I don't mind that I can't get a discounted price on the day we want to travel, but I've followed every tutorial and STILL cannot book my train trip from Sevilla to Madrid on Oct. 3rd. I've tried everyday for a week. Have called my credit card companies. Is it me, or the website? Actually, don't answer that. I'm (almost) ready to give up and order the tix on Rail Europe.
Sad face.

Is any of these cards a Visa card? Is this card enrolled in Verified By Visa, (an extra security measure)?

If you have tried with a Visa card (including communicating with your bank), you may wish to give up on the RENFE site.

Best wishes.

Sorry this won't help you. But we just booked this week from Madrid to Barcelona on the RENFE site, had notified our bank the day before and used VISA credit card - we had to enter our password at the Verified By Visa part but worked well.

It maybe that the trip you want is sold out.

Carter2010,

What is the "Verified by Visa" part? Is that a specific part on the RENFE site or is it just a request for a password? I
have seen references to "Verified by Visa' a couple times
but I don't know how RENFE ties in. Is "verified by Visa" a debit card program or a credit card program?

Pat

'Verified By Visa' is an extra level of security run by Visa.

It has been around for possibly two years.

Without going through a dummy transaction to the last minute, difficult to recall. - When you try and pay using a Visa card you will be directed to the extra level security, where you enter your password and if you do not have one you will be invited to set this up and then progress.

Hope this helps.

I had the same experienced with Trenitalia website in Italy where I tried to get train tickets ahead and charge it to either visa or amex. Nothing! I gave up and followed the advised of people and just got the ticket while we were there. So much easier and less stress. I am not sure how is the train schedule in Spain, but if you purchase your ticket at rail europe which I was thinking of doing back then, I would have paid premium price for it since being in the US, somehow we pay a lot more going through Raileurope.

A number of things, I doubt seriously if the train is sold out. We have always purchased tickets the day before with no problem even at high travel times. We have a senior so we don't worry too much about advance ticket sales. I could be wrong but I think on the Spanish rail you cannot book more than about 60 days out. And often the schedule itself is not available until about 90 days out and sometimes less.

Personally I would avoid RailEurope because they don't sell tickets for all the trains, no discounts, and they surcharge the ticket -- sometimes substantially.

Trenitalia will not accept Am credit cards even verified. However, every now and then someone reports success so who knows.

Sometimes I think American tourist over driven to have advance reservations. I can understand the reason for discount but train service in Europe has no comparison to the airline service in the US which has trained us to buy ticket early. I am guessing that it would be cheaper to buy when you get to Spain than the same ticket through EuroRail.

Well, fmpden, I think I will take your advice. You are right. In general, I want everything taken care of before I go. I suppose if I get there, and the particular train I want to take is sold out, I'll just take an earlier one, or a later one. I actually feel quite relieved right now, to not have to worry about it anymore. Thanks!

It IS significantly cheaper to buy the ticket in Europe, in your case, Spain than from Rail Europe. We ended up buying from RailEurope last year because ours was the overnight Madrid-Lisbon, there was only one per day and it had to be on a specific day. (We went through exactly the same torture as you did trying to book it on Renfe.)

The risk is much lower in your case. I doubt that Sevilla-Madrid will be sold out. I recommend to ask the hotel to book it for you ahead of time. You can ask them when you get there. Our hotel staff in Madrid was very helpful and they booked some tickets for us.

Hello, from Madrid to Seville there are 17 trains, more or less, per day... you aren't even travelling at a peak demand period like summer... so have no worries, you can buy it once you are there, at the Renfe station in Seville...

Sorry for not replying earlier but just logged on. What WomBatt said is correct. The Renfe sight linked to the Verified By Visa which was a bank security check. We were using a Credit Card , and had notified the bank the day before that we were going overseas later in the year.
We are complete novices at travelling by rail in Europe but I gathered that the internet prices on the Renfe sight were good value (the discounted fares that is )