Renfi for Rail Europe
 

Having trouble booking tickets for September Spain trip. Neither Renfi or Rail Europe allow you to book much in advance. We desire to train from Granada to Sevilla then from Sevilla to Cordoba (Round Trip) then from Sevilla to Madrid. Just the three trips so see no need for rail pass.

First question: Is it really necessary to book these in advance as opposed to just showing up at the ticket window and buying ticket an hour or so before departure?

Also: Seems we are not allowed to book more than 2 weeks in advance for the trip Granada to Sevilla - since we will be in country at the 2 week point and will not have a computer, if we are unable to buy ticket on the day of travel guess we are SOL.

Any advice would be most welcome. Have never had this much trouble just trying to plan train trips.

<< Is it really necessary to book these in advance as opposed to just showing up at the ticket window and buying ticket an hour or so before departure?>>

Necessary is a loaded word. There is potentially a great cost savings, especially for your high-speed trips, for booking ahead. N.B. - The savings may be minimal for Seville-Cordoba considering the proximity of the cities.

Renfe is not the most user-friendly online site, but the trips should be available to book 90 days out or so for the high-speed legs (Cordoba, Madrid). The problem we had was we never found a Renfe fare that was less expensive than a Vueling flight so we just flew (Madrid-Barcelona).

Oooops! There is always something even though I did preview.
Title should be Renfi or Rail Europe.
Third question would be which of these is best to use in Spain?

First question: Is it really necessary to book these in advance as opposed to just showing up at the ticket window and buying ticket an hour or so before departure?>

absolutely not IME - you can easily buy all those tickets once in Spain at any train station - so if paying full fare why hassle with flummoxing renfe.com? But you could get a discount on the AVE train to Madrid by booking in advance - the only reason to do so IMO.

Granada to Seville may even be better by bus and cheaper that way as trains take a round about route.

For lots of great info on Spanish trains I always spotlight these IMO fantastic saites - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id30.html - if really interested in any RailEurope product (you will pay more but some folks want everything buttoned down and that can be priceless to some - then cll Byron at budgeteuropetravel.com m- I have bought various railpasses from him for years and he'll answer any questions - a RE agent so could book too but again you will easily be able to book those tickets once there so no need to go thru RE IMO.

Seville-Cordoba has AVE trains and also local trains serving it - very unlikely both will be sold out - so so many trains a day!

I imagine you would be having trouble booking tickets on Renfi as the actual web site is Renfe.com.

As far as trains go, you can only make a reservations with the trains are available.

http://petrabax.com/

Is the official seller of Renfe tickets in the U S.