Free rail travel in Spain

[Clitheroekid]

This sounds like a great opportunity, and I suspect I'll be taking advantage of it - https://www.traveloffpath.com/you-can-t ... l-of-2023/

[Dicky99]

Sounds great on the face of it but having looked at the detail, if I've interpreted it correctly, for medium distance travel, you have to pay a 20 euro deposit for each return ticket and you are refunded your deposits only if you make 16 return journeys in a 4 month period.
Could still be worth it to forfeit your deposit though if you want to make a journey which would ordinarily cost more than 20 euros.

[didds]

so if you made 16 journeys, you'd actually pay 17 x 20E = 320E, but that would be refunded in entirety IF they all happened in <= 4 months?

[Dicky99]

so if you made 16 journeys, you'd actually pay 17 x 20E = 320E, but that would be refunded in entirety IF they all happened in <= 4 months?

That's how I read it. Here's a cut/paste:-

At the time of purchasing the pass, the passenger must choose two station between which they will travel with the pass. The conditions for acquiring and using the free subscriptions will be similar to those of the subscription passes launched in September. Users must be registered on the Renfe website with their ID card to apply for the season tickets, leave a deposit of 10 euros if they purchase a Cercanías or Rodalies ticket, and 20 euros for conventional Media Distancia services. This will be returned at the end of each four-month period as long as the conditions are met, such as having made at least 16 journeys during the period of validity of the season tickets.

[Lootman]

Sounds great on the face of it but having looked at the detail, if I've interpreted it correctly, for medium distance travel, you have to pay a 20 euro deposit for each return ticket and you are refunded your deposits only if you make 16 return journeys in a 4 month period.

Reminds me of the cheap holidays that were available for a while, where you had to prepay the cost and attend a timeshare seminar at the destination as a condition of the discount.

[DelianLeague]

Hello All,

I have spent a lot of time travelling around Spain by train and I have just returned having spent 2 months in the central area where all my travel was by train.

The only discount that I would recommend is from RENFE for the over 60's. You can pay 6 euros for a gold card and get up to 50% discount on trains depending on when and where you travel. I haven't tried it out yet but I think it also applies to non-Spaniards. It looks very generous (they look after the older generation).

Good luck, It would be good to know if anyone has actually got the Gold Card from RENFE.

D.L.

[nimnarb]

Sounds great on the face of it but having looked at the detail, if I've interpreted it correctly, for medium distance travel, you have to pay a 20 euro deposit for each return ticket and you are refunded your deposits only if you make 16 return journeys in a 4 month period.

Reminds me of the cheap holidays that were available for a while, where you had to prepay the cost and attend a timeshare seminar at the destination as a condition of the discount.

O ooh yes. Did that once near Disneyland(yonks ago) and was given a Mickey Mouse phone that didn't work when we got back to the UK. However, don't recall any pre-pay. Now get invited each week to lunches(actually to some good local restaurants) to discuss my affairs, be it financial, cremation, etc, etc. Never been and don't think I will.

[eepee]

Last time I was in Spain about three years ago, I used the 'Gold Card' scheme someone has pointed out.

Don't remember if the conditions were the same but it certainly was available with UK passports.

Regards,
ep

[bluedonkey]

I read recently that Spain now has more km of high speed track than France.