High Speed Trains; the Best Way to Travel throughout Spain

Before coming to Spain I had never really been on a Train before. My younger brother had a birthday party on a train when I was like five, but that doesn’t count. I had to use the high speed train once to get to Valencia. My friends and I had all planned a weekend there at the beach, but I slept through my alarm and missed the bus to our hotel. I woke up in a panic and remembered going to the Atocha Renfe train station when touring the city with one of my program directors. So I gathered all of my things and got to the station.

At the station I was very confused as to where to buy tickets. At first I went to the short distance ticket booth instead of the long distance booth. Luckily the worker at the booth directed me to where I wanted to go. I got to the long distance booth and bought a ticket for the next train to Valencia, and to my surprise it only cost about €70. I was thinking it would be over €100 at least.

After waiting for half an hour or so at the station I boarded the train. I was in coach and I was surprised with the accommodations. My seat was comfortable and I had a fair amount of leg room. I thought it would be like on a plane where you are in an uncomfortable seat with barely enough space to move. All of the seats were at tables which I thought was very nice. I could put my small bag on the table rather than having it take up my valuable leg room.

The trip itself was very smooth. There wasn’t a bump to be felt. I could see the Spanish countryside flashing past my eyes. After looking around the train car for a bit I noticed a screen that told the passengers the time, temperature outside, and the speed at which we were travelling. I was shocked to see that the train was moving at over 300km/h or 180 mph. All in all, it took me only two hours to get to Valencia from Madrid as opposed to the five and a half hour bus ride to the same city.

Once I familiarized myself with the train system, I had a great experience with the high speed rail system in Spain. It was everything I wanted in a method of travel. If you are looking to travel to cities all over Spain, I would recommend the high speed train. It is cheaper and more comfortable than flying and it is much faster than busses or cars.

Connor Haubert

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