Does anyone know if one can take dogs in trains in Spain? I fly in from Australia to Madrid as its the shortest flight for the dog, a bearded collie, and am going to Costa Blanca. Instead of flying the last bit i thought I would spare him that after a long flight, and take the train, but perhaps not???

Why don’t you hire a car?

I have to buy a car, but wouldn’t have the time in Madrid to look for a suitable one, with my luggage and dog in a transport “cage”. very stressful after a long flight I reckon…I actually wondered about buying a cheap motorhome then selling it afterwards - that way I could have a good look round - but I don’t know how feasible that is..Whats the road like from Madrid to say Alicante? How long would it take as opposed to the train? - Then I have to search for somewhere to stay for 2 months (been looking on the net and its difficult to find a place that accepts a dog, poor old thing - all he does is sleep!) while I look for a home somewhere between Almeria and Denia!! Hopefully I can be settled by Xmas, LOL!

We’re driving from England to Spain in the next couple of weeks, with our dog, in a campervan with a view to looking around the southern coastal areas before renting somewhere. We drove round Spain last year and the roads were very good, not much congestion except around the larger towns. We enjoyed driving in Spain.

It would take about 4 and a half hours to get from Madrid to Alicante. Sorry, I don’t know anything about the trains, maybe someone else can help you with that.

When will you arrive in Madrid?

Hi;

Not possible by train…Renfe the national operator limits pet transport to 6Kgm max weight.

See this link http://www.renfe.com/viajeros/info/animales.html

Its in Spanish of course but there are many online translation services available such as

http://www.studyspanish.com/translator.htm

It takes approx a week to twn days to buy a car over here and get the paperwork transferred.

Only really viable option is one way car hire.

Have found that http://www.europcar.es/ are good for one way deals…

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Thank you for all the advice, folks! looks like the best option is to take a flight to Madrid then on to Alicante or Malaga, then..A hire car wouldn’t be big enough to get the dog crate in and I’m sure they wouldn’t take kindly to having him loose in the car…perhaps I’d have to delay the dog’s flight for 2 weeks then, so that I can organise my own transport and collect him…Traumatic for him as he suffers from anxiety, but its going to be that anyway…At this point it will be around 1st oct we will be arriving. We have a problem with the pet transport company too as we cannot supply them at this point in time with a delivery address for neither our stuff - or the dog!! Hopefully by 1/10 we will have found somewhere to rent, as we badly need an address to open a bank account and get our hard earned over there, too! Its all too hard for an old bird like me, LOL!