I have been trying to book the overnite train from bcn to Granada on oct 5 .
There is supposed to be a daily overnite train. Has anyone taken this train?
I waited until 60 days prior , and have been checking everyday but the renfe website says- no trains available(as far as I can translate) . I tried to call the UK # , got voice mail

Should I take the AVE to Madrid (2.5 hr ) then train to granada instead?.
This will change my original plan below as I will need to stay in BCN 1 more nite and lose time in Granada.
Also is it faster to take the bus from Granada to Seville or train?

Oct 2 fly to BCN 2.5 days
overnite granada 2 nites
train to sevilla 3 nites
train to madrid 2 nites
fly out madrid...
I have already booked hotels so
would prefer not to have to go thru Madrid in the beginning of my trip ..
Thanks in advance

Can't help with the overnight train. Have you considered flying from Barcelona to Granada? A couple of budget airlines operate this route.

It's a long trip on a train. If flying,

Vueling 30eu 6:45-8:10
Vueling 35eu 16:00-17:45

I took the train in the other direction. I'm not sure why you are having trouble, but you can select English on the main page of the RENFE web site - it's the box at the bottom that says "seleccione su idioma".

There is still a trenhotel listed that departs Barcelona at 21:30 (9:30 pm) on 5 October, but it's still too early to book it. They have not updated the schedule as yet. Renfe is falling way behind with its new system.

Note: Once you have selected the departure and destination stations, date and number of passengers on the main page (Compra de Billetes) and pressed "Buscar", you can select the language on the next page that pops up. If you select the language at the bottom of the main page (as mentioned above), all you can do then is check to see what trains are on a route. You will not be able to see any of the discount fares.

Thanks for all your advice...We had decided to take the overnite train , so hopefully we can sleep most of the way
and wake up in Granada.
I will just keep checking for the train to show up on the website.

Robert2533 thanks for the extra note...
very helpful..

Have you ever taken an overnight train in Europe? I've taken this one and zillions ever - have no trouble sleeping but many do - click-clack on tracks, etc.

If you have a private compartment all the better

A couchette is a crap shoot always - loud snorers, doors opening middle of night and on this one one French guy showed up who stunk so so much the conductor re-loacted him to a vacant compartment. Another guy insisted, over the conductors threats, that he could take up most of the floor space with his bicycle - nothing happened and he did.

But the Sleeper cars, with singles, doubles and triples are private and in a separate car, well away from the potential noise in couchette cars. www/seat61.com shows night trains in general and also scan www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com as well.

Keep the doors locked from the inside - bolt locks there even conductors cannot open and you will be totally safe - reports of theft from couchette cars.

WOW it worked I was able to purchase 2 tickects for overnite grand classe
I called my visa company they unblocked and it went thru
printed my tickets...though never recieved and email.
I received the web fare.

One ? I have a coche 13 and plaza 35 and 31. I want a private sleep room- I picked g class doble familar and 2 cama grand class
Does this mean I have a private sleep room for 2 ?
Or do I need to separately order that.

The "Gran Clase" sleeping compartments have two berths and a bathroom with a shower and WC. Dinner with wine and breakfast in the dining car are included in the fare. There's also a bar where you can get drinks and snacks. They're amongst the best overnight trains in Europe (the very expensive VSOE Orient Express has no showers).
There are pictures and a video of Gran Clase sleeping cars on
www.seat61.com/Spain.htm

Palenque writes: "Have you ever taken an overnight train in Europe? I've taken this one and zillions ever - have no trouble sleeping but many do - click-clack on tracks, etc."

We rode a 'Todo Preferente' Talgo Barcelona-Sevilla and were really surprised at the lack of vibration or noise. There was no clickety clack, probably because the railbed had been upgraded for high speed trains. Beds are aligned cross-wise (i.e., latitudinally vs. longitunally) and I slept like a lamb. GeoffHammer provides a link to see what compartments look like: Ours had a wash basin but no shower or WC, but ours was Preferente rather than Gran Clase.

a coche 13 and plaza 35 and 31

well you may be perplexed why with only two in the private cabin the place (plaza) numbers are 35 and 31 and not say 31 and 32

well i think these cabins can be converted to quads if need be and the numbering may be in that case but still used when only two are in them and they are being used as doubles. Anyway i've noticed this on other night trains and suspect could be the case here. But it obviously is a double.

Thanks palenque I feel better about it now

Looking forward to our overnite train adventure in spain

My wife and I took the overnight train from Barcelona to Granada in 2006 and we really liked it. We had a private compartment with two bunk beds and a washbasin but no shower or WC. Here is the portion of my trip report for the that day:

Day 3. Barcelona and overnight train to Granada. Up early, packed, breakfast at hotel and left luggage with front desk while we spent the day sightseeing before catching the train that evening. Very good tour of Liceu Theatre, then metro to Park Guell. We walked to the very top and it was worth it. Wonderful views and the park itself is interesting. Taxi back to La Pedrera in L’Eixample and had lunch at a sidewalk café. Decided to tour Casa Batillo instead of La Pedrero and loved it. Metro back to hotel, picked up luggage and taxi to Sants train station. Showed printout of receipt (I had bought tickets when I made the reservations weeks earlier) and picked up tickets. Wanted to have dinner but no good place at the station. We found a hotel connected to the station, went up the elevator to it and discovered a wonderful little bar where we had food and drinks. Found our berth and laughed about the size. The bottom bunk was folded down in to a bed but we pushed it up to reveal 2 seats and a little table. It was very nice to sit there with a glass of wine watching the waves break on the beach as we rode toward Granada. About midnight we tried to fold it back in to a bed but needed a special key so I had to find a conductor for help. Pretty funny trying to explain what I needed (I speak no Spanish and the conductor spoke no English) but we finally worked it out. Again, ambien did its thing overnight and we were ready for Granada.

Robert2533,
Planning a trip in Nov. and found your advice just in time. When I google RENFE I get a link to the site in English. Good, or so I thought. Told my DH just today, trains between Madrid and Barcelona are too expensive, no special rates, we will have to fly. After reading your advice, went to http://www.renfe.es/ (Spanish), put in info and discount rates appear. Thank you so much! And thank you to Fodor Forums.