Free train tickets in the Costa del Sol – Questions and Answers
Did you hear about the free train tickets in the Costa del Sol – or actually, in the whole Spain? Is it for real? How does it work? Come check everything about it! In this post, we’ll explain the program and answer the most common questions about the free train tickets in Spain. As we focus on the Costa del Sol, all examples will be centered on the trains from Malaga, but the information is valid for anywhere in Spain.
It all started back in 2022, when the government decided to make the trains free to incentivize the use of this means of transportation in order to reduce the consumption of oil. It had to do with fear of scarcity of oil due to the war in Ukraine. It was issued for four months (1 sep 2022 – 31 dec 2022) and proved to be effective.
The program has since been extended in groups of 4 months and has been going on for more than two years now; moreover, the government announced it will continue extending the program at least until the end of 2024, always 4 months at a time! You can read more about it, in Spanish, in the Renfe website. Renfe, by the way, is a publicly owned company.
Related posts:
Train stations in Fuengirola
Train stations in Benalmadena
Train stations in Torremolinos
Train stations in Malaga
Rules of the game
There are no catches, but there are a few things to observe to have it working as intended. The first is that there are actually two programs: one intended for medium distance travel (of up to 300 km) and another one for the tren de cercanías, which are the local trains, running in the cities or between nearby cities and /or towns.
Another noticeable fact is that one is supposed to pay 10 euros (for cercanias) or 20 (for medium distance) upfront and receive a refund of the amount paid by the end of the 4 months period, as long as the user has done at least 16 trips. This minimum number of trips for the refund is equivalent to 2 back-to-back trips per month, only! There is no maximum number of trips. 😊
The tickets are individual – therefore, you can’t get one and share it with the whole family – and need to be validated – showed or pressed against the sensor at the train gate – before going to the train platform, just as any regular ticket would. If you choose to buy on-line, you’ll receive a QR code, which you should keep in your phone, as this will be your one and only ticket for the whole 4 months.
The tickets for the period from September 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024 are currently available for purchase, and if you decide to buy a ticket after the start of the period, no problem. The minimum number of trips (16) to receive the refund remains the same, though. So, if you buy the ticket in November, you can still be refunded, as long as you complete 16 trips before the end of December.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the cercanías train of Malaga, which allows for trips from Fuengirola to Malaga on Line C-1 and from Malaga all the way to Alora on Line C-2.
Will the free trains continue in 2025?
Probably not, but we don’t know for sure yet. I’ll link the Renfe page that informs that the program will go on (at least) until the end of 2024 in the hopes that, when such information is available, it will be on that page.
For now, we know for sure that it will last at least until the end of December 2024. It is up to the government to extend it more or to stop it. If they decide to extend it, we will probably get to know by December 2024, and if they keep the pattern, it should be extended again for more 4 months.
Are train rides free in the Costa del Sol in 2024?
Yes, they are, but it is not as simple as just entering the train; one must purchase a ticket called abono recurrente (translates to something like repeating discount), that will be refunded if the ticket is used at least 16 times during the period for which it was bought. The abono recurrente costs 10 euros (for local, commuter trains) or 20 euros (for medium distance trains, that run up to 300 km) The passenger can get a refund for the abono recurrente once the period for which the ticket was bought is over.
If the passenger paid for the abono recurrente by card, the refund will be issued to the card; if the ticket was purchased in cash, the passenger has to demand the refund in a train station.
Notice that (as usual) the period for wich each ticket is valid is predefined:
January 01 to April 30, 2024;
May 01 to August 31, 2024;
September 01 to December 31, 2024.
When buying an Abono recurrente ticket, one has to specify for which period they are buying the ticket. The period is one of the three above; so, if you are buying the ticket in the end of April or August, be careful to choose the correct date, so that you don’t get a ticket that is about to expire.
How to get the free train travels ticket?
You can get it directly at a train station, simply by asking for it in the ticket office, paying and presenting a document (DNI, passport or NIF)* or online, with the app Renfe cercanías. If you choose to buy online, check the video below showing the process! 😉
*Edit: sometime in October 2023 they changed the documents to ‘DNI, NIE (t.residente), CIF’. I believe “t. residente” to be tarjeta de residente, or residence permit – which uses the NIE as a document number. CIF is sort of a NIE for companies – I wonder how it is going to travel by train, though. The important thing here is that they removed passports from this list. I tried to use my passport number as document and it was accepted, though; therefore, non-residents can still buy the abono recurrente ticket.
Observations about the video:
1- Note that there are two Renfe apps, as shown in the beginning of the recording. The right one to buy the cercanias ticket is Renfe cercanías.
2 – You have to set your province. It is not shown in the video, because my app was already set to Malaga!
3- You can choose any stations – the ticket is going to be valid between all Malaga cercanías stations anyway.
4 – The key point is to select “Ab. Recurrente” when selecting the fare 😉
5- When selecting the date, choose the date of today to get the ticket for the current quadrimester or the fisrt date of the next quadrimester to get a ticket for the next period.
6 – Please put a real document number! I wrote asdfghjk just for the example. 😀
7 – After paying, you should receive confirmation and a QR code, that will be stored under Menu / Buy tickets / My tickets. I got mine online and also took a screen picture of the QR code, just in case.
Who can use the trains for free in the Costa del Sol?
Anyone who buys the abono recurrente ticket – foreigners, Spaniards, locals or tourists, it doesn’t matter. All you need to get the ticket is an ID and 10 euros. The ID can be a passport or a local ID (NIE number or DNI)*.
*Edit: Check on the two pictures below: the one on the left is a snapshot of the video on this page and it includes passport among the documents accepted to buy an abono recurrente ticket; the one on the right is a more recent (October 28, 2023) screenshot of the same page in the Renfe cercanías app, that doesn’t include passport. Despite of that, passports are still being accepted as documents.
Which is better: buying the ticket in the station or buying it online?
Buying directly at the station has the advantage that you can count on the help of renfe workers in case something is not clear. You will need to buy a regular train card (that costs 50 cents and is called TSC card) if you don’t already have one, and the abono recurrent ticket will be added to that TSC card. The disadvantages of buying this way are that 1) there is usually a line for the office and 2) the station personnel is often busy and, therefore, you may wait a bit for help, if needed.
If you buy online, you’ll get a QR code that will be stored under ’my tickets’ in the app Renfe cercanías used to buy the ticket. The QR code in the phone has the advantage that it shows how many trips it has registered, while with the card, you have to track the trips yourself. The disadvantage of buying online / using the QR code is that while every barrier reads the cards, only some have QR code readers – so not every trip will count to the 16 needed to get the refund.
When you go to the station, you can transfer the QR code to your TSC card using the ticket machines (for free) or you can simply use the QR code directly to open the barriers that have QR code readers. If you choose to buy online and then transfer the QR code to the TSC, you’ll end up needing to use the machine in the station any way.
Between the TSC and the QR code, I prefer the TSC. First because of the number of barriers; second that a few times it happened that the barrier couldn’t read my QR code, so someone from the station would come and help (and I saw it happening to many other people too); and third that you still have your free ticket if your phone’s battery dies. I bought my first abono recurrente ticket online and added it to my TSC card on one of my first train trips. The second, I bought at the station.
How do I get my money back?
If you pay for it with money, the refund has to be requested in one of the train stations, after the end of the period for which the ticket was purchased.
If you pay the ticket with credit or debit card, it will be refunded automatically after the end of the period (after December 31, 2023 for the September to December, 2023 period; and after April 30, 2024 for the January to April period, and so on), as long as you have done 16 validated train trips. For reference, I received my refund for the Sept/Dec 2023 period on January 10, 2024, and all the subsequent periods have been refunded within 10 to 15 days of the end of the period.
How does the free train tickets in the Costa del Sol work?
There are two programs: one for short distance trains (cercanías), and one for medium distance (media distancia) trains, which would connect Málaga to Sevilla, for example. These are two separate things; getting the ticket for one does not allow for traveling in the other.
The cercanias abono recurrente ticket costs 10 euros; the media distancia, 20 euros. Each of them requires that 16 trips be completed in order for a refund to be issued.
A person can buy either of the tickets or even both. The tickets are individual, so if you are travelling with family members, each of them should have their own ticket.
How will the refund be issued?
If you pay the 10 euros with your debit or credit card, the refund will be issued to the card after the conclusion of the 4 months duration of the program – if you pay with cash, the refund has to be requested at one of the train stations.
How much does a regular train ticket cost in the Costa del Sol?
A regular local train ticket, not the abono recurrente, is priced according to how many zones are in use. Let’s clarify it.
Notice that the map of the lines for the local, commuter trains in Malaga has gray zones, numbered 0 to 4. Well, the normal ticket prices depend on how many of those zones are being crossed. The fares today (October 2024), with examples for the line C1, are:
A one-way ticket that stays in one zone: € 1,80
Examples: Plaza Mayor to Torremolinos, or Aeropuerto to Victoria Kent.
A one-way ticket that crosses one zone: € 1,80
Examples: Plaza Mayor to Aeropuerto or Torremolinos to Torremuelle
A one-way ticket that crosses two zones: € 2,05
Examples: Torremolinos to Fuengirola or La Colina to María Zambrano
A one-way ticket that crosses three zones: € 2,70
Examples: Aeropuerto to Fuengirola or Malaga Centro Alameda to Benalmádena – Arroyo de la Miel
A one-way ticket that crosses four zones: € 3,60
Example: Fuengirola to Malaga Centro Alameda
The local abono recurrente ticket costs 10 euros regardless of how many zones are crossed, is valid for unlimited trips between any stations within the province for which it was issued, and can be refunded after the end of the period as long as 16 validated trips are made; that’s why it is referred to as a free train ticket.
If you are not in Malaga, but somewhere else in Spain where there are cercanías trains, getting the ticket for that province will work in the same way. Just notice that the cercanías ticket of one province is not valid for another.
How can I know the train timetable?
If you have the app Renfe Cercanías, you can check the times for the trains in the first option of their menu, called “routes and times”. It won’t give you a full timetable; it will ask a train station of origin and one for destination, ask for you to choose a time and then show you the results that depart after that time.
If you prefer to check without the app, use this timetable link for Málaga. You will also need to fill up your stations of origin and destination but can see all the options available for a given day. Roughly speaking, trains on the line C1 (Málaga to Fuengirola) run from 06:00 till midnight, departing each 20 minutes. The longest trip on this line, from Fuengirola to Málaga Centro Alameda (or vice-versa) would take 46 minutes.
On the line C2 (Málaga to Alora), whose timetable can also be checked either in the app or in the timetable link above, trains run roughly from 06:00 to 22:00, but departures occur only once per hour or two hours – then the timetable is really needed, right? The longest trip on this line, from Málaga Centro Alameda to Alora (or vice-versa) would take around 40 minutes.
Is it worth it getting the abono recurrente ticket?
That depends on how often you use the trains. Basically, if you were going to spend more than 10 euros on local trains, it would be worth having the ticket, even if you were not going to use it enough to get the refund. To know how much you would spend without the ticket, check the question with the prices for individual tickets..
For the previous examples, if a person is staying in Fuengirola and would like to visit Malaga, one round trip would cost €7,20; with one more round trip, even to stay in the same zone, it would already add €3,60, getting to a total of €10,80. In this case, it would already be more economical to have the abono recurrente ticket, even if the refund would not be achieved. Notice that the abono has to be bought before using the trains; it won’t refund any trips done prior to that.
For the medium distance trains, getting the refund is much harder, as not many people would do 8 round trips between Malaga and Seville in 4 months!! It may be worth it, though, as one such ticket can cost € 37,35. So it is better to check the price of the regular ticket you have in mind before buying the medium distance abono recurrente ticket.
Can I use the abono recurrente in different provinces?
No. Each province has their own abono recurrente; if you are going to spend time in more than one province of Spain, you can buy one abono recurrente ticket per person for each province where you will be staying, if it is worth it.
Can I use the abono recurrente between any stations or only between those for which I buy the ticket?
In the Cercanías program, you can use the train between any stations. You will be asked to choose stations while buying the ticket, but you can travel anywhere along the Cercanías lines.
In the media distancia (medium distance) program, you can only travel for free between the stations for which the ticket was bought.
Can two or more people use the same ticket?
No, each ticket is valid for one person only.
Can I have tickets for two people in the same phone?
Yes, you can. I did that – I got one QR code ticket for myself and then another one for my kid – using my phone. Both me and him had Renfe QR codes on my phone. I would open the barrier for him with one QR code, wait for him to pass and for the barrier to close, then use the other QR code on the same phone to open for myself. I received both refunds.
From what age kids need a ticket?
Kids up to 5 years old can travel for free with an adult (maximum two kids per adult).
When I read about this program, it says I need to validate the card. What is that?
You know how you need to bring a regular train ticket close to a reader on a barrier for the barrier to open? That is the validation. You need to ‘show’ your ticket to the barrier before passing it, or else it won’t count as one of the 16 trips needed to issue the refund – and you may get a fine for traveling without a validated ticket!
Can I bring a dog in the train?
Yes, one pet (cat, dog, bird…) or bicycle is allowed per person in the train. They travel for free. Keep in mind that dogs must wear a muzzle in the train.
Can I go from Malaga to Valencia for free?
No, because that would not be a media distancia train; the media distancia tickets are for trips of up to 300 km, but Malaga to Valencia is more than that. Notice also that even for shorter than 300 km trips, they may not sell abono tickets for all destinations. There are Medium Distance abono tickets between Malaga (Maria Zambrano station) and Seville, but not between Malaga and Granada or Cordoba. I’m afraid these trips would be full price. There is, though, a media distance abono ticket between Seville and Cordoba.
Conclusion
When I first wrote this text, I was looking forward to start using my brand new free ticket on September 1, 2023, as this was actually the first time I got it. Now I’m a seasoned train user, with more than 40 rides during those initial 4 months, and quite happy that the program has been extended. I’ve had the free train ticket each of the subsequent 4 months period, sometimes in the TSC card and sometimes with the QR code. 🙂 Therefore, happy trips for us! Choo choo – and see you around! 😉 Enjoy your travels!
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Is it possible to validate with the QR code at Plaza Mayor? We looked for a reader, but had no luck. I assume that you still can travel without validating the ticket from stations without a reader?
I was not able to validate the QR code at Plaza Mayor either – I think it is not possible. I think that, giving it is not our fault that we can’t validate the QR code at some stations, we can travel without validating in those places. At the start of the Abono Recurrente, Renfe said it would be possible to validate with the QR code in every station, but I guess it didn’t come to happen.