Renfe's premier high-speed trains
AVE is the brand name for Renfe's (Spanish Railways) premier high-speed trains, of which there are several types. AVE stands for Alta Velocidad Española (Spanish High-Speed) and it's also the Spanish for bird. All AVEs have standard (2nd) class and comfort (1st) class seats and a cafe-bar, with power sockets at all seats & free WiFi. If you pay the premium fare you get a meal or snack and drinks served at your seat. How to buy tickets.
AVE S100: Various routes including
Madrid-Seville, one daily Madrid-Barcelona-Marseille, one daily Barcelona-Lyon.
AVE S102/S112: Operates most
Madrid-Alicante AVEs, some Madrid-Seville AVEs.
AVE S103: Operates most
Madrid-Barcelona AVEs, all Barcelona-Seville AVEs, all Barcelona-Malaga AVEs,
some Madrid-Malaga AVEs.
AVE S106: New from May 2024, operates
some Madrid-Galicia trains. Other routes will follow.
AVE S100
The original AVE, introduced from 1992 and still as fast and smooth as ever. Based on France's TGV, they can run at up to 300 km/h (186 mph) on Spain's high-speed lines. They operate various routes including Seville-Madrid and the international trains to France (Madrid-Barcelona-Marseille and Barcelona-Lyon).
An AVE S100 at Madrid Atocha.
AVE S102/S112
The classy S102 (original batch) & S112 (later batch) AVEs were built by the Talgo company. Two futuristic-looking power cars sandwich a set of small low-slung articulated Talgo carriages, with just one pair of wheels beneath each articulation. They operate most Madrid-Alicante AVE services, some Madrid-Malaga & Madrid-Seville AVEs, and some other routes.
A distinctive AVE type S112 at Valencia. Known by Renfe staff as Pato (duck), for obvious reasons.
AVE S103
The S103 is the mainstay of Renfe's Barcelona-Madrid service, also used between Madrid & Malaga and on the direct trains between Barcelona and Cordoba, Seville & Malaga. Built by Siemens, you can see the similarity with Germany's ICE3 trains.
A type S103 AVE at Madrid Atocha. See virtual tour
AVE S106
Designed by the Talgo company, the Talgo Avril was introduced in May 2024 on some Madrid-Galicia departures, other routes will follow. Two power cars sandwich a set of small low-slung articulated Talgo carriages, with just one pair of wheels below each articulation. These carriages are extra-wide and seats are controversially arranged 2+3 in Standard class and 2+2 in Comfort class. So there are middle seats to avoid in 2nd class and no solo seats in 1st, you'll always have to sit next to someone even in 1st.
Controversial 2+3 seating in standard (2nd) class on an S106 AVE. Photos in this section courtesy of @SimplyRailway
Travel tips
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Should you go Standard or Comfort class?
Standard class is absolutely fine for most travellers. Seats are arranged 2+2 across the car width (2+3 on S106). Comfort class gives you more leg & elbow room with seats arranged 2+1 across the car width (2+2 on S106).
If you travel in comfort class with a Premium fare you a meal (or on some departures, a snack box) with wine is served at your seat, and you get access to the Sala Club lounges at main stations with complimentary tea, coffee, snacks and beer. If you travel in comfort class with an Elige ticket, you don't get these. See the explanation of Renfe's 2 classes and 3 fare types on the Train travel in Spain page.
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Seat maps
For seat numbering plans, see the seat maps page.
You can choose your seat from a seat map if you book at www.thetrainline.com (easy to use, in €, £ or $, small booking fee) or www.renfe.com (more fiddly, in €), but not (at the time I write this) at any other retailer.
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Luggage
Like any European train, you take your luggage in with you and stick it on any suitable rack near your seat. The overhead racks will take anything up to backpack or medium suitcase size, floor-standing racks at the car ends will take larger suitcases. There is a theoretical limit of 3 items and 25 Kg, but nobody weighs it or measures it, so no worries.
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X-ray luggage control
At Spanish stations there is a luggage X-ray check before boarding an AVE and your ticket is usually checked too. Luggage control only takes a few minutes, there are no metal detectors so it's nothing like an airport. Security staff next to each scanner may have a metal-detecting 'wand' but on a recent trip the 'wand' was used on me once in 8 trips and even then they failed to find the corkscrew in my left pocket or iPhone in my right one, it's basically security theatre. Tip: Put any Swiss Army knives or corkscrews in your pocket to avoid arguments if they see them in the scanner. Boarding an AVE train at Madrid Atocha. Boarding an AVE train at Madrid Chamartin. Boarding an AVE at Barcelona Sants.
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Seat reservation
AVE tickets come with a reserved seat automatically included.
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Infants need a ticket
Infants under 4 travel for free if they don't need their own seat. However, unlike almost all other European countries, you can't just bring them along without a ticket. On Spanish high-speed trains they need a zero-fare ticket showing their name. You'll get this if you enter them as a passenger with their actual age when you buy tickets at www.thetrainline.com, www.raileurope.com or www.renfe.com.
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Food & drink
The cafe-bar car serves snacks, hot dishes, coffee. soft drinks, beer & wine. If you pay the premium fare, you get a hot meal (or on some departures, a snack box) with wine served at your seat.
You are of course free to bring your own food and drink along to eat & drink in your seat, even a beer or bottle of wine if you like.
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WiFi & power outlets
There's free WiFi on AVE trains, the network name is PlayRenfe. There are power outlets at all seats of the usual European 2-pin type.
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Sala Club
If you pay the Premium fare you can use the Sala Club lounge at main stations with complimentary tea, coffee, snacks and beer. Sala Club at Madrid Atocha. Sala Club at Madrid Chamartin. Sala Club at Barcelona Sants.
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Interrail & Eurail passes
You can uses passes on AVE trains, reservation required for a fee, see the reservations page.
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How to check which type of AVE operates your train
The only way to check is to make a dummy booking at www.renfe.com, selecting an Elige fare, inputting all necessary dummy passenger data, adding seat selection, then at the final seat selection stage it shows a seat map and side view of the train type, allowing me to identify the type of AVE used on that train.