data.

Get a Curve card for foreign travel

Most banks give you a poor exchange rate then add a foreign transaction fee on top. A Curve MasterCard means no foreign transaction fees and gives you the mid-market exchange rate, at least up to a certain limit, £500 per month as I write this. The money you spend on your Curve card goes straight onto one of your existing debit or credit cards. And you can get a Curve card for free.

How it works: 1.Download the Curve app for iPhone or Android. 2. Enter your details & they'll send you a Curve MasterCard - they send to the UK and most European addresses. 3. Link your existing credit & debit cards to the app, you can link up to two cards with the free version of Curve, I link my normal debit card and my normal credit card. 4. Now use the Curve MasterCard to buy things online or in person or take cash from ATMs, exactly like a normal MasterCard. Curve does the currency conversion and puts the balance in your own currency onto whichever debit or credit card is currently selected in the Curve app. You can even change your mind about which card it goes onto, within 14 days of the transaction.

I have a Curve Blue card myself, it means I can buy a coffee on a foreign station on a card without being stung by fees and lousy exchange rates, just by tapping the Curve card on their card reader. The money goes through Curve to my normal debit card and is taken directly from my account (in fact I have the Curve card set up as payment card on Apple Pay on my iPhone, so can double-click my phone, let it do Face ID then tap the reader with the phone - even easier than getting a card out). I get a little commission if you sign up to Curve, but I recommend it here because I think it's great.See details, download the app and get a Curve card, they'll give you £5 cashback through that link.

Get a VPN for safe browsing. Why you need a VPN

When travelling you may use free public WiFi which is often insecure. A VPN encrypts your connection so it's always secure, even on unsecured WiFi. It also means you can select the geographic location of the IP address you browse with, to get around geoblocking which a surprising number of websites apply.See VPNs & why you need one explained.ExpressVPN is a best buy with a4.7 out of 5 Trustpilot ranking which I use myself - I've signed up as an ExpressVPN affiliate, and if you go withexpressvpn.com using this link you should see a special deal, 3 months free with an annual subscription. I also get some commission to help support this site.

Carry an Anker powerbank

Tickets, reservations, hotel bookings and Interrail or Eurail passes are often now held on your mobile phone. You daren't let it run out of power, and you can't always rely on the phone's internal battery or on being near a power outlet. I always carry anAnker powerbank which can recharge my phone several times over.Buy from Amazon.co.uk orBuy from Amazon.com.

Touring cities? Use hill walking shoes!

One of the best things I've done is swap my normal shoes for hill-walking shoes, in my case from Scarpa. They're intended for hiking across the Pennines not wandering around Florence, but the support and cushioning for hiking works equally well when you're on your feet all day exploring foreign cities. My feet used to give out first and limit my day, now the rest of me gives up before they do!

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