Spain Rental Car Logistics - Barcelona Train Station
 

Need help figuring out best solution for rental car pick up and drop off - we will be staying a few days in BCN, renting car for a few days in Pyrenees, then dropping off car preferably at or near BCN train station to take high speed/AVE to Madrid that same day, hoping to arrive Madrid late afternoon - have read many Fodor threads on Spain/BCN trains but haven't found any info specific to this situation - most interested in proximity of car drop off to train station and also concerned with weekday car traffic and allowance of travel time to decide on train departure timing - any other pertinent info much appreciated

It depends which parts of the Pyrenees you plan to visit.

If you want to visit the Eastern parts (e.g. Andorra to the Med coast), you can drop off your car at Sants station in BCN. From where the AVE trains to Madrid will depart. The rental car company we rented from (don't ask which one.. one of the major companies) had their drop-off location integrated in the station's rooftop parking. So you literally returned your car IN the station. And just went one level down to get into the main hall.

If you plan to explore also the more Central/Western parts of the Pyrenees, it can make more sense to drop off the car in Zaragoza - and not backtrack to BCN. And take AVE from there.
Often you don't incur a penalty for one-way rentals - but you have to check the fineprint.

hey '68, thanks for the info about the station drop-off, that arrangement would certainly make our transition from car to train nice and tidy - our time limitation leads us to stick to the Eastern Pyrenees, probably not too far west of Ripoli...I'm aware of incurring drop-off fees, so I'll tighten up on the rental conditions

here is the train info you requested. best to do a separate thread as otherwise it has nothing to do with my trip report.. and best to answer here on your threads.

no 10am train but at 10:30 but the 11:30 is much cheaper. same for return the 4 pm train much cheaper. no problems here. total for 2 persons 221E RT

Like i said.. you can always purchase on rumbo.es...so you have the prices of the cheaper trains at a bit different times to compare.

Let me know if I can help you in any other way.

very appreciative lin - I took your advice and went to Rumbo, got to the last step and the site wouldn't accept my provincia, locallidad, direccion - I tried every combination of city, state, country, street address, nothing allowed my to 'comprar' or advance to purchase - any ideas? thanks again, Tom (I found our desired departure and return times no problem)

The easiest drop off spot is at the airport. You can then take at train, bus or taxi to the train station.

this is so strange. really. if you are not looking at discounted fares maybe you'll just have to buy them when you arrive. there is also a tutorial on tripadvisor you could take a look at.

I am also getting an error now when I TRY to buy October tickets. Give it a day or so. Must be a website glitch or loading fares for the holiday week of october 8-12