Slow train to Sevilla

[Alan Pearce]

Is there a slow [ and cheaper ] train option from Madrid to Sevilla? The renfe website seems to shows only the high speed train.

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Alan,
I think you're right that there are no more slow trains to Sevilla. The ALVIA, a step down from the AVE, is not much slower.

If you want cheap, you'll have to go on the bus, I think. It's 20E and takes about 6 hours.
http://www.socibus.es/index.jsp

Having said that, though, if you can buy your tickets far enough in advance, you can get AVE tickets that are around 30 E, a huge discount off the 80+ normal price. But then you have to figure out how to use the RENFE website without wanting to shoot yourself out of frustration, which is yet another can of worms.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Sansthing]

Just a little reminder...if you are over 60 you can buy a Tarjeta Dorada which entitles you to discounts on train fares. It costs just over 5 euros and you can buy it at the station (you have to provide proof of date of birth, eg. your passport) and is valid for one year. I can´t remember offhand how much the discount is, but I found it well worth it.
Sandra :arrow:

 

[Lydia Gillen]

If you are buying a tarjeta Dorado it is well worth purchasing it with your credit card. Then you will be able to purchase renfe tickets on the internet.
Renfe will not allow you to purchase tickets on the internet unless they have seen you in person with the credit card at a railway station. It is a security thing.

 

[bjorgts]

I do not understand this. Is it the Tarjeta Dorado we must buy in person at a railway station? I bought tickets this Autumn going by AVE from Madrid to Cordoba. I bought them on Internett from Norway and nobody had seen me or my credit card at any station. Bjorg

 

[peregrina2000]

Well, people are talking about different things, I think. The tarjeta dorada is a special card that people over 60 can buy and then use to get discounts off the standard fares. Discounts are 25% for M-F, and 40% on weekends. What I don't know is whether you can use the tarjeta dorada to buy tickets online, or whether you have to buy them in person.

The web fares are something totally different, and many of them are much better deals than the tarjeta dorada gives you. You can get the Web fare and the Estrella fare only online. Until a short while ago, you could only get discounted RENFE tickets on the RENFE website. Just recently, things changed, and several places, like RailEurope and Petrobax (thanks, alipilgrim!) can now offer the discounted web fares as well. In the old days, you paid an arm and a leg to buy tickets through these brokers, but that seems to have radically changed. This is a tremendous change for the better, because using the RENFE website directly is a source of neverending frustration and confusion (see alipilgrim's recent post in this thread).

RENFE tickets can only be bought about 60 days in advance. The cheap web fares sell out very quickly, so it pays to buy them right when they are offered. But if you wait till you're actually in Spain to buy them, the Tarjeta Dorada would be a good thing because it will discount the fare.

 

[Lydia Gillen]

Hi Bjorg,

My understanding is that you have to be in person in a station with your passport or other proof of age in order to buy the tarjeta Dorada.
The lady in the station also said to me and stressed it, that if purchasing on line I needed to use the credit card I had used in the station and not any other.

I was unable in the past to purchase a ticket on line. I'm not sure why in the light of your experience.
However it is good news to hear that one can.

Maybe the 60 days had something to do with my difficulty,
Lydia

 

[Alan Pearce]

re RailEurope

As Laurie says it seems that RailEurope prices are now much more in line with renfe prices. However I just went to their website to look at getting a tourist class bed for overnight travel from Madrid to Lugo and they don't show that as being an option. It is either tourist class seat or a first class bed. Puzzling.

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[peregrina2000]

Alan, if you click on the "economy" tab, you'll see they give you a choice to purchase a bed in a "quad apartment." I'm surprised how cheap it is! I'm thinking I'll take the trenhotel from Santiago to Madrid this year.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[peregrina2000]

I was just recently searching RENFE to find regional (translate "slow") trains to get a pilgrim from Fromista to Santander, and it occurred to me that what I found suggested that there must be regional trains to Sevilla, too.

Looks like you can do this: Sevilla to Merida: http://www.renfe.com/docs/andalucia_MD.pdf
(4 hours leaving 4:42 pm, arrive 8:40 pm, 17 euros)

And then Merida to Madrid: http://www.renfe.com/docs/centro_MD.pdf
(anywhere from 4 to 6 hours, around 33 euros, leaving at 5:45 am, 8:20, 13:28, 13:35, 15:00)

So, it will be a REALLY slow train to Sevilla because you'll have to spend the night in Merida!

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[alipilgrim]

With 60 days advance notice I was able to book the AVE (high speed) train for only US $52.00...

 

[FreerangerMartin]

Well worth spending a night in Merida though! It has the most magnificent museum, even if you don't wish to visit the extensive remains visible throughout the town.

 

[micbook]

Hi all,

Does anyone know the difference between AVE, ALTARIA, and ALVIA trains? They seem to take almost the same amount of time, but there's a difference in pricing.

Thanks!
Michal
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http://michalrinkevich.wordpress.com/tag/camino-de-santiago/