Should we buy bus/train tickets in advance?

Question

Hello spaniards,

We're spending three weeks in spain in august, travelling between Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla, Granada and back to Madrid.

I would like to know which transportation service is best? Train or bus? Should we buy tickets in advance through the web or is there a better way ? I've heard that spaniards travel a lot during the summer weekends, making it impossible to get a simple train ticket unless you buy it three months in advance.

Thanks for the advice.

Answer 1

Sometimes you get a better deal on the price when you get tickets in advance.I have taken a bus many times , I would think that a train would be more comfortable.Trains cost a bit more.

Answer 2

I don't know about Spain for sure but I have heard that you can buy a rail pass for Europe at a reduced rate before you go. You might want to check into that. We purchase JNR rail passes before we travel to Japan as they're good for tickets to any point in Japan and can be purchased to cover one week and up. A trip from Tokyo to Kyoto on the Bullet train will pay for a one week rail pass then the rest is free travel. IF Spain has something like that it would certainly save you some money.

Answer 3

Train.  Absolutely.  The trains in Spain are better than any busses, anywhere.  Except when you want to go somewhere that the trains don't run.  It doesn't look like you'll need to mess with it.

They have these kiosks in the train stations, where you can pick up (and pay with a credit card) your tickets that were ordered online (or I think over the phone).  It was much quicker than standing in line, but I never quite got the hang of it, or else they wouldn't use it with our Eurrail passes (all we had to pay was a supplement and reservations, so it wouldn't do that, or something).  If you can get that set up, that's the best way, I think.  We bought the five-days in two months pass, (actually, a 3-day pass with two extra days added) and I don't think it was the most cost-effective.  I figured we would save on the time end, at least, but we wound up having to stand in line, too, for every trip, so, Can't say that an adult eurail is that good a deal, either.  You might just buy each ticket individually, and get the best overall price, that way.

One of the Spaniards will probably be able to explain how the auto-ticket kiosks work.