Ah the romance of the clickety-clack (Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Espanoles RENFE (Spain))

Name: Miss Gretta

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Product:	Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Espanoles RENFE (Spain)
Date:	21/09/07 (185 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, different, great views.

Disadvantages: Not a lot of space, difficult for those who have trouble with mobility.

It had been a dream of mine for some time to travel on an overnight / sleeper train somewhere. This sounds easy enough but somehow time was always too short and flying was cheaper or quicker or more convenient. So when I was planning a summer holiday to Spain I decided to check out the rail travel options. It turned out to be cheaper than flying and very convenient for where we wanted to go.

Booking

My experience of the RENFE trains in Spain began a month or so before I arrived in the country, when I was booking the tickets for my journey online. I found the website very easy to use and quickly identified the two stations that I would be travelling between (from Girona near the Costa Brava to Madrid). I did need to check a couple of Spanish words out relating to the type of ticket I was booking – whether the cabin was a sleeper and male, female, or shared. We ended up booking a female only dorm (I was travelling with a friend visiting from Australia) in the 6 bunk cabin.

I must admit that at the end of the booking process, having entered my credit card details and received the booking number, it did feel like the process was somehow still unfinished – you don’t receive a confirmation email or anything, as is customary for flight, hotel, and rental car bookings. Anyway I decided it would work out, so didn’t worry too much about it.

Checking In

Checking in on the day of our train though provided a couple of heart-stopping moments. I had my booking number with me, and had paid for my ticket, we checked in with what we thought was plenty of time to spare – about an hour or an hour and a half. The staff did not speak a lot of English and I must admit that my Spanish is pretty appalling. This led to a rather disturbing conversation where the staff member tried to tell me that I was too late to check in! After assuring her that I had paid, and showing her the credit card I had used, she (rather reluctantly it seemed) informed me that I should have picked up my ticket the day before (something which, as I far as I am aware, I was not notified of when booking) but that the conductor had my ticket onboard the train. I don’t know why this shouldn’t be the normal procedure however because when we boarded the train we found the conductor had our tickets and was not in the slightest bit phased that we hadn’t picked them up previously.

The Train

The train was divided into carriages that had a narrow passage down one side, next to the windows, and cabins on the other. At the end of each carriage was a toilet with a sink, and there were dining cars every two carriages or so. Due to the narrow space in the passages, it was pretty easy to walk down the car without feeling like you would go flying at any minute, and walking between cars was no problem.

The cabin was rather a laugh – a tiny little space, just enough room for maybe two people to stand, squashed together, with the door closed, and three bunks on either side, one on top of the other – making 6 bunks in total. All the bunks in our cabin were occupied and we were on the top. I loved the ‘adventure’ feel of it – clambering onto the top bunk where there is about 50cm between the bunk and the roof, nowhere near enough to sit comfortably on the bed. This would be extremely difficult for anyone with mobility issues to manage though so if that is a consideration you would need to make sure you got the bottom bunk. There was a little pocket on the wall for your book etc, a small reading light (this would not really be bright enough to read by for any length of time but you wouldn’t want to sit up reading for hours when others are trying to sleep anyway – if you did you could go to the dining car).

The toilets, as you’d expect, were not exactly the nicest experience ever. I wouldn’t want to be stuck on one of these trains for days on end, but using it once or twice over the course of the night was fine.

The dining car is set out like a cafeteria with a few booths, a bar with stools by the window, and a small kitchen with a counter where you order what you want. The selection was not extensive but they had the basics covered and the prices were not exorbitant.

The Experience

I really think this is a must for anyone at some point in his or her life. Getting on the train, throwing your bags on your bunk, and heading to the dining car to watch the sun set over a cup of tea. It was great sliding through the small towns, watching the mountains in the distance shrink, and seeing the colours in the sky change from blue to pink and mauve finally to black.

I can’t say that I got a whole lot of sleep of course; it is a very unfamiliar feeling, being in a small space and feeling the movement and noises of the train. But that is what makes it so wonderful, the clacking and feeling of gentle rolling and movement. It is incredibly relaxing and is a wonderful environment for pondering, dreaming, and introspection.

There are stops throughout the night and once or twice the conductor came in to wake up people who were at the end of their journey. I should mention that this is part of the service on the train – very handy so you don’t have to worry about sleeping through your station!

We arrived at Madrid station at 7 the following morning, feeling scruffy and dishevelled but happy. Since there is very little that you can do to freshen up about the train, and you pretty much have to sleep in your clothes – there wasn’t really enough space to change into pyjamas – I recommend a quick trip to your hotel before going out for the day.

All in all I would recommend train travel to anyone. I think it is rather sad that most people automatically take a plane for any journey longer than a couple of hours – it is far more wasteful than travelling by land, and nowhere near as romantic! I would categorise the RENFE train that I took as rather Spartan but completely adequate. The staff onboard the train were friendly and efficient, and the other passengers seemed courteous of each other – there was rather a nice communal atmosphere in the cabin despite the fact that we couldn’t speak to each other very fluently. If you’re after a more luxurious experience I think there are cabins available with fewer bunks, which would obviously give you more space, and possibly some of the trains that run between the bigger cities are more luxurious. But don't be put off by the lack of silk sheets and a spa - roughing it can be a lot of fun!

Summary: A very memorable experience and a lot of fun.