Traveling from Barcelona to Madrid
 

Hello,

My family of 4 will be in Spain this summer (me, husband and 11 year old twins who pull their own suitcases). We need to travel from Barcelona to Madrid on June 15. Booking for train tickets just opened. I am seeing a train with tickets I can purchase for a total of $337 for the 4 of us (departing from Barcelona - Sans and going into Madrid Atocha, which is what I want). The travel time is 2 1/2 hours.

On the other hand, I see a flight on Vueling for a total of $261 for the 4 of us (departing from BCN and landing at MAD) with a travel time of 1 hours 25 minutes. This is a price with seat assignments and no more baggage fees.

We are on a budget and the less pricey option appeals to me. On the other hand, it seems like more of a hassle to go to the airport than it does to take the train. The Barcelona Sans station looks close to where we are staying in Barcelona, as does the Madrid Atocha station to where we are staying in Madrid.

The price difference is $76, but will that be eaten up by the cost of taxis to and from the airport?

I guess I am leaning towards the train even though it costs more and takes longer, just because it seems easier. What do you think? What would you do, and why?

Thank you!

Personally, I'd go for the train -- easy and convenient! Remember that with flights, you need to get to the airport in advance (much more so than with trains), so it's a drain on time. JMO, and I look forward to seeing what others say!

On renfe,es I still see several trains on that day with "4 mesa" (4 people travelling together, seating at a table vis-a-vis) fares starting at €43 per person in Turista (2nd) class.
Even those trains without available seats at "4M" fare in Turista still show 4M fares in Preferente (1st class) which will total at less than €337.
Those AVE trains take somewhat longer (3hr or so), but will get you faster (or at least not slower) from door to door than flying BCN-MAD.

Like other posts of this type, the inquiry is missing the crucial info.
Where did you get the $337 figure?
Which train are you looking at? The train price varies depending on the departure time.
I see $337 type of figure at usual high price culprit: Rail Europe - Rail travel planner Europe - Train travel in Europe (Eurostar ? TGV ? Eurail ? Eurorail). Is this where you got your price?
I also see 172EU for 2 adults 2 children on AVE3122 at Renfe.

Check www.seat61.com for lots on booking Spanish rail tickets and yes use Renfe or others this site recommends for cheapest prices. For lots on train in general check also BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

Thank you! I was using loco2.com (upon the recommendation of seat61.com for purchasing train tickets in Spain as it claims it has less quirks than the renfe site and doesn't charge any additional fees).

We don't want to leave at 6:00 or 7:00 am, so the tickets I was looking at are the train at around 8:30 am.

In any event, I also looked on the renfe website last night before I posted my original post, and nothing came up. I am wondering if that is because I was using the US site and not renfe.es. I was wondering why I didn't see the family option for the table for 4, so THANK YOU very much for mentioning that. I will look again, and will also check www.trainline.eu as recommend buy seat61.com.

Thanks again!

As seat61 warned, I had multiple problems with the renfe website and got multiple error messages. I initially saw the tickets listed for the prices mentioned above, but wasn’t able to get the site to allow me to create a profile, or to pay with my US credit card (even after gettting an email from my credit card company, and approving the transaction). Unfortunately, as the day wore on, I watched the price of the fares go up, and was never able to purchase the tickets, and I tried several other sites but could never see the table for 4 tickets on any other site.

i am giving up for today, and will try again another time. :(

Too bad that you have technical issues with renfe's website.
But even if you get stuck with the more expensive fares, I'd still be leaning towards taking the train.
It's more convenient - and IMO worth the less than $20 per person "surcharge" (or $76 in total).
If only to let your kids experience a super fast train zooming through the country.

If you want to pay RailEurope prices - which may not be all that much higher or could be - check - then want to talk to someone expert in booking blocks of 4 tickets call Byron at BETS-European Rail Experts -who I have used many times for passes - but do try to get other sites with lower prices to work first - as a last resort call them.

Flights are cheaper and easy to book - what's wrong with Renfe? Why such a hassle for Americans to use?

what's wrong with Renfe?
 

You shouldn't have any problem buying tickets on Renfe, once you register with the web sire. You can also use PayPal with their system if you have any problem using your credit card, but you might find it much easier to use Petrabax.com when buying tickets from the States or Canada.

Renfe used to be easy several years ago, then they adopted a German booking system...

Remember train is faster: 2h35.

The 'one hour flight' takes up to 4 hours, of train - airport hassle - flight - airport - train.

Booking at www.loco2.com or www.trainline.eu you shouldn't have any problem, once booking opens, usually between 60 and 90 days before travel, for AVE trains.

And travelling across Spain at ground level on Spain's growing high-speed rail network is a vacation experience - taking yet another flight isn't.

This week will return to Madrid from Barcelona using the AVE. Also took it to Barcelona.

Just as an aside we took the new super fast train from Paris to Bordeaux, and the swaying of the train made me feel a little motion sick. Might want to have some children’s Gravol for the boys.

Interesting about the sway of the TGV trains - anyone else experience that?

Thanks everyone. As I said, booking is open. I can see the trains on all of the sites mentioned, but the only one that is selling the cheaper Mesa fare for 4 people is renfe. I emailed with loco2 yesterday, and they said they don't sell that fare.

As I said, I couldn't set up a profile on the renfe site. It kept giving me error messages.

I tried again yesterday with more than one credit card, on more than one browser on the renfe site to no avail. I will try one more time today, but may then have to pay a higher fare simply because the renfe site is so unusable. :(

Well maybe just fly?

The Renfe app is much easier to search and navigate than their website. I have it on my iPad, although I haven’t used it to buy tickets yet, so can’t confirm if there are payment issues using it. I tend to use the Renfe app to search for trains and then use Loco2 or Trainline for purchasing.

I am happy to report that I FINALLY was able to purchase these tickets from the renfe site on the 3rd day of trying. I finally got it to work by using my debit card, and although I will pay a foreign transaction fee, the overall savings was worth it. The lowest price fare on renfe was the Mesa tourista, table for 4 at 172E (which is the one I purchased), however none of the other sites were selling this fare and the least expensive on loco2.com, etc. was 262E. :)

In recap, loco2.com and the other sites listed on seat61.com don't always have the least expensive fares. Check renfe. Loco2.com told me they don't sell the Mesa table with 4 seats, which is less expensive when you have 4 people. Renfe is a nightmare, but try different credit cards, debit cards, etc.

Thank you all again for all of your help, and for bringing my attention to that less expensive Mesa fare.

Best,

Daria