I will be traveling in Southern Spain beginning the 26 of May. I will be returning to Madrid from Sevilla in early June. Should I buy an AVE ticket at the airport for the return before I begin my driving trip through Andalucia and is there a Renfe ticket office convenient in the Madrid airport? Really appreciate your advice.

Juan Pablo, yes there is a Renfe ticket office at Barajas airport. You can also buy the ticket online at renfe.es and then have the ticket printed when you get there. It's very easy so don't worry!

Just a friendly reminder (like i work for Renfe or something), if you purchase your roundtrip AVE tickets online at http://www.renfe.es you receive a discount!

And don't forget that if you arrive at the Atocha station (or any renfe ventanillas) less than two hours before your train you don't have to wait in the huge lines! If you already have a ticket by tiknet then you don't have to worry about the train selling out...

Have a nice trip!

How do I buy a ticket at Renfe's website? From the main site I click on the English version, but the site does not seem to proceed beyond "Timetables and Prices"? Thanks for your help.

On the Renfe page, you click on "Tiknet Buy Tickets." Here is a direct link to Tiknet. You can only buy tickets between 7:00 to 23:30 Spain time, and only two months in advance.

Thank you for the Tiknet website. I couldn't find it on the English Renfe page. Now I can buy the our tickets in advance.

Catho,

Just a suggestion, only buy one of your trips via Tiknet, and then wait to buy the rest of your tickets after you get there (provided you will have internet access, if not, then just buy them all).

The reason is that you have to show up in person and wait in line the first time you buy. The remaining times you buy you can just show up at whatever train station and use the electronic ticket dispensing machine instead. There is never a line for it. Also, I say wait to buy the rest just so you don't have to carry them around and potentially lose them.

Also, if you elect to use the electronic ticket dispensing machine, be sure to use a credit card, and a credit card that you have a PIN for. The machine will ask you for the PIN of the card and you must have it. No way around it. I say credit card, instead of debit, because there is better protection for using credit cards than debit cards.

Tiknet rules. Good luck!

I have a question about trains...I've been in Spain before, but I've never taken the AVE. I've been trying to make a reservation on Tiknet, but I think I'm a little too late, because there are no seats in the non-smoking car on our return trip. Can anyone tell me how smoky the smoking car is? Or if on the AVE you actually have to sit in the seat you reserved? Because I remember on the other trains that we had a ticket but it didn't really matter where we sat. Thanks!