I will be traveling to Spain in September '06 and do not plan to reserve my train tickets via the renfe site in advance. I plan to go to the train station a day or so in advance and purchase my tickets. I'll be traveling from Madrid to Toledo to Cordoba to Seville to Grenada & to Barcelona.

This worked fine while traveling in Italy. Do you think there is any reason I should reserve in advance? Do they ever sell out of seats on a train? Thanks.

It depends on the train, your destination and dates of travel.

Yup

Yes they sell out plus there are specials you need to ask about too. Most Europe train lines have an English web site to look at. And when you buy in advance you can reserve the nice seats by the window and they are about 10 euros cheaper than say buying at the station or on the train.

I, too, was hoping to book my train tickets in advance. Unfortunately, the system will only let you book one trip in advance. Then you have to go the station and claim those tickets before you can book others. This has me concerned that I won't get to book the times I need and that seats will sell out. Has anyone found a way around this? Can travel agents circumvent the system?

thezanmiller - have you tried going back on-line and booking each trip individually? The system should allow you to do it that way. But remember, you can only reserve 60 days in advance of the date of your travel.