While keeping up with all the news of trains is almost as tiring as that frantic dash to the correct platform when you’re in a new station, we hope it keeps on coming – rail travel is a much greener way to see the planet, after all.
Spain is taking steps to make rail travel cheaper and easier, and soon two of the country’s coolest cities – Malaga and Barcelona – will be connected by a brand-new high-speed service. As soon as the end of the year, in fact.
Pretty exciting stuff, eh? Well, it doesn’t end there. The service, which will depart once a day from each destination (at 11.50am from Barcelona and 11.35am from Malaga) will whisk passengers to their destination in under six hours – five hours and 50 minutes to be exact.
The route is an extension of low-cost operator Iryo’s Barcelona to Seville line, which was inaugurated in December 2023. Currently, a single ticket for a journey this December costs just €24, which is much lower than a similar service with AVE, at around €62.
It’s also set to be cheaper than flying. Right now, return flights between the two cities in December costs just €42 with Ryanair, but that only includes an under-seat bag – on the train, you’ll have a carry-on bag and a small suitcase included in the price.
All sounds pretty darn good to us. The service will debut on December 15, and tickets for the remainder of the month and into 2025 are already on sale. Have a look at the official ticketing site here.
More on Spain’s trains
We reported earlier this year that there are plans for a railway to connect Malaga and Marbella – you can read more about that here. And while we’re on the subject of European trains, here are the best stations and our favourite sleeper journeys in Europe.
Did you see that you’ll soon be able to explore Norway on this dazzling new train?
Plus: France is selling super-cheap train tickets this month – here’s how to get one.
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