I rode EVERY Spanish fast train (and one is the best)

Which is the best fast train in Spain? Get ready for my 48-hour fast train smackdown!

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Editor – Clément Letourneur
Thumbnail designer – Lucas Kieffer

==== WHO ARE WE? ====
Hola, Spain lovers! We're James and Yoly. James is a New Zealander, and Yoly is from Spain. We both live in Madrid. Our channel gives you a local insight into life in Spain and helps you experience this country like a local when you come to live (or visit!).

If that sounds like your kind of thing, bienvenid@!I

⏩ CHAPTERS
00:00 The mission!
01:01 I ride AVE (Spain's fast train grandaddy!)
08:40 I ride Avlo (Renfe's new low-cost option)
12:39 I ride Ougio (a new low-cost option)
18:34 I ride Iryo (a new classy option)

*This description contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you use them 🙏🏻

[spainrevealed]

I really enjoyed making this video! Was nice to film without having to think about what to say, then script everything later. Not sure if I can do more voice-over videos, but let me know if you think of any ideas! Happy train travelling!

[osasunaitor]

20:50 One thing that very few people know is that Ave trains are the only ones that switch the direction of seats before every trip, so that you always face forward (unless you book the 2 vs 2 seats with central table, of course). This is done thanks to a dedicated mechanism that rotates the whole seat structure upon activating a lever, which train staff do manually before each trip.

Avlo, Ouigo and Iryo have regular fixed seats and you always have 50% chances of travelling backwards.

[madhavyu]

I did the same thing in the United States - rode every fast train that I could. Ha, just kidding, there are no fast trains in the US.

[redsbricks]

The Avlo wagon with high windows is because the train (a Talgo S102/112) is an ex-Ave train, and that wagon originally had the cafeteria (which has higher windows since people stand up).

[KFCJones]

As a complete train anorak, I've seen hundreds of similar videos and I have to say that your first attempt is better than ANYTHING similar on YouTube! Nice work!

[BF-rwdh]

during a two week vacation in May this year we used the train to take a day trip to Cadiz from Seville, then from Seville to Granada, .and then Granada to Barcelona. It was great. Very comfortable and fun to see the country during the trip. I wish we had more train options in the US.

[jeremywarshaw]

As a filmmaker I know how much work goes into videos like these, and I salute you for the craft and the hard work. My wife and I are relocating from the USA (thank God) to Barcelona, and these videos are not only informative but fun to watch. They are not a minute longer than they need to be, and their personality (well, James') shines through. Kudos to you, and I look forward to seeing what awaits us on our escape from Hades.

[janisschwenke]

That was the most fun I have ever had “riding” on trains! Laughed out loud at your commentary while learning a lot about train travel options. We did the Barcelona to Madrid trip on IRYO in April and it was great. One small note, along with the meal choices served at your seat in first class, there are special diet meals that can be ordered i.e vegetarían, low sodium, etc. Nice!

[alisong]

I remember the old days in Spain, where the overnight "expreso" train from Sevilla to Madrid took 12 hours, and the "rápido" took 15!

[JoseInciarte]

What I like about this trains is that in case of airports, if you add all the time it takes to just enter to the plane (time to get to the airport + time to check in + TSA + doing the line to onboard) it takes more time than to go by train, you just can be there 5 minutes before it leaves and thats is, on the way to madrid!, when they open the mediterranean line users would be able to go to Seville and valencia without passing through madrid.

[michaelcarey]

I live in Spain over 10 years now and the high speed trains here are amazing. Love the service, bars and cleannliness

[chiliman]

James, I've been following you for several years now and I have to say the quality of your content and editing is excellent. This video is not only super useful but a pleasure to watch.

[smallspaceprepping]

We are heading to Spain in October. Starting in Barcelona, Madrid and The Alhambra. Super excited to be traveling back. I always consider Spain home.

[hsavietto]

My wife and I recently went to Barcelona with Iryo and we were amazed with the experience. We don't plan to go anywhere in a plane if there's a high speed train option available.

In France, Italian trains also came to give the shivers to the big SNCF. They are pretty similar, modern brand new trains with a lot of services and ticket prices which are impossible to defeat.

[didemkarakocogullari]

This video was super informative, entertaining and very fun to watch. Thank you James, this was brilliant.

[lornahiggins]

Interesting video! We travelled from Madrid to Segovia and Madrid to Toledo on high-speed trains last week and loved it! We also wanted to go to Zaragoza, but there were only first-class seats left, and at a total of 595E for the two of us it was beyond our budget.
We waited until we got to Madrid to book the trains because last year we bought tickets through Trainline and the timetables they were using were incorrect, we arrived at the station in Valencia at what we thought was 20 minutes early only to be told the train had left 10 minutes earlier. We could not use the Trainline ticket in exchange for a new one and had to pay again and then claim the money back from Trainline. We also lost 2 hours of our day trip to Benacassim and missed meeting a friend for lunch. My advice would be to check the timetable at the train station before you travel to make sure your ticket is valid, and the time is correct. Also, if you are buying a high-speed train ticket in person, you'll need your passport or ID card. They don't check these again when you travel!

[robertmeredith]

We used trains last time we were in Spain.
Never an issue. The staff at Valencia Renfe office even helped us print out some tickets.
Whether it's local trains or the VFTs we always managed to get where we needed to get to.

[craiczaibatsu]

A informative and funny tour de force James! It brought me back to the good aul days of enjoying Spain's qiality infrastructure, which I wistfully think of everytime I am punished for the crime of being Irish and having to deal with our dreadful travel and transport options.

[susandunaway]

This was an excellent video! We took a trip to Spain in April 2023 and all our travels within the country were by train. LOVE the Spanish train system. Learned a lot for future trips to Spain. One thing I wish you had mentioned on the 1st trip was how long Madrid to Barcelona trip takes on high speed train ( I’m obviously too lazy to look it up myself 😊). Keep up the good work. Say hello to Lolie (spelling?). By the way, we are Americans and this was our 1st trip to Madrid and southern Spanish cities. 3week trip.. great time!