Spain’s free train travel offer is getting closer. Valid from September 1st until December 31st 2022, tickets finally became available for pre-order from Tuesday August 24th.
Announced by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in the Spanish Congress last month, the multi-journey ticket scheme will be for some trains operated by the state owned train network, RENFE, including Cercanías, Rodalies (Catalonia), and Media Distancia (local and medium-distance journeys).
Spain’s Ministry of Transport estimate that the scheme will benefit as many as 75 million journeys and attract between 15 and 20 percent more passengers than usual for the September-December period.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Spain’s plan for free train tickets
Fortunately, it was also announced recently that there will be no limits on residency or nationality to qualify for the free tickets. Tourists from all over the world – EU member state and third-country nationals, so including Brits and Americans – will be able to benefit from free train travel.
Spain’s Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda Raquel Sánchez, claimed this week that as many as 300,000 people have already registered on the RENFE website to take advantage of the free tickets.
But how can you get your hands on the tickets? Are they completely free?
See our breakdown below and our step-by-step guide:
Deposits
Although the train tickets are free, you will have to pay a small deposit in order to take advantage of the offer.
If you are wanting to take advantage of the offer on Cercanías or Media distancia services, note that you will have to pay a deposit of €10 or €20 and travel a minimum of four times per month.
To get the deposit back at the end of the year, you must have made at least 16 journeys – four per month during the scheme. Refunds will be made to the card you purchased the tickets with, or at your local station if you paid in cash.
How to get your free train tickets
Step 1: Download the app
As of August 25th, purchasing your free train tickets can only be done with the Renfe Cercanías app, which is available available on Google Play for Android phones, on Huawei’s AppGallery, and on the App Store on your iPhone.
You can also do it at the station, but it seems the process is not yet available on the RENFE website. That in mind, in order to get the free tickets you must be registered with a RENFE account, which you will then use on the RENFE app.
Step 2: Choose your location
Next you must choose the area of Spain in which you’re going to use the free ticket offer. When you open the app there will be a scroll down menu with areas to choose. Find the part of the country you’ll use the train and hit accept.
Step 3: Buy tickets
Next, open the side menu bar by clicking the three horizontal lines in the top left corner of the page.
Click on ‘buy tickets’ – two options will pop up: ‘buy’ or ‘My tickets’. Hit the buy button.
Step 4: choose your route
This will take you to another screen to set up your route and destination. Choose where you’re going to and from, and then below on the ‘select a fare’ choose ‘AB recurrente.’
READ MORE: TRAVEL: Tourists in Spain will also be eligible for free train tickets
This will make a €10 charge appear, but don’t be alarmed – this is only the deposit that will returned to you if make a sufficient number of journeys.
Step 5: Log in to RENFE
You will then be taken to a screen that invites you to log in to your RENFE account.
If you don’t have one, hit the ‘register’ button and you can make an account on the website or app. It will ask you for your name, phone number and a ID document of some kind – either your NIE or passport.
Step 6: Purchase
You will be taken through to a payment screen, and will have to register a credit or debit card and make the deposit payment.
Step 7: QR code
And that’s it! Your subscription will be in the ‘My Tickets’ section of the app, and there will be a QR code you can use to scan yourself in and out of stations.
Enjoy your free travel!