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How to take the rail journey from Madrid to Malaga
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Madrid to Malaga by train
This is a journey which showcases European rail travel at is best, with trains racing across an ever-changing landscape at more than 300 km/h per hour.
Connect in Malaga for local trains to Torremelinos and Fuengirola.
Routes you can take to go from Madrid to Malaga
When travelling between most cities by train there is only one logical option, though on other journeys there is a choice between different trains or alternative routes. If different options are available you can use the info to decide which is best for you.
Choose one of the following options:
Looking for connections?
Route Information
Option 1: taking the AVE trains operated by Renfe
Station Guides
Travel Time (approx)
2hr 24min - 3hr 5min
Frequency
Daily
Travel Info
Monday - Friday 13 x trains per day
Saturday = 10 x trains
Sunday = 9 x trains
Purchase Tickets
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Trainline ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option for comparing high speed train operators in Spain, as it sells tickets for the AVE, iryo, Ouigo, avlo and Euromed trains.
Trainline (Spain) Guide
Other Ticket Providers
Renfe Guide
Renfe is the national rail operator in Spain and it has recently simplified the range of tickets it sells for express and regional train journeys in Spain.
Which is convenient as there are big savings to be made if you book ahead online.
Travel Information
Final Destination: Malaga
Most trains also call at: Cordoba
The discrepancies in journey time are caused by the number of station calls the trains make.
The fastest trains are the non-stop trains, which usually depart from Madrid at:
- 08:30 on Monday to Saturday
- 10:30 daily
- 15:40 daily
- 18:40 daily
- 21:39 on Friday
The slowest trains make five station calls.
This is a direct journey
You will be travelling on one of these trains...
Journey Features
Good to Know
The core differences between avlo and AVE services, aside from avlo not conveying 1st/Preferente/Comfort class are:
- Catering: AVE trains = bar/bistro conter; avlo trains = vending machines
- On board entertainment = both AVE and avlo trains have free Wi-fi, but AVE trains also have screens on which films/movies are shown.
- the luggage allowance.
Luggage allowance on AVE trains = Up to 3 pieces of hand luggage onto the train, provided that the sum of the three does not exceed 25 kg or 290 cm.
The maximum dimensions allowed are 85x55x35 cm.
Luggage allowance on avlo trains = 1 piece of hand luggage (bag, rucksack, etc.) subject to the following size limitations: 36x27x25 cm and 1 suitcase, subject to the following size limitations: 55x35x25 cm.
1 piece of additional, larger-sized luggage, measuring a maximum of 85x60x35 cm (or no more than 180 cm in total) can be be paid for as an added allowance - but the price for doing this ranges from €10 if added when booking, to €30 at the station just prior to boarding.
Another core difference is boarding time, SMTJ suggests being at Madrid Atocha least 20 mins before boarding an AVE train, because having once been towards the back of a long queue for the security check procedures, this scenario is best avoided.
However, for the avlo services, the specific recommendation from renfe is to be at the station a minimum of 30 minutes before departure.
Because the size and weight of the luggage will be measured at the station pre-boarding an avlo train.
You will be travelling at more than 280 km/h for virtually the entire journey from the Madrid suburbs to the outskirts of Malaga.
Either side of Cordoba the trains rush between tunnels and viaducts, so look out for the intermittent sweeping views across the landscape.
Though we weren't lucky with the weather between Cordoba and Malaga when we were capturing the images and video; and this is the most scenic part of this journey.
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date - depending on the time of year.
The online booking window can be shorter between late July and early October.
When looking up journeys (not travelling) between late July and early October, it's likely you won't be able to book for journeys beyond the second Sunday in December.
The Renfe (Spanish national railways) online booking service sells tickets for the AVE and avlo services, but Trainline and Trenes also sell tickets for journeys by the iryo services.
It can pay off to be as flexible as possible regarding departure and arrival times, because for these trains on this route it’s not unusual for a few departures to be available at much cheaper price, regardless of how far ahead you will be booking.
The limited numbers of tickets released for sale at very cheapest prices also inevitably sell out, so if possible book more than a couple of months ahead and you’ll be more likely to find them available.
Though from the moment the tickets are placed on sale, some departures will be cheaper than others.
Seat Reservations:
Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey.
Rail Pass Users:
Spanish national rail operator RENFE does not sell rail pass reservations online, but reservations for journeys on the AVE trains are now available by using the Eurail reservation service or the InterRail reservation service.
The only option, other than booking them at a station in Spain, is to pre-reserve seats by calling Renfe phone sales: +34 91 232 03 20.
Pre-reserving a seat is possible up to 24 hours before a train's departure. You will receive a PNR code which you must use to pick up and pay for your reservation at a local station ticket office, making sure to show your Interrail Pass. You must collect your reservation within 72 hours. After this time the pre-reservation will expire.
Please note that a pre-reservation is not the same as a reservation. It only holds a seat for you for 72 hours.
Route Information
Option 2: taking the iryo trains
Station Guides
Travel Time (approx)
2hr 35min
Frequency
Daily
Travel Info
4 x trains per day
Purchase Tickets
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Trainline ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option for comparing high speed train operators in Spain, as it sells tickets for the AVE, iryo, Ouigo, avlo and Euromed trains.
Trainline (Spain) Guide
Other Ticket Providers
Travel Information
On this route iryo now offers an alternative to the AVE trains provided by the Spanish national rail operator, Renfe
This is a direct journey
You will be travelling on one of these trains...
Journey Features
Good to Know
The policies around travel with bikes and dogs, as well as the the availability of on-board entertainment and the bar car are all very similar to what's available on the national rail operator, Renfe's AVE services.
The AVE trains in effect offer
- second/standard = Estander
- first/premium = Comfort
- first/premium with complimentary catering = Comfort Class when booking Prémium tickets,
Note that the AVE trains in effect offer two on board ambiences, Estander and Comfort and iryo's two equivalents are its coaches which will have 'Gran Confort' and 'Confort' seating
Therefore the equivalents of the on-board ambiences on the iryo services are:
- Incial with Confort seats = Estander
- Singular Cafe with Gran Confort seats = Comfort
- Infinita with Gran Confort seats and complimentary menu = Prémium
Though iryo will also offer a 'class' of service, Singular, in which travellers in the equivalent of 2nd class coaches with the 'Confort' seats can have access to an at seat catering menu.
The differences with taking the AVE trains
The core differences between the iryo and AVE services are connected to the ticketing terms and conditions.
For example, when booking tickets to in the equivalent of 2nd/standard class:
- Basico tickets to travel by the AVE services = no refund if you cancel your trip and no exchange available to a different departure.
- Incial Flexible tickets to travel by iryo services = cancel your booking more than 7 days before the journey and receive a refund of 80% of the price you paid - plus exchanges are available to a different departure, if you pay the price difference with the alternative departure.
Though with the Incial Flexible tickets other refund and exchange terms are also available.
The comparison between booking tickets in the equivalent of 1st/premier class is more similar, but a key difference is that if you book a Prémium ticket for an AVE service and then cancel your trip, you will receive a refund of 95% of the ticket cost, but you will receive 100% if you have booked an Infinita Abierta ticket for travel on a iyro service.
If you will be travelling with children aged 5 -13 it's definitely worth making the comparison of the total booking price between iryo and the AVE trains which can be booked on the Renfe website.
Children aged 5 -13 and under are entitled to a 40% discount when travelling on AVE trains, but on the iryo services they are charged at the standard, Adult rate.
You will be travelling at more than 280 km/h for virtually the entire journey from the Madrid suburbs to the outskirts of Malaga.
Either side of Cordoba the trains rush between tunnels and viaducts, so look out for the intermittent sweeping views across the landscape.
Though we weren't lucky with the weather between Cordoba and Malaga when we were capturing the images and video; and this is the most scenic part of this journey.
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date .
The iryo online booking service and the ticketing services Trainline and Trenes sell tickets for journeys by the iryo trains - but Trenes and Trainline also sell tickets for the alternative AVE and avlo services; though the periods of time ahead of the travel date, on which all four services can be compared, can vary.
The iryo prices are set per departure according to demand; hence the lack of price info below.
In common with the ticket pricing policy for most European high speed rail journeys, limited numbers of tickets will be available at each price, as each quota of tickets available at the cheaper price sell out, they are replaced with tickets at more expensive prices.
Similarly to how the tickets which Renfe makes available for its AVE services are sold, the terms of using the tickets to travel on iryo services, differ according to the class which you will be travelling by.
Incial Flexible
- want to cancel your booking more than 7 days before the journey = receive a refund of 80% of the price you paid
- want to cancel your booking less than 7 days before the journey = receive a refund of 70% of the price you paid
- subsequently want to travel by an alternative departure on your chosen travel date and arrange this a minimum of 24hrs in advance = pay the difference in price if the new departure you want to travel by is more expensive
- subsequently want to travel by another departure on a different travel date and arrange this a minimum of 24hrs in advance = pay the difference in price if the new departure you want to travel by is more expensive + 15% of the price you originally paid
- miss the train you are booked on to and want to travel on a different iryo departure = you will have to re-book an entirely new ticket.
Singular Cafe Flexible and Singular Flexible tickets
- want to cancel your booking more than 7 days before the journey = receive a refund of 85% of the price you paid
- want to cancel your booking less than 7 days before the journey = receive a refund of 75% of the price you paid
- subsequently want to travel by an alternative departure on your chosen travel date and arrange this a minimum of 24hrs in advance = no charge
- subsequently want to travel by another departure on a different travel date and arrange this a minimum of 24hrs in advance = pay the difference in price if the new departure you want to travel by is more expensive (avoid this when travelling Singular Cafe by booking Abierta tickets)
- miss the train you are booked on to and want to travel on a different iryo departure within 2 hours* = €30 for a replacement ticket
*= the gaps between iryo departures can be longer than 2 hours
Infinita Flexible
- complimentary meal from the Bistro Menu = included
- want to cancel your booking more than 7 days before the journey = receive a refund of 95% of the price you paid
- want to cancel your booking less than 7 days before the journey = receive a refund of 90% of the price you paid
- subsequently want to travel by an alternative departure on your chosen travel date and arrange this a minimum of 24hrs in advance = no charge
- subsequently want to travel by another departure on a different travel date and arrange this a minimum of 24hrs in advance = pay the difference in price if the new departure you want to travel by is more expensive (avoid this by booking Abierta tickets)
- miss the train you are booked on to and want to travel on a different iryo departure within 2 hours* = €10 for a replacement ticket
*= the gaps between iryo departures can be longer than 2 hours
Infinita Abierta
- complimentary meal from the Bistro Menu =option to pay extra for this
- want to cancel your booking more than 7 days before the journey = receive a refund of 100% of the price you paid
- want to cancel your booking less than 7 days before the journey = receive a refund of 95% of the price you paid
- subsequently want to travel by an alternative departure on your chosen travel date = no charge
- subsequently want to travel by another departure on a different travel date = no charge
- miss the train you are booked on to and want to travel on a different iryo departure within 2 hours* = no charge
*= the gaps between iryo departures can be longer than 2 hours
Singular Cafe Abierta
- want to cancel your booking more than 7 days before the journey = receive a refund of 90% of the price you paid
- want to cancel your booking less than 7 days before the journey = receive a refund of 95% of the price you paid
- subsequently want to travel by an alternative departure on your chosen travel date = no charge
- subsequently want to travel by a another departure on a different travel date = no charge
- miss the train you are booked on to and want to travel on a different iryo departure within 2 hours* = no charge
*= the gaps between iryo departures can be longer than 2 hours
Note that a core difference between Flexible and Abierta tickets is that the Abierta tickets can be exchanged to travel on a different date, without the difference in cost between the original booking and the price to travel by the alternative train, having to be paid.
So with Abierta tickets you have the peace of mind of knowing that you can travel on a different date to that which you originally selected, without having to pay more money, despite the likelihood that the price, of what is in effect your replacement ticket, having risen since the time of your original booking.
Making a booking
When looking up a journey on the iryo website only the prices per departure of Incial Flexible, Singular Flexible and Infinita Flexible tickets will be shown.
When more than one person will be travelling together, the price shown will be the price per ticket and not the total price for the entire party.
If you want to travel in Infinita Class with the additional benefits of an Abierta ticket, you can add it to the booking of Infinita Flexible tickets as an upgrade.
Though two options for the Infinita Abierta tickets will be available, because you can opt to pay less and then not have access to the complimentary Bistro menu,
If you want to travel in the Singular Cafe class, what isn't particularly obvious is that you can only do so by opting to upgrade Incial Flexible or Singular Flexible tickets.
To book a Singular Cafe Abierta ticket you can upgrade a Singular Flexible ticket.
To book a Singular Cafe Flexible ticket you can upgrade an Incial Flexible ticket.
Child tickets
An unconventional aspect of iryo's ticketing is that it doesn't offer dedicated rates for child tickets, when travelling with children.
Those aged 0-3 don't require a ticket if they travel on an adult's lap, but they will need a ticket if they are placed in a seat.
Children aged 4-13 travel at the 'standard' rate = the same price as Adult tickets.
Route Information
Option 3: taking the avlo trains operated by Renfe
Station Guides
Travel Time (approx)
3hr 10min
Frequency
Daily
Travel Info
1 x train per day
Purchase Tickets
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Trainline ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option for comparing high speed train operators in Spain, as it sells tickets for the AVE, iryo, Ouigo, avlo and Euromed trains.
Trainline (Spain) Guide
Other Ticket Providers
Renfe Guide
Renfe is the national rail operator in Spain and it has recently simplified the range of tickets it sells for express and regional train journeys in Spain.
Which is convenient as there are big savings to be made if you book ahead online.
Travel Information
The national rail operator, Renfe, has launched these avlo services to provide a lower cost, but more basic alternative to its AVE trains.
This is the info page for these avlo services on the renfe website.
The Avlo service is scheduled to depart from Madrid Atocha daily at 17:37.
This is a direct journey
You will be travelling on one of these trains...
Journey Features
Good to Know
The core differences between avlo and AVE services, aside from avlo not conveying 1st/Preferente/Comfort class are:
- Catering: AVE trains = bar/bistro conter; avlo trains = vending machines
- On board entertainment = both AVE and avlo trains have free Wi-fi, but AVE trains also have screens on which films/movies are shown.
- the luggage allowance.
Luggage allowance on AVE trains = Up to 3 pieces of hand luggage onto the train, provided that the sum of the three does not exceed 25 kg or 290 cm.
The maximum dimensions allowed are 85x55x35 cm.
Luggage allowance on avlo trains = 1 piece of hand luggage (bag, rucksack, etc.) subject to the following size limitations: 36x27x25 cm and 1 suitcase, subject to the following size limitations: 55x35x25 cm.
1 piece of additional, larger-sized luggage, measuring a maximum of 85x60x35 cm (or no more than 180 cm in total) can be be paid for as an added allowance - but the price for doing this ranges from €10 if added when booking, to €30 at the station just prior to boarding.
Another core difference is boarding time.
SMTJ suggests being at the station, at least 20 mins before boarding an AVE train, because having once been towards the back of a long queue for the security check procedures, this scenario is best avoided.
However, for the avlo services, the specific recommendation from renfe is to be at the station a minimum of 30 minutes before departure.
Because the size and weight of the luggage will be measured at the station pre-boarding an avlo train.
You will be travelling at more than 280 km/h for virtually the entire journey from the Madrid suburbs to the outskirts of Malaga.
Either side of Cordoba the trains rush between tunnels and viaducts, so look out for the intermittent sweeping views across the landscape.
Though we weren't lucky with the weather between Cordoba and Malaga when we were capturing the images and video; and this is the most scenic part of this journey.
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date - depending on the time of year.
The online booking window can be shorter between late July and early October.
When looking up journeys (not travelling) between late July and early October, it's likely you won't be able to book for journeys beyond the second Sunday in December.
Both the Renfe (Spanish national railways) online booking service and the ticketing services Trainline and Trenes sell tickets for journeys by the avlo and AVE trains.
Trainline and Trenes also sells tickets for the alternative iryo services.
Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey by avlo services.
Difference in core ticketing terms between AVE and avlo services.
Refunds
- AVE trains: Basico tickets = no refund if you cancel your trip
- AVE trains: Elige tickets = if you cancel your trip you will receive 70% of the price paid
- AVE trains: Premier tickets = if you cancel your trip you will receive 95% of the price paid
- avlo trains = no refund if you cancel your trip
Exchanges
- AVE trains: Basico tickets = no transfer available to a different departure, unless you pay from €12 to €30 for additional flexibility
- AVE trains: Elige tickets = pay 20% of the cost of the replacement ticket for the alternative train; but, adding the flexibility to amend your ticket to an entirely different departure at no extra charge costs €20
- AVE trains: Premier tickets = no charge for transfer to a different departure
- avlo trains = no transfer available to a different departure, unless you pay an additional €8 when making the initial booking
Child tickets:
- avlo = children aged 13 and under travel for a flat rate of €5, maximum of 2 children per fare paying Adult.
- AVE = children aged 5 -13 and under are entitled to a 40% discount. If you want to place a child aged four and under in its own seat, they will also have a 40% discount on the ticket price, but if you'll be happy to travel with the child on their lap, then there is no charge.
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