Tutorial on Purchasing Train Tickets Online

1. Go to http://www.renfe.es/.
2. The following will be a trial run to purchase a one-way ticket from Madrid to Seville on the high speed AVE (Alta Velocidad EspaÒola)
3. On the bottom left hand side, youπll find a box: ≥Seleccione su idioma≤ (Select your language). Choose English.
4. On the upper right of the screen, click on ≥Buy Tickets≤ where you see the hand.
5. At the bottom left of next page, put in ≥Select your language≥ as English.
6. Select Single (for one way trip). Deeply discounted fares are only available if purchased one way. Round-trip tickets are discounted only 20%.
7. Select origin: Madrid (*). The asterisk means there is more than one train station for that city.
8. Select destination: Sevilla Santa Justa
9. Choose the date from the calendar. Tickets can be purchased 62 days out. Deeply discounted (60% off) WEB fares must be purchased within 15 days of travel. The other discounted fare, ESTRELLA (40% off) must be purchased a minimum of 7 days in advance.
10. Choose number of passengers: 1 (you may purchase up to 9 tickets in one transaction).
11. Click on ≥Buscar≤ (Search)
12. On the Availability screen I chose the AVE 02280, departure at 08:30, arrival at 11:00 and chose Tourist class at 71.70§, the ≥general≤ or non-discounted fare. If you donπt see a W (WEB) or * (ESTRELLA), icon, it means there is no deeply discounted fare available for a particular train. You may want to try a later, ≥off peak≤ departure for one of the two Promo fares.
13. At the bottom of the page youåll see ≥Write the characters that you see in the next image≤. Write the blue, wavy characters that you see in the image in the box to the right.
14. Check ≥Continue≤ on the lower right hand side.
15. On the Form of Payment page, go to the Fare box and scroll down to ≥Web≤. The price will change, indicating that the Web fare is available to you.

If the Web (W) fare is sold out, it will not be an option. Choose Estrella (*) instead. If neither is available, you must choose the General (peak) fare. The following is an explanation of what these fare options are:

1. Carnet Joven: Holders of a Youth Card receive a 25% discount.
2. Web: a 60% discount (purchased at least 15 days prior to travel)
3. NiÒo: Child under 14 receives a 40% discount.
4. Tarjeta Dorada: Gold Card for Spanish citizens over 65, 40% discount
5. Estrella: a 40% discount (purchased a minimum of 7 days prior)
6. General: the standard fare with no discount.

Fill in all of the mandatory fields with an asterisk in ≥Purchaserπs Details≤:

• Email
• Name
• First Surname (your last name)
• Second Surname- leave blank (Spaniards have 2 surnames)
• Town/City
• Province (US residents write their state)
• Telephone 1 and Telephone 2
• Country
• Type of Document: Select Foreigner ID No.: Enter in your passport number.
• Check the ≥I have read and accept the General Conditions for Passengers≤ box.
• Fill in your Credit/Debit Card information.
• Click on Purchase
• This will take you to the Ticket Page to complete your purchase.

You will be able to print your ticket at the end of this transaction as a PDF file.

Do not cut the printed page.

Under ≥Datos del Cliente≤ at the bottom of the page, write your name (Nombre), passport number (NIF), street address (Domicilio), zip code (CÛdigo Postal) and town/city (PoblaciÛn). To print this ticket properly, you must have the latest edition of Adobe Acrobat

The pdf ticket will have a barcode with the following information:

• Salida (departure): Atocha (Seville AVE departs from Atocha station)
• Date of departure and time
• Llegada (arrival): Sevilla AV (Sevilleπs Santa Justa station)
• Date of arrival and time
• Coche (car) and car number
• Plaza (seat assignment)
• Total price, including 7% VAT

Note: Some Americans have reported problems completing their transactions because their credit card companies have blocked the purchase for fraud protection. If this happens, you need to call your credit card company to unblock the purchase. If you still have problems on the second attempt and Renfe informs you that they cannot connect to the your credit cardπs bank, try another card.

If you make a mistake during this process and need to change a fare (or date, time), at top left click on ≥Changes/Refunds≤. (Example: If you mistakenly purchased a ≥general≤ rather than ≥web≤ fare or ≥general≤ rather than ≥niÒo≤ fare for your child)

You will see ≥if you want to exchange your ticket, click here≤. This will take you to a page where you enter your locator code (all letters), ≥localizador≤ or your ticket number, ≥n˙mero de billete≤, both found on top left of your pdf ticket. You will see a second page where you fill in Origen (select Madrid), Destination (select Sevilla), departure date (select from calendar) and your email.

Note: The drop down box for selecting Destination does not work correctly on Firefox. You may need to use Opera as your browser for this to function properly, particularly if you use a Mac. The Renfe ticket purchase pages are optimized for Windows.

After filling in this information you will see ≥My tickets≤ and a panel with all your ticket information including the date you purchased it and the time of purchase. Check the box under ≥My Tickets≤; click on ≥Search≤. Make the necessary changes on the next page; click on ≥Change≤. Any change you make will incur a transaction fee, a ≥gasto de gestiÛn≤.

• Note: WEB fares are NON EXCHANGEABLE
• To exchange an ESTRELLA fare for a later train on the same day, there is a 15% penalty, for another day, a 20% penalty.
• If you do this online under 7 days prior to departure, you will need to pay the difference between the ESTRELLA fare and the general (peak) fare.
• If you need to cancel your ticket and want a refund, click on ≥if you want us to refund your tickets click here≤. WEB fares carry a 50% penalty for a refund.
• The penalty for canceling an ESTRELLA fare is 30%.
• Once the train has departed, there is no refund for unused tickets.

Note: In theory, the Renfe website allows purchases of train tickets 62 days in advance for its high-speed trains. But for non-Ave trains or trips other than Madrid-Barcelona, Madrid-M·laga, Madrid-CÛrdoba-Sevilla, Madrid-Segovia, Madrid-Toledo, Renfe sometimes does not get around to loading these fares until 15 days in advance. Be patient!!

Other notes on train schedules and fares

Types of Discounted Fares

1. Tarifa Web: A 60% discount if you buy your ticket online 15 days prior to departure.
2. Tarifa Estrella: A 40% discount if you buy your ticket online at least 7 days prior.
3. Tarifa Ida y Vuelta: A 20% discount if you buy round trip tickets.

If you plan to go round trip, you should try to purchase two one way fares rather than round trip, because if you select ≥round trip≤, this will not give you the 60% and 40% web discounts, WEB and ESTRELLA. It will only give you the standard 20% round trip discount.

Timetable

In the Timetable and Prices page, youπll see a column ≥Running Period≤

The code indicating the days a particular train runs:

L = Monday (Lunes)

M = Tuesday (Martes)

X = Wednesday (MiÈrcoles)

J = Thursday (Jueves)

V = Friday (Viernes)

S = Saturday (S·bado)

D = Sunday (Domingo)

Types of Trains

• Madrid-Barcelona: Renfe uses AVE (Alta Velocidad EspaÒola) trains exclusively. Most expensive (2 hrs. 40 min.) are non-stop; cheaper are those making 1 stop (3 hrs.) or others make 4 stops in Guadalajara or Calatayud, Zaragoza, Lleida, Tarragona (3 hrs. 20 min.).
• Madrid-M·laga: AVE (2 hrs. 40 min.)
• Madrid-CÛrdoba-Sevilla: AVE (a 2 ½ hrs.) plus Altaria and Talgo, both longer and less expensive rides.
• Madrid-Huesca (for Pyrenees): AVE (2 hrs. 5 min.)
• Madrid-Toledo: AVANT (30 min.)
• Madrid-Segovia:
• AVANT goes just to Segovia; tourist class, single fare, AVE continues to Valladolid; turista and preferente class; Web fare in tourist class, 8.15§; general fare, 20§
• ALTARIA and TALGO continue to northern coast cities; Turista and preferente; Web fare tourist class, 8.15§; general fare, 20§
• Madrid-Valencia: ALARIS (3 hr. 20 min.) plus a few longer, less expensive Regionales.
• Madrid-Pamplona: ALTARIA (2 hrs. 59 min.)
• Madrid-Alicante: ALTARIA and ALVIA (3 hrs. 40 min.)
• Barcelona-Valencia: EUROMED (3 hrs.), TALGO (3 hrs. 20 min.), ARCO (4 hrs.)
• M·laga-CÛrdoba: AVANT (1 hr. 5 min.)

Classes of service

1. Club Class- You are served a meal with a choice of main course at your seat, unlimited free drinks including wine and cordials, newspapers, audio/video, a parking discount, access to the VIP Club AVE lounges, and access to a conference room on train.
2. First Class (preferente) – Youπre served a meal at your seat along with wine and a cordial, newspapers, audio/video, parking discounts, access to AVE lounges. First class cars also have 2-1 seat configurations, so fewer passengers per car.
3. Tourist Class (turista) - Cheapest class with no meal service and no Club AVE lounge access. Seat configuration of tourist class cars is 2-2.

Madrid train stations

The high-speed trains for Segovia-Valladolid depart from ChamartÌn

Trains for Toledo, CÛrdoba, Sevilla and M·laga depart from Atocha.

Renfeπs on time promise

• If your Madrid-Seville AVE is more than 5 minutes late, Renfe will give you a complete refund of your ticket price. Ditto to your Madrid-Toledo AVANT train.
• If your AVE to M·laga, Barcelona, Huesca or Segovia arrives between 16 and 30 min. late, you will receive a refund of half of your ticket value. If it arrives more than 30 min. late, Renfe will refund the total ticket cost.