turbokid

My wife and I will be taking the Ave from Madrid to Sevilla. Is it a good idea to buy the tickets in advance? We will be traveling on a Saturday, is this considered a busy travel day for this route? Thanks for the help.

Marko

We bought in advance and the whole thing was a dream...other than finding the right platform ! It is a magical train journey and the scenery as it unfolds at 250kph is stunning. The service is excellent, very much in the vein of flying business class. We broke our journey for 6 hours in Cordoba which was long enough to wander thru the major sites, we left our luggage in a locker at the station, make sure you have small demonination coins for the locker.

car

More important than the day of the week is if there is a major event that Saturday. Eastern holiday, Feria...
After Eastern weekends to the south get more and more busy towards the summer.
If you have precise dates/timing I will think it should be more comfortable to buy in advance.

DOCK

We bought our tickets. Seville to Madrid, at Barajas the day we landed . It was so easy and we were able to get the times we wanted. Go to RENFE site and check schedule so you can plan accordingly and if you get tickets in advance you just show up and board.Also we did not purchase the first class as we did not wish to eat food onboard and the tourist class was just great, comfy seats, enough luggage space and safe. Have fun.

Lesli

If you're spending a few days in Madrid before you head to Sevilla, you can just buy them once you arrive - unless there are holidays involved. I purchased mine from a travel agent near my hotel (at no extra charge, and with no crowds with which to contend.) I did use the RENFE site at home to print out a range of times for the day I wanted to travel, and brought that with me.

And agree with above that standard class is just fine.