uptowngirl2418

I have read Maribel's guides and tried to look up the train schedule for Madrid-Segovia.

We can go December 8 or 9 and I don't see any AVANT trains. Did they sell out?

I found out that Dec 8th is a holiday. Will this be a problem for us in taking a day trip?

Now, I'm wondering what to do. I didn't want to buy tickets until we arrive in Madrid.

Any suggestions for a 2nd choice?

Aramis

There are high-speed trains on the 8yh and 9th.

Go to renfe.es and select English from the dropdown menu in the lower left corner - "seleccione si idioma" is the text to look for.

The select "Madrid *" as the departure station and "Segovia AV" as the arrival.

Perhaps you were selecting "Segovia" as the arrival station rather than the "AV" designation.

chapla

Take the bus! It takes less than an hour and it leaves you close to the center of Segovia- 5 minutesor less to the aqueduct!
The bus now leaves from the new bus station down below from the Principe Pio metro-easy connect from Opera.On the way back from segovia take a look at the shopping mall-they did a fabulous job refurbishing the old train station.
(By the way the train leaves you way out of town and you need to take a taxi or a bus to get into town!)

Maribel

Hi uptowngirl,
If you've used my How to Purchase Renfe Tickets online guide or have followed the steps that Aramis has given you with no luck, just keep trying.

There will be AVANT trains on Dec. 8-9/ If they don't show up yet on the Renfe online booking system it's probably because Renfe hasn't loaded the fares onto the system yet.

In theory one can book 62 days in advance, but for our own upcoming trip, I found that NOT to be the case and had to wait about 5 more days before the tixs became available.

My sugestion with Renfe is patience. Keep checking daily.
You'll eventually be able to book those tixs online before you leave. Or just purchase them once you arrive. I would go on Tues., Dec. 9 rather than Mon., Dec. 8.

Maribel

Bus versus train is just a question of time, particularly on a holiday with lots of traffic. The La Sepulvedana bus on a normal day takes about 1 hr. 30 min.

New Avant trains take under 35 min. and the city bus is timed to meet the train. The city bus takes about 10 min. from the new AVE station to the aqueduct where passengers are dropped off.

cova

Hi uptown,

I have checked the online schedule and the AVANTs are only scheduled up to the 30th of November.

RENFE announced last week in the local newspapers that they will be introducing new AVANT trains on the line Madrid-Valladolid at the beginning of December. I think that might be the reason for the Avant to not appear in the schedule.

In fact, when I went to Segovia two weekends ago for the Hay Festival, there werenīt Avant trains, they were using Alviaīs.

On the 8th there might be less trains in the morning, but the evening should be OK. If you want to be sure, buy tickets for one of the Alviaīs or Aveīs running that day, and you might get a web or an Estrella fare.

Right now, with barely 30 minutes by train from Madrid Chamartin to Segovia, I donīt think the bus is an option, specially in weekends like the one you were planning to travel. The traffic jams on the return trip might be horrendous.

Bye, Cova

Maribel

Hi uptown girl and cova,
I agree with cova that the new Avants to Valladolid might just have something to do with not loading those Avant fares after Nov. 30. So I would just wait a while.

On our first high speed run from Madrid to Segovia we took the 8:30 am AVE (needed to be there early for business), and we were the only passengers other than Renfe employees who got off in Segovia-the rest were business folks headed on to Valladolid.

I just checked and there is a 8.50 euro WEB fare on the 8:30 am AVE to Segovia on Dec. 9, but the afternoon AVE coming back with that 8.50 WEB fare doesn't depart Segovia until 8:10 pm. Don't know if you want to spend that long in the city, but AVE heavily discounted WEB fares are available now for your dates.

The earlier return Alvia at 6:45 pm doesn't have a WEB fare (yet) for Dec. 9, just an ESTRELLA fare for 12.70.
But sometimes I've waited a while and a WEB fare has finally appeared when there seemed at first to be none (recent experience buying a Madrid-Pamplona Alvia ticket for Nov.)



But I'd just wait a while for Renfe to load those Avant train fares for a better schedule, going to Segovia a half hr. or so later and returning earlier, if you don't want to spend so much time there.

The new high speed trains are just great-very speedy, comfortable, on time and inexpensive-definitely the best option, I think, nowadays.

uptowngirl2418

Thanks everyone for the quick replies. Guess I was too excited about getting those final details for our trip.

I'll give it another week or 2 for the complete schedule.

BTW Maribel, your guides are wonderful.

Maribel

Thanks, uptowngirl,
With Renfe, patience really is a virtue!