Renfe Scraper

Scrape train schedules, prices, and availability from Renfe, Spain's national railway operator. Extract data for AVE high-speed, Alvia, AVLO low-cost, Media Distancia, and regional train services. No login or cookies required.

How to scrape Renfe data

Renfe is Spain's national railway company, operating over 5,000 trains daily across the country. This scraper extracts structured train connection data including departure/arrival times, prices, train types, and seat classes directly from the Renfe website.

Use this actor to:

• Monitor train prices across routes and dates
• Compare fare classes (Turista, Turista Plus, Preferente)
• Track AVE high-speed availability between major Spanish cities
• Build travel datasets for research, analytics, or price comparison tools
• Automate price alerts by scheduling regular runs

Why use this actor?

• No login, no cookies, no API key needed — works out of the box
• All train types covered — AVE, AVLO, Alvia, Altaria, Euromed, Media Distancia, Regional, Cercanias
• Structured JSON output — clean, machine-readable data ready for analysis
• Runs on Apify platform — scheduling, API access, webhooks, and integrations included
• Proxy rotation — residential proxies for reliable access without blocking

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
origin	String	No	Madrid	Departure city or station name
destination	String	No	Barcelona	Arrival city or station name
departureDate	String	No	Tomorrow+2	Travel date in YYYY-MM-DD format
maxResults	Integer	No	50	Maximum number of connections to return
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	Residential ES	Proxy settings for reliability

Example input

{
    "origin": "Madrid",
    "destination": "Barcelona",
    "departureDate": "2026-07-15",
    "maxResults": 30,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
        "apifyProxyCountry": "ES"
    }
}

Popular routes to try

• Madrid to Barcelona (AVE high-speed, ~2.5h)
• Madrid to Sevilla (AVE, ~2.5h)
• Madrid to Valencia (AVE, ~1.5h)
• Barcelona to Valencia (Euromed/AVE, ~3h)
• Madrid to Malaga (AVE, ~2.5h)
• Madrid to Zaragoza (AVE, ~1.25h)

Output

Each result contains:

Field	Type	Example
origin	String	"Madrid"
destination	String	"Barcelona"
departureTime	String	"08:00"
arrivalTime	String	"10:30"
duration	String	"2h 30min"
trainType	String	"AVE"
trainNumber	String	"03091"
price	Number	35.50
currency	String	"EUR"
seatClass	String	"Turista"
carrier	String	"Renfe"
url	String	Link to search results
scrapedAt	String	ISO 8601 timestamp

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel from the Output tab.

Example output

{
    "origin": "Madrid",
    "destination": "Barcelona",
    "departureTime": "08:00",
    "arrivalTime": "10:30",
    "duration": "2h 30min",
    "trainType": "AVE",
    "trainNumber": "03091",
    "price": 35.50,
    "currency": "EUR",
    "seatClass": "Turista",
    "carrier": "Renfe",
    "url": "https://www.renfe.com/es/en",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-09T14:30:00.000Z"
}

How much does it cost to scrape Renfe?

This actor is a lightweight HTTP scraper (no browser), so it runs fast and cheap. It costs $0.02 per run plus $0.002 per result, regardless of proxy type.

Use case	Estimated cost
Single route search (50 trains)	~$0.12
Daily monitoring of 10 routes (50 trains each)	~$1.20/day
Weekly price comparison (50 routes)	~$0.50-1.00/week

Costs may vary based on proxy usage and actor execution time.

Tips

• Use Spanish proxy — Set apifyProxyCountry to ES for best results. Renfe may show different availability to non-Spanish IPs.
• Book dates in advance — Renfe releases tickets 60-90 days ahead. Searching too far in the future may return no results.
• Schedule runs — Set up daily or weekly runs to track price changes over time.
• Empty results? — Check the debug screenshot saved in the key-value store. Renfe's website changes frequently.
• AVLO low-cost — Renfe's low-cost AVE service (AVLO) has limited availability and may not show on all routes.

Renfe train types

Type	Service	Speed
AVE	High-speed long distance	Up to 310 km/h
AVLO	Low-cost high-speed	Up to 310 km/h
Alvia	Long distance (variable gauge)	Up to 250 km/h
Euromed	Mediterranean corridor	Up to 220 km/h
Altaria	Long distance diesel	Up to 200 km/h
Media Distancia	Medium distance regional	Up to 160 km/h
Regional	Short distance	Up to 120 km/h
Cercanias	Suburban commuter	Up to 100 km/h

Limitations

• Renfe's website uses heavy JavaScript rendering and may change its structure without notice
• Prices shown are indicative and may differ from final booking prices
• Some connections may not be available for online booking
• The scraper searches one route per run; use multiple runs for multiple routes
• Results depend on Renfe's website availability and may occasionally return fewer results

FAQ

Is scraping Renfe legal? This actor extracts publicly available information from Renfe's website. Always review and comply with Renfe's Terms of Service before use.

Why are there no results? Renfe's website is heavily JavaScript-based and may block automated access. Try using residential proxies with a Spanish IP. Check the debug screenshot in the key-value store for more information.

Can I search return trips? Currently the actor searches one-way connections. Run the actor twice with swapped origin/destination for return trips.

How often should I run it? For price monitoring, daily runs are recommended. Renfe prices change frequently, especially for popular routes like Madrid-Barcelona.

Support

Found a bug or need a custom solution? Open an issue in the Issues tab or contact us directly.