Public transport in Spain?

Question

I plan to travel from Madrid to Seville on Good Friday 2009 and want to find out what train services will be available on that day. I've looked on the train websites and there is no information yet. As I need to book accommodation in Madrid I'm unsure whether I should delay my trip to Seville until the next day.

Answer 1

The train will definitely be running that day, no need to delay your trip at all.  Also, book your ticket as far in advance as possible as a lot of people will be travelling on the Thursday or Friday for Easter and transport fills up.  Plus by booking in advance the fare is much cheaper - just select the web fare before you pay for your ticket.

Answer 2

I think it's very likely that the service for that route will be normal on that day, though I don't know that for sure. I've taken that trip, and it's a major one, of course. In France I did Marseille-Paris on Easter last year, and the service was just as it would be on any other day.

Do you really need to book your Madrid hotel this far in advance?

You could write to the good folks at Rail Europe and ask them - I'm certain they'll be able to answer you.

Answer 3

The renfe site won't sell tickets for more than 62 days in advance, so there is no way to reserve the seats until 2 months before.  

Any Catholic holiday is a toughie in Spain.  I wouldn't use France as a model.  Spain is much more conservative, but if I remember correctly, the trains run, even if pretty much everything else is shut down.

You want to get to Sevilla as early as you can, to take advantage of what little bit of Semana Santa that you can, so book as soon as you possibly can do so, so, about Feb 10.  Maybe a couple of days before.

Answer 4

www.renfe.es is your website. There they put also the operating days. It is possible, that in the moment nothing is in for Good Friday because of schedule changes in December. But, because it is peak time for travel here in Spain, you can be quite sure that all trains operate. Book well in advance the train. You can set up your hotel reservation right now and book the train in December.

Bienvenidos a España!

Answer 5

Take the bullet train (AVE). It will get you to Seville in 3 hours.