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Spanish reservations (again)

  • September 14, 2022
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Keeps calm and carries on

Hello!

I am planning with my wife to interrail from UK to Portugal with mobile passes to meet up with our daughter near Porto over Xmas. The route includes Paris – Madrid, overnighting in San Sebastian. The problem is San Sebastian to Madrid, probably on 20 Dec. In theory I should be able to buy a reservation in San Sebastian after arriving on 19 Dec BUT (given what I see on the Renfe site for booking the 9.02am Alvia on Friday) I don’t think I can place any reliance on the Dec train not being sold out.

It’s pretty important to all the other bookings I am likely to be making to be able to get this reservation – or the equivalent on the new Dec timetable.

That’s background, the questions are:

  1. As soon as Dec timetable info is available can I get a friend in Spain to go into GRANADA station and buy reservations valid for interrail for us? Are the reservations pieces of paper to be sent by post or can they be emailed?
  2. If that is not possible, and with fingers crossed given what I see for current bookings, is it right that if I call Renfe : +34 91 232 03 20 I will have to do that from UK or France on 16th, 17th or 18th December? To then pick up actual reservation in San Sebastian on 18th/19th?  (This is my understanding of the advice on the Interrail reservations page.)  

Thanks for any advice

Scott

Best answer by rvdborgt

Scottyh56 wrote:

 

Angelo wrote:

You could also look for a Travel Agency in UK that sells Tickets of RENFE or DB (German Rail). They should be able to sell it, but via DB you need a good selling person that knows how it works. 

That’s helpful. DB selling Spanish reservations seems strange and I had assumed it was for those in Germany but may be worth a look.

Anyone with access to the DB sales system can book RENFE reservations (and a lot more). It's just that RENFE reservations cannot (yet?) be booked via the regular timetable-based search but only via the train number search.

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  • rvdborgt
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  • September 14, 2022
  1. Maybe a friend can make the reservation, if RENFE does not insist on seeing the pass. But even then, the reservation would be on paper.
  2. Calling in advance should be possible. It should also be more than 24 hours before departure time.

For other possibilities to book Spanish domestic trains, see this post:

 

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
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  • Scottyh56
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  • Keeps calm and carries on
  • 11 replies
  • September 14, 2022

Thank you! I have seen your previous helpful post and I guess I was seeking clarification on two of the options. 

  1. It is helpful to know that the reservations would be paper and therefore have to be bought in good time to send from Spain to the UK where they would have to arrive before 16 December. I am sure that I could send screengrabs & other details for the passes to Spain to try and cover all the bases. If that doesn’t work then it is on to 2…
  2. If left with this option my understanding is that it can be no more than 72 hours in advance? Unfortunately that could be too late because I see that, according to Renfe, some trains on that route even 16 days from now are already marked “Full Train”. 

Fortunately in the last resort there are slower (much slower) non-direct trains to Madrid, but then multiple reservations, more cost and 4 hours less time in Madrid. 

 

Angelo
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  • Angelo
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You could also look for a Travel Agency in UK that sells Tickets of RENFE or DB (German Rail). They should be able to sell it, but via DB you need a good selling person that knows how it works. 

Do you have any questions? Feel free to ask in the community! Known languages: Deutsch, Italiano, English.
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  • rvdborgt
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  • September 14, 2022

Pre-booking via RENFE's phone number should work longer than 72 hours in advance, but you need to collect the reservations within 72 hours after pre-booking.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
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Keeps calm and carries on
  • Scottyh56
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  • Keeps calm and carries on
  • 11 replies
  • September 15, 2022
rvdborgt wrote:

Pre-booking via RENFE's phone number should work longer than 72 hours in advance, but you need to collect the reservations within 72 hours after pre-booking.

Thanks for the clarification which avoids confusion for anybody in Spain. I have noted how the pass needs to be present here to pick up the reservation - I assume simple security to make sure the reservation gets into the hands of the person paying for it. For my friend paying for reservations ‘live’ as it were I think the situation is less clear but if I find out it is OK then I will report back.

Angelo wrote:

You could also look for a Travel Agency in UK that sells Tickets of RENFE or DB (German Rail). They should be able to sell it, but via DB you need a good selling person that knows how it works. 

That’s helpful. DB selling Spanish reservations seems strange and I had assumed it was for those in Germany but may be worth a look.

I know another option is to get in there early and buy cheap advance tickets and save InterRail for other days. I’m going to be looking at current pricing of these but very strange that on this route, for example on Rail Europe on Fridays, the further I go ahead into September the higher the prices seem to be!

 

 

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  • rvdborgt
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  • September 15, 2022
Scottyh56 wrote:

 

Angelo wrote:

You could also look for a Travel Agency in UK that sells Tickets of RENFE or DB (German Rail). They should be able to sell it, but via DB you need a good selling person that knows how it works. 

That’s helpful. DB selling Spanish reservations seems strange and I had assumed it was for those in Germany but may be worth a look.

Anyone with access to the DB sales system can book RENFE reservations (and a lot more). It's just that RENFE reservations cannot (yet?) be booked via the regular timetable-based search but only via the train number search.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
S
1 person likes this
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    Scottyh56

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