When are you travelling (date + preferred departure time)?

Friday 15th September. Or possibly 1 day before or 1 day after. Departure time is flexible but I assume as early as possible to fit the whole journey within one day. Thanks 

Early start for a long trip, but here are some options without too many reservations.

The TGV France Barcelona won’t be an option, as you want to get quite far south in one day.

First two trains are not reservable:

And you might want to take a later train in Barcelona. To stretch your legs, get lunch and increase buffer time.

The AVE’s can be reserved at the Interrail reservation service, or via options mentioned in the link below:

Thanks. 

The train leaving Girona at 12noon doesn't seem to be available to reserve online. That's what I am struggling the most with.

Thanks a lot.

As said, the Interrail reservation portal can book many reservable Spanish trains. https://www.interrail.eu/en/book-reservations#/

I am getting the message: 

"

Not available from Interrail.eu
This seat reservation can’t be booked on our website. Check 'More information' for other ways to book.Not available from Interrail.eu

This seat reservation can’t be booked on our website. Check 'More information' for other ways to book.

"

So for this train, I can't reserve online? I have to go to a SNCF (French railways) ticket office ?

Apologies, I was editing my message at the same time you were already replying. Thanks.

According to RENFE this train is sold out from Girona. You'll have to choose another connection.

Either Brendan's second option or this one :

- TER Montpellier-St-Roch - Perpignan 08:53 - 10:49 (14 min break in Narbonne so don't worry about the somewhat tight connection)

- TER Perpignan - Portbou 10:55 - 11:47

- R Portbou - Barcelona-Sants 12:35 - 15:10

- AVE Barcelona-Sants - Madrid-Atocha 16:25 - 18:55 10€

- AVE Madrid-Atocha - Malaga 19:05 - 22:04 10€

Or this not ideal one (more expensive)

- TGV Montpellier-St-Roch - Barcelona-Sants 13:25 - 16:34 25€

- AVE Barcelona-Sants - Madrid-Atocha 17:25 - 19:55 or an hour later 10€

- AVE Madrid-Atocha - Malaga 21:25 - 00:32 (20:03 departure is too tight imho) 10€

Unfortunately the morning AVE from Montpellier doesn't run that day and it would have helped a bit (despite it not being available online for an unknown reason). As you can see international connections between France and Spain are bad.

Hi,b

Thanks a lot for all of you who have been trying to help.

I spent hours of trying to book online yesterday.  

I was getting the message

"

Not available from Interrail.eu
This seat reservation can’t be booked on our website. Check 'More information' for other ways to book.Not available from Interrail.eu

This seat reservation can’t be booked on our website. Check 'More information' for other ways to book.

"

So I went to a French SNCF tickets office. After hours trying to help, they explained that since July 2023, they are no longer able to deliver RENFE tickets. 

We don't seem to be able to reserve trains to go from Montpellier to Málaga (or Puente Guenil) on Thursday 14, Friday 15 or Saturday 16th September).

I'm able to book AVE trains within Spain on interrail.eu. Brendan's second option or my first one works on the website. Let us know if it doesn't, mentioning the train.

Too bad about SNCF, one more off the list... Have you heard of that @rvdborgt ?

I can also get results from those 2 options, with reservations only on the Barcelona - Madrid - Malaga portions so it is likely you are doing something wrong.

Only search for the Barcelona - Malaga portion of your journey and make sure it matches the options given by @BrendanDB  or @thibcabe above.

Thanks, I am getting there. 

Any recommendations with regards to how long to allow in Barcelona Santa for changing trains?

Depends on your preference, but I would go for at least an hour. 15 minutes is tricky anyhow.

An hour enables you to stretch your legs and have lunch before the next long journey to Malaga over Madrid.

Thanks. I have now managed to find a couple of trains available to book online. It seems to be a minority of the trains available though.