ahah

http://www.interrailnet.com/2_special_trains

answers question 1..

Spanish Railways own site is at http://www.renfe.es but they seem to have removed all the English pages - they've also done a good job of hiding anything useful in Spanish! The AVE section is at http://www.renfe.es/ave/index.html and if you click on a route from the list it will say what you get in each class.

Normal AVE (and some other long distance fares) are done airline style which means what you pay depends on when you travel and when you book. There is normally a security check with bag screening for AVE so don't turn up at the last minute.

And 'the man in seat 61' can answer ANY railway question you can think of!

http://www.seat61.com/

Certainly helped us plan the best way to get from Seville to Cordoba this spring. And we'll be using his itineraries for travelling on the 'train hotel' to get to Andalucia next time!

SM

thanks for the info on the check ins - and the seat61 site looks good!

ps - renfe's site does have english timetables - go to the drop down menu at the bottom left - "seleccione un idiopma" or
http://www.renfe.es/horarios/english/index.html

pps - I see they have a limit on baggage of one case, and one hand luggage - how strict are they on this?

I saw the timetable bit but they used to have full info in English as well which was useful given how confusing the supplements get.

I don't know how strict they are with bags but it's probably because of the scanning, if they've got 500 people to do they won't want them turning up with several cases each. I've not been on AVE for a few years and only had one main item so can't recall how fussy they were being.