Spain reservation issues

Nobody ever checks any number on the reservations. The staff just scan them and if the scanner says "beep”, then they're happy.

The DB ticket office should be able to book Renfe domestic reservations. Vigo-Porto shouldn't be any problem to get in Spain (it's free of charge); I wonder if it's ever fully booked.

Thank you for your answers!

Unfortunately, I probably won’t be at a DB ticket office before my departure down to Spain. But I just found a tread here from someone who used International Rail to book some Spanish reservations which aren’t available online. So either I wait until I get into Spain or I try to ask International Rail to book the reservations.

Very helpful information, thanks!

One last question: Do you know if International Rail also sells domestic Portuguese reservations?

I’m pretty sure they can only be made in Portugal at a counter. They don’t tend to sell out, so availability isn’t a problem.

Thank you all once more for all your help. As I’m now back from my trip, I wanted to share some experience with trains in Spain/Portugal and using Interrail in that part of Europe.

• In the end, I was able to do all the reservations for Spain either online using the Interrail reservation service or happyrail.com. For the Media Distancia, Regional Expres, Regional and the train Vigo-Porto, which aren’t available online, I was able to do the reservation through a Swiss booking agency with access to a DB system. The downside was that I paid a quite high booking fee. Additionally, I booked some Andalusian AVANT trains a few days before at the ticket office in Santiago de Compostela with no waiting time at all. All the”hard-copy” reservations cost me 4€ except for the Vigo-Porto train (free).
• However, booking most of the other regional trains would have been an easy thing to book at smaller Spanish ticket offices as well. With the exception of the early morning regional train from Santiago to Vigo, no other train was sold out. In fact, most of them were half empty. Ticket offices open already at 6 am (at least at Santiago’s train station).
• I’ve been at 12 different Spanish train stations and afaik all of them had a staffed ticket office. So these are quite common even at smaller stations. 
• The early morning regional trains in Galicia are often sold out weeks in advance. So it could get annoying if you want to take the morning train towards Portugal from another place than Vigo.
• Interrail reservations for Portugal are indeed only available at Portuguese ticket offices. Staff is really quick and very helpful. I was able to make a reservation for a train Porto-Lissabon 5 minutes after arriving at the station and 5 minutes before departure of the train.
• If you really stick on one particular train in Portugal, I got the recommendation from an agent at Lisbon’s Santa Apolonia station to buy a normal ticket online before and exchange it at the ticket office into an Interrail seat reservation. But I think in 99% of the cases, you are just fine to make reservations at the station.
• Ticket checks in Spain are often made before entering the train. Sometimes, the inspector was only interested in the reservation and ignored the pass completely.
• Luggage controls at Spanish stations only take place when you enter an AVE, AVANT or ALVIA train (in the latter case it depends on the station you enter though). These only takes a few minutes so you are absolutely fine if you arrive at the control point 15-20 minutes before departure or so.

Overall I really loved my time in Spain and Portugal and once you know some tricks, you are also able to make use of your pass in these countries. Every city I visited was wonderful. Most of the trains in these countries are nice and provided a relaxed ride. I wouldn’t do such a trip in summer though because of the high temperature. I also think that the trains are busier too.

If anyone has questions, just ask :).