I'll be in Spain the first week of January. I'm planning on a few days in Barcelona,then Toledo and Madrid. After weeks of trying and failing to purchase tickets from RENFE, it seems that advance purchase tickets aren't an option. From the research I've done, the only way to get advance purchase tickets from RENFE is dumb luck, which I've haven't had so far. I also checked RailEurope, but they want 2 to 3 times as much for a ticket. So here is what I'm wondering...

1. Traveling from Barcelona to Madrid will I be able to get a ticket at the station if I purchase in advance, i.e. the day I arrive? Will I be stuck paying the full fare that RailEurope is charging? Would I be better off just paying the $44 SpanAir wants for a ticket and flying from Barcelona to Madrid?

2. Since I won't be able be able to buy Madrid to Toledo tickets in advance,it sounds like I shouldn't count on getting same day tickets. I was planning to take the AVE to Madrid, then continue immediately to Toledo. I'm thinking I should cancel my Toledo hotel reservation and plan it as a day trip since I don't know when I'll be arriving.

3. Does anyone know if walk up bus tickets are readily available for Madrid to Toledo? Naturally, the website for the bus company has been down for at least the past week, so there is no possibility of buying advance tickets there either.

4. Finally, would driving from Barcelona to Toledo then dropping the car in Madrid be a better idea then any of the above?

Full fare at the station is a lot ( we took AVE at 60% discount, but I would not have paid the full fair - I would fly)
If you fly to Madrid, there is a bus from the airport to the train station. There a many trains every day to Toledo ( I would not worry about that part of the trip)
Never driven in Spain, sorry.

Answer to last question.. don't even consider it. Time and WEATHER.

Depending on which days you are looking at in january you may be coming across a HUGE holiday return time. January 1-10 will be very busy train days. You can also receive the estrella fare by phone. Depending on your date, walk up tickets it is not a good idea. It can take a long time standing in line at stations. You may want to go to a TA and pay their 5E fee on top of ticket price unless you feel like calling on the phone.

You can see what the "full fare" is.Doubt it will ever be as high as Raileurope.

Actually, $44 for Spanair is not bad. Luggage? Any fees there? There is a 2 euro bus from Madrid airport to town.

Driving in Spain is easy. The roads are good, and to my way of thinking, the scenery is interesting.

I took the bus to Toledo from Madrid. It was not a long trip and the bus was comfortable.

I like the idea of going to a travel agent for the tickets....

flamingomonkey,

You could have help for the RENFE site if you advised where or what is failing you during the process. There is very little that is a new difficulty.

Barcelona-Toledo would be a bummer trip by car in winter. Good luck wiht the renfe site.

I'm having the same problem that everyone else seems to in that RENFE won't accept American credit or debit cards. I can get through the whole process, it contacts the credit card company or bank, and finally responds with a variety of error messages.

I am going to give you this volume -

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-...s.Online..html

and draw your attention to the following, which I still advise, before you tackle it.

Are you using IE as your browser?
Are you trying to do the transaction during the Spanish working day?
Did you pave the way by informing the finance house(s) you would be using your credit card(s)in this way?
Have you tried other cards?

If the error G0001, GU001 or similar see point 49.

Best wishes and good luck.

Don't enter dashes when you put a phone number in either.

We flew to Madrid, took the AVE to Barcelona which we booked online - no more than 60 days in advance which might be why you had some trouble booking. I booked via the website and because it was just at 60 days, they sent me my tickets so I had them before I left. The AVE was a terric experience - train travel in Europe is really nice. We took a half day trip to Toledo from Madrid - it was just barely enough - think the whole day bus trip would have been better. Toledo is only 1 hour by bus each way and the walking tour guide was good. Would have liked a little more free time there to look at the shops, though. We rented a car in Barcelona and drove to Pamplona, then San Sebastian then Bilbao. Then we drove back to the Madrid airport for the night before our early morning flight home. Driving in Spain was very easy - I had a road altas and a navigator in the car but we made very few errors and never got lost. At the end of the trip from the airport hotel we took the Metro into Madrid in the afaternoon for one last paella, sangria and some delicious tapas. Extremely convenient and inexpensive to do this. Hope yo have as nice a trip as we did.