Travel tips

• Should you go Standard or Comfort class?

  Standard class is absolutely fine for most travellers.  Seats are arranged 2+2 across the car width.  Comfort class gives you more leg & elbow room with seats arranged 2+1 across the car width.

• 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.

• 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.

• X-ray luggage control

  You have to put your luggage through an X-ray scanner before boarding a Spanish high-speed train at a station on the high-speed network.  But not when boarding a train at a station on the classic network.

  In other words, you'll have to go through luggage control when boarding an Alvia train in Madrid, Barcelona or Vigo Urzaiz, but not when boarding at Vigo Guixar, Santander and so on, although there's usually a ticket check before you're allowed onto the platform.  Go figure...

  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.  Your ticket is usually checked before boarding, too.  Tip:  Put any Swiss Army knives or corkscrews in your pocket to avoid arguments if they see them in the scanner.  Boarding an Alvia at Madrid Chamartin.  Boarding an Alvia at Madrid Atocha.  Boarding an Alvia at Barcelona Sants.

• Seat reservation

  Alvia tickets come with a reserved seat automatically included.

• 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.

• Food & drink

  The cafe-bar car serves snacks, hot dishes, coffee. soft drinks, beer & wine. 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.

• WiFi & power outlets

  There's no WiFi on Alvia trains, but mobile data will usually work fine most of the way.

  On S130, S730 and some S120 there are power outlets at all seats of the usual European 2-pin type.  Some S120s are not fitted with power sockets, so make sure your phone is charged or carry a powerbank!

• Interrail & Eurail passes

  You can uses passes on Alvia trains, reservation required for a fee, see the reservations page.

• How to check which train type operates your Alvia

  Unlike AVEs where different types may operate different departures on the same route, you can be pretty sure that any Alvia to Santander is an S130, any Alvia to Vigo, Santiago de Compostela or A Coruña is an S730, and any Alvia to Bilbao or San Sebastian is an S120.

  However, the only way to be sure 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 Alvia used on that train.