Northern Spain, Portugal, FEVE network.

[shredder1]

Hi Guys

I wonder if someone could advise me about tickets, Ill be out for 7 days in early February, and wondering what my cheapest options are for rover tickets, Ill mainly be concentrating on the FEVE lines and probably nip into Portugal, not sure if Interrail is the best option for these lines?

 

[stuu]

I don't know about passes but point to point tickets are very cheap. Santander to Bilbao was something like €6 a couple of years ago, for a 3 hour journey. It's probably not worth using Interrail if the prices haven't risen by much

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Hi Guys

I wonder if someone could advise me about tickets, Ill be out for 7 days in early February, and wondering what my cheapest options are for rover tickets, Ill mainly be concentrating on the FEVE lines and probably nip into Portugal, not sure if Interrail is the best option for these lines?

Hope you have a good trip, I did some of those lines some years ago and they were very good.

 

[Flying Snail]

Beware that the service levels on many of them are awful, closer to a UK parliamentary than a typical branch line.

I would also suggest avoiding using interrail, both as you'd not get value versus the local fares and due to the use of unmanned ticket barriers at the bigger stations.

 

[calopez]

If you're over 60, a Tarjeta Dorada costs just €6 from any main(?) ticket office and will get you half fare on FEVE, as well as discounts on RENFE.

Fares and a very basic journey planner are on the FEVE section of the RENFE website. (Which is something like https://www.renfe.com/es/en/suburban/cercanias-feve, but that doesn't seem to be very well at the moment, so I can't check it.)

I covered nearly all of FEVE in September 2019 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although the long-distance routes do indeed have sparse services, some shorter lines manage hourly or even half-hourly trains. Superb scenery everywhere and usually great food when you get off!

 

[Peterthegreat]

There used to be a ticket called Feverail valid on all the services for a month. I think it was around 90 euros. I'm not sure whether shorter versions exist. Unfortunately as mentioned by @calopez the link doesn't seem to be working.

 

[calopez]

There used to be a ticket called Feverail valid on all the services for a month. I think it was around 90 euros. I'm not sure whether shorter versions exist. Unfortunately as mentioned by @calopez the link doesn't seem to be working.

€88 in 2019. But even if I hadn't qualified for the Tarjeta Dorada, and despite travelling extensively for almost two weeks, it would have barely been worth it.

 

[Peterthegreat]

€88 in 2019. But even if I hadn't qualified for the Tarjeta Dorada, and despite travelling extensively for almost two weeks, it would have barely been worth it.

Agreed but it may be worth it for the flexibility - particularly if one doesn't understand Spanish (or Basque!!)

 

[shredder1]

I don't know about passes but point to point tickets are very cheap. Santander to Bilbao was something like €6 a couple of years ago, for a 3 hour journey. It's probably not worth using Interrail if the prices haven't risen by much

Thats incredible, Ill be doing that on my first day hopefully.

 

[rg177]

Definitely do not use Interrail for those journeys. You'll still end up needing to visit ticket offices for gate passes or vaulting under/over unmanned gates.

Staff would also insist on your destination so you couldn't just, say, get given a dozen gateline passes and use them as you wished.

 

[37201xoIM]

Agreed, Interrail in Spain (and I speak as a fan of IR!) is just not a good thing to be reliant on! Keep your IR validity days for other countries. Advance-purchase cheap tickets on RENFE and walk-ups on FEVE, I would say.

 

[shredder1]

Agreed, Interrail in Spain (and I speak as a fan of IR!) is just not a good thing to be reliant on! Keep your IR validity days for other countries. Advance-purchase cheap tickets on RENFE and walk-ups on FEVE, I would say.

Thanks very much, yes I did a ten day trip over much of Spain in 2021, the IR isnt good value for money in Spain because of the mandatory reservations on the high speed lines, I bought a 10 trip REFE ticket, each trip is valid for one train only, but comes with a free reservation, it worked out slightly cheaper than IR.

 

[P Binnersley]

I did the Euskotren/FEVE from Hendaye (France) to Ferrol very leisurely in 2017. The total cost for the six stages as single tickets was about €50. There are no advanced tickets. I wasn't aware of the "Tarjeta Dorada", but it wouldn't have saved me any money. The FEVE ticket offices were cash only; hopefully this has changed.

Very scenic, with some interesting towns, but some sections only have two trains a day.

We went for Oviedo to Giron for an afternoon. There are narrow gauge FEVE and spanish gauge RENFE routes but the tickets are not interchangeable.

 

[dutchflyer]

Have done it also west to east some 5-6 yrs ago, before it went to RENFE so no discount and all together (you canNOT buy 1 ticket all the way-in 1 case not even for the whole trip to be done on 1 day!) and that was less as 50€ total. Excluding what is now run as FV=Basque country.
On the INterrial forum has been a note that even though after many yrs since takeover RENFE said IR would be fully accepted, pax still had to pay 50% as the machines of the conductors showed that-were not adjusted-only a very few major stations have ticket offices. The story would not go if they got the refund due for that.
HINT: I would very much advice you to try to ride the only 1/day sideline off the coast to Lëon, by far the most scenic line. ARR late eve both sides, I then used the overnite tren Mad-Coruna-Ferrol, lv Leon like 2-3 am, but that is no more. You may want to check buses.
DO be aware that the stock is tramlike basic-most have reversible plastic seats, not overly comfy and a WC on board-and that is all.
Now Spain has this free commuter train scheme also for 2023, but if it would suit you (even if you forfeit the 10€ deposit on it in case you do not do the MIN of 16 trips) or even how to get it work for this remains a mystery for me.

 

[stuu]

DO be aware that the stock is tramlike basic-most have reversible plastic seats, not overly comfy and a WC on board-and that is all.

Which ones are? The ones I used were air conditioned modern diesel trains with similar seating to UK regional trains

 

[rg177]

I caught a 2600 series train for the very long trip from Santander to Oviedo (with 2x RRBs involved!!) and it was more like bench seating with a thin layer of fabric.

My posterior did eventually get used to it!

 

[shredder1]

I did the Euskotren/FEVE from Hendaye (France) to Ferrol very leisurely in 2017. The total cost for the six stages as single tickets was about €50. There are no advanced tickets. I wasn't aware of the "Tarjeta Dorada", but it wouldn't have saved me any money. The FEVE ticket offices were cash only; hopefully this has changed.

Very scenic, with some interesting towns, but some sections only have two trains a day.

We went for Oviedo to Giron for an afternoon. There are narrow gauge FEVE and spanish gauge RENFE routes but the tickets are not interchangeable.

Thank you very much, Ill probably be doing something similar. I used the old FEVE units on Majorca, before the new network was introduced, so Im aware of the ride.

I caught a 2600 series train for the very long trip from Santander to Oviedo (with 2x RRBs involved!!) and it was more like bench seating with a thin layer of fabric.

My posterior did eventually get used to it!

Sounds good, Ive been practicing on Metrolink in Manchester for the last few years, so should be seasoned by now.

 

[rvdborgt]

Have done it also west to east some 5-6 yrs ago, before it went to RENFE so no discount and all together (you canNOT buy 1 ticket all the way-in 1 case not even for the whole trip to be done on 1 day!) and that was less as 50€ total. Excluding what is now run as FV=Basque country.
On the INterrial forum has been a note that even though after many yrs since takeover RENFE said IR would be fully accepted, pax still had to pay 50% as the machines of the conductors showed that-were not adjusted-only a very few major stations have ticket offices. The story would not go if they got the refund due for that.

FEVE was merged into RENFE on 1/1/2013. Interrail became fully valid on 1/4/2015, so your timeline doesn't quite match. The user who complained on the Interrail forum was eventually reimbursed by FEVE, which you can see if you follow the link to DSO he posted in the Interrail forum.

 

[endecotp]

Where’s the best place to see timetables for these routes?

It seems that bahn.de doesn’t know about them, for example.

 

[30907]

Where’s the best place to see timetables for these routes?

The link upthread works for me, but is only a journey planner.

It seems that bahn.de doesn’t know about them, for example.

Nor any other Cercanias/Rodalies basically - because RENFE don't upload them into the international database IIRC.

 

[stuu]

Where’s the best place to see timetables for these routes?

It seems that bahn.de doesn’t know about them, for example.

Google Maps has the timetables, and will, with a bit of persuasion, show through-journeys across the routes. It is much better for all rail travel in Spain than anything RENFE can manage, as their journey planner only allows changes of train on certain routes

 

[rvdborgt]

Google Maps has the timetables, and will, with a bit of persuasion, show through-journeys across the routes. It is much better for all rail travel in Spain than anything RENFE can manage, as their journey planner only allows changes of train on certain routes

RENFE don't have a planner, they have a train database that you can query. And they will indeed only show changes where they have decided that passengers can change trains.