Spain is hostile for InterRailers

Krzysztof
Traveller
4 comments

Posted 16 years ago

First of all, the supplements: the highest - right after Greece - in the whole IR network. Even higher than the brochure you get with your ticket states: you pay the €6.50 and €0,25 for gastos gestion, which stands for administrative costs I believe. But that's at least what you expect before you go. Who would expect that there are also supplements for regional trains? I had already travelled a few regional trains which were marked on the timetables at the stations with the letter R for reserva simply ignoring it, as virtually ALL trains were marked with it and assuming that reservation was possible but not obligatory on these trains. It was all right - I mean the ticket inspectors were satisfied with the IR global passes we presented and did not require anything else - till the day we wanted to travel from Salamanca to Avila and the timetable plainly read: reserva obligatorio. The cashier confirmed and informed us that the price was €4. Too much for a short trip on a regional train I believe, especially that a regular one-way ticket on this route costs only €8,25! Our decision was not to pay supplements for regional trains unless somewhere was clearly stated that reservation is obligatory. It worked, but on our last trip the ticket inspector demanded reservations from us. We acted dumb, showing him the InterRail information leaflet where regional trains are not listed as subject to supplements. He finally said OK, but warned us for the future that we also need reservations for regional trains.

So the truth about RENFE is that you can travel comfortably on high-speed (mine never reached more than 180 kph) trains (and watch pretty new Hollywood blockbusters on DVD, dubbed) for €6,75 (French TGV, really fast, costs €3 unless you travel at peak time, then it's €10; German ICE, really fast, is free - reservation possible, but not obligatory). On regional trains you might only expect some discount - what can I call the necessity to pay €4 reservation if the ticket is €8.25, and return ticket even cheaper. Truly free are only Cercanias (suburban) trains... They are frequent but slow and they only run around few major cities (map and list here: www.renfe.es/cercanias/index.html

Another thing: the connections. They can be scarce. Examples: if you want to head mainland from Gijon on the north coast, you can only choose from five trains throughout the day, including a night train (all subject to supplements); from Salamanca to Ciudad Rodrigo - just one train a day, at 04:51, book at least a week before the journey as it's the only train from the north of Spain to Portugal... And generally: I do believe that they do not know what convenient connection with a change is. At least this is not a common practice there: if you have have to wait 60mins you might consider yourself lucky.

The network: some routes are operated by companies independent from RENFE and, as such, do not participate in InterRail. This is irritating especially when you are exploring the north coast. The very useful line along the coast is operated by FEVE. If you want to travel from Bilbao to Santander (distance of not even 100km) you can make a round trip of about 400km by RENFE through Miranda de Ebro, Burgos and Palencia - at least 8hrs 16mins and at least two supplements or a direct trip by FEVE: a bit shorter than 3hrs for €7.25. The choice seems obvious - just don't forget to ask yourself the question What on earth did I buy my IR pass for!?

The information: the first thing I buy on arrival to another country is the timetable. No problem in the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Portugal. Available even in Poland, for a horrid price of €18 though. It does make planning easier. But not in Spain. No book timetable available. You can only collect free leaflets at the stations when you arrive there. There is a separate leaflet for each route from the station, for example connections with a major city eastward and another leaflet for connections with a major city northward. For high-speed trains stopping at the station there separate leaflets. Cercanias, the suburban lines, have their own leaflets of course. Not all stations display timetibles. The Gijon-Cercanias station only displays the nearest departures and arrivals on TV-panels, no leaflets available to be taken from a stand when the ticket window is closed. If you like playing hide-and-seek you'll surely find the timetables for suburban and high-speed trains, in two different places. But there are also at least two regional trains - I only know that because I arrived on one of them from Leon!

The ticket windows: the service is extremely slow. In Salamanca I entered the hall at 17:58. Three customers were being served at three windows. It was 18:12 when the queue moved and another customer was able to approach the window. Fortunately there were only three people before me in the queue, so I was served within 30mins. Things were slightly better in Gijon: one window, three people before me (one only asked briefly for information) - 20mins. I recommend booking early.

And something positive before I finish, so that nobody could say I'm biased: you can use use the toilets at the stations for free.