Renfe Operadora is a Spanish state-owned railroad company. It operates comfortable high-speed trains, various regional trains and suburban trains.

• FIP free tickets are accepted on commuter trains (mainly suburban trains), but not on trains requiring reservations.
• For trains requiring reservations, tickets can be purchased at the FIP Global Fare (regardless of distance), including the reservation; FIP Coupons are not needed.
• FIP is not accepted on Avlo trains.

FIP free ticket: ✅ (exceptions: trains requiring reservations)
FIP Coupons for relatives: ⛔
FIP 50 tickets: ✅ (exceptions: trains requiring reservations)
FIP Global Fare: ✅ for trains subject to reservation except Avlo

Long distance

Middle distance

Local transportation

Elige Standard / Turista: Comparable to 2nd class.
Elige Confort: 1st class without catering. A 1st class FIP pass is required.
Premium: 1st class including catering. A 1st class FIP pass is required.

Online

• It is not possible to book reservations, FIP Global Fare or FIP 50 online.

By telephone

• It is possible to book by telephone with Renfe, but the ticket must be collected from a Spanish counter within a few days.

On-site

• DB Travel Center: Tickets for trains requiring reservations can be sold at DB Travel Centers. Please ensure that either “T” (for Turista) or “P” (for Preferente) is specified as the class. If 1st class or 2nd class is selected as the class, tickets will not be issued with an error message. It has also been reported that the booking of class “P” sometimes fails, in which case a booking of class “T” often works. There is no booking fee.
  

• Sales points of Renfe in Spain: All tickets subject to reservation and tickets without reservation (FIP 50) can be booked at Renfe points of sale. An additional fee of €0.55 is charged for tickets requiring a reservation.

On the train

• If there is no Renfe sales outlet at the departure station, tickets can be purchased on the train.

Children up to the age of 4 travel free of charge, provided they do not require their own seat. Children up to the age of 12 receive a 40% discount on the adult fare. Persons aged 12 and over pay the adult fare.

Border points with neighboring countries are listed on the country page Spain.

France

From Paris, direct TGV trains operated by the French SNCF run to Barcelona. Renfe also operates cross-border services between Lyon and Barcelona. FIP Global Fares are available with both operators, although they can be very expensive. Overall, there are very few cross-border connections, and the network was significantly better developed just a few years ago.

Portugal

Connections between Spain and Portugal are currently very limited. For example, to travel from Lisbon to Madrid, one must change trains and take a long regional journey to the Spanish border at Badajoz, where one of the few trains to Madrid can be caught. This requires FIP tickets or free passes from Portuguese rail operator CP, as well as a Renfe ticket for the Spanish section. Additionally, there is the Celta connection from Porto to Vigo, although this does not extend further into Spain. A FIP Global Fare is valid for the entire route. A continuous high-speed rail line between Lisbon and Madrid is currently under development.

Celta: Porto - Vigo

The Celta is an international joint train service operated by Renfe and the Portuguese CP.
FIP Global Fare (regardless of distance): 4 €

Interruption of Travel

With FIP 50 and FIP Global Fare tickets, the journey may not be interrupted along the way.²