Madrid Travel Forum

How long a train trip from Madrid to Barcelona? Is the scenery worth the extra time the train may take over flying?

Hi
With the new AVE it's less than 3 hours - see www.renfe.es. From memory the scenery was just ok but it is so much more convenient than trying to negotiate airports.

itīs worth taking the train because the spanish high speed trains are simply so nice and you save all the hassle at the airports.

I enjoyed my train trip, and it is nice to avoid the airport - however sometimes you can get a plane ticket using Vueling for less than the train fare (as little as 10-20 Euro at times) ... www.vueling.com. If cost is not an issue, I'd take the train.

Actually the "extra time" will be if you fly vs. the AVE train (when you calculate door to door time)

The main difference will be that by train you'll have a relaxed trip and you'll enjoy the scenery (not the most spectacular trip ever, but definitely more interesting than clouds)

If you buy the AVE tickets more that 15 days in advance you can benefit of a 60% discount ("web" fare). However, this route has a high demand and there is a limited number of seats offered with discount, so if you can, buy your tickets 62 days in advance (is the earliest the system allows) www.renfe.es

However, plane will be probably cheaper that AVE if you don't get the discount.