Help booking trains in advance in Spain
 

We'll be in Spain in March. It's not so far away... I find it hard to confirm accommodation and car hire until I know we'll be able to get the train tickets we need. People keep saying we can book 60-90 days ahead but I am having troubles. Some booking sites seem to have tickets a little further ahead than others but I cannot find schedules for the days we need. Specifically we need to go from Malaga to Cordoba and then on to Cuenca on 23rd March.
Then we need to be sure we can get on the afternoon train from Valencia to Barcelona airport on Friday 30th March to meet a flight. That's Good Friday so I really want tobook it as soon as it becomes available or it might fill up.
Help! I don't think it should be as hard as this!

Some? Does this mean you aren't using the offical Renfe site?

Renfe

I only use Renfe myself, but you can use PETRABAX - QUALITY VACATIONS (I think they have a service fee, though). Renfe itself says the rules are 60 days in general, but 120 for some longer distance trains (but I know sometimes you can't buy some trains 60 days in advance). I don't know which booking sites you are finding that have tickets available sooner than others, that shouldn't happen, but if you found one, why not use it.

You do realize that is more than 60 days away, don't you? Also, you can't really take a train from Cordoba to Cuenca directly, of course, it's east of Madrid. I don't know how good Renfe is in cobbling together long trips like that. You can book right now the Malaga to Cordoba ticket on Renfe but not the other, it's too early. There are many trains from Madrid to Cuenca each day, I don't see the problem, but you should book that later on. In fact, right now you can't even book Cordoba to Madrid 60 days ahead, but you can a month ahead. Sometimes Renfe is late putting up schedules.

I used Loco2 to purchase our tickets for our trip last September. It was easy to do. No problem at all. I didn’t try Renfe because I read on this forum that many people had problems with it.

Having just booked a while bunch of rail journeys in Spain, I'd recommend that you take a look at The Man in Seat 61, who, as usual, has great advice about the Spanish rail system and booking options:

https://www.seat61.com/Spain-trains.htm

I was able to use the Renfe site without any difficulty. A couple of tips: if you are making multiple bookings, register on the site, as it will then remember all of your information, such as passport number, email and phone contacts, etc. Also, I recall reading somewhere that the Renfe site doesn't handle connections well, so you will have to book your Cordoba - Cuenca as two separate tickets: Cordoba-Madrid and Madrid-Cuenca.

As for availability of trains in March, I just looked up Malaga- Cordoba, one of the legs you need, for March 23. That leg, at least, is loaded in their system:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7fff0cb570.png

hi. I think you’re looking too soon. I’m traveling in Spain in March too. I booked our train tix from Seville to Córdoba a few weeks ago on Petrabax without any problems. Our next leg is from Cordoba to Madrid and those tix are not yet available. So certain lines seem to be released sooner than others. Just keep an eye on it.

Thanks for all those replies. It's reassuring.
I have used all those sites except Petrabax. I did have all sorts of trouble with the renfe.com site until I changed from Chrome to Safari... very odd. I did find the leg Malaga to Cordoba but am nervous to book it without the Cordoba/Cuenca leg. It's all a bit frustrating but I will take advice and wait patiently, just keep checking. Strange thing is that Loco2 show the leg I want up until 26th Feb but Renfe don't. NOte that there is one train that doesn't go through Madrid, takes less than 2 1/2 hours and is much cheaper than the others that do go through Madrid. That is definitely what we want.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...379db071fe.png
I'm going to play with Petrabax. and I'll just have to keep at it daily until something pops up for my dates.
thanks to everyone...

I hate dealing with RENFE. One trip we used Man in seat 61 who turned us over to Loco2. We want reserve trips in early April and they are not yet posted. We have an alert to let us know when tickets are available.

As long as you keep an eye on the tickets, I think you can safely plan on getting the tickets you want. I wouldn't not book other things just because it's too early to book the train tickets.

That said, are you picking the car up upon arrival in Cuenca? It looks like you won't arrive until 8:30 in the evening if you get the tickets you want. Will the rental offices still be open or are you just planning to pick the car up in the following day (or am I totally misunderstanding your plan)?

No we'd stay overnight in Cuenca and pick up the car in the morning indihiker.
Loco2 does seem much easier to use, how do you set up an alert IMDonehere? That would help.

Seat 61 also suggests www.trainline.eu which is easy to use and costs very little extra.

yeshekathy

When I went to either Man or Loco and entered the dates, the screen automatically offered an alert as the tickets I need are not available yet.

I just checked and you can buy the Cordoba cuenca tickets now.. no problem. 30E

on Renfe

We used several different sites to buy tickets last year. With Renfe, I used PayPal to purchase with no problems.

indyhiker, I should have mentioned that when I posted earlier. I, too, used PayPal on the Renfe site and had no difficulty.

I also used Loco2 and paid with my USA Visa. I set the alert after trying to book seats before their availability. The page said, "Sorry, we haven't found any tickets.

Below that in pinkish red it said "Alert me when booking opens..." I got the alerts and I had no difficulty booking.

Just looked and it appears you can book Cordoba to Cuenca on Loco
https://loco2.com/en/journey/cordoba...f?currency=EUR

Yes, I wouldn't worry. I looked at all the sites, but oddly enough found that there was one leg where more trains showed up on Renfre than on Loco2! So I did end up on Renfre, but, like others, using PayPal. I tested it with my credit card once and that definitely didn't go through.

thank you so much for all this help... such a great resource you people are! Travelling by train in Australia this morning (which is soooo primitive compared to Europe) but will have a play with it all when I get home.

Success! Both trains for the 23rd March ie Malaga to Cordoba and the Cordoba to Cuenca are available today! I didn't have to be too patient after all... now just have to keep watching for the train to Barcelona on 30th. Thank you to everyone for your help and reassurance.