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TRAIN TRAVEL

Iryo: What to know about Spain’s newest high-speed low-cost trains

A new rail operator is launching routes between some of Spain’s main cities in the coming months at competitive rates. Here’s what we know so far about Iryo’s ticket prices, its services and its ambitious plans.  

Published: 21 September 2022 10:42 CEST
Updated: 24 September 2022 06:16 CEST
iryo trains spain
Iryo will offer services to the Spanish cities of Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Cordoba, Malaga, and Seville in 2022 and 2023. Photo: Iryo

The liberalisation of Spain’s rail service continues.

In May 2021, Ouigo became the first company to operate trains in Spain that weren’t part of state provider Renfe. 

Renfe responded by launching its own low-cost branch, Avlo. 

And now it’s the turn of Iryo, the newest player in Spain’s cheap train travel games. 

Iryo will be operated by ILSA, which is part of a consortium made up of Spanish airline Air Nostrum and Italy’s main train operator Trenitalia.

It will kick off its operations in Spain with 20 Frecciarossa trains, known as “red arrows”. 

They are capable of reaching speeds of 360km/h and can carry 419 passengers.

Iryo is ambitiously aiming to take hold of 30 percent of Spain’s rail market share, estimating it could transport 8 million passengers a year and create 2,600 jobs in the process.

Whether or not they achieve their goals, their arrival in Spain is good news for train travel, as further competition usually results in cheaper ticket prices for passengers.

According to a report by train ticket comparison site Trainline, the liberalisation of Spain’s rail services has already resulted in a 49 percent drop in prices and increased demand, with the Madrid-Barcelona route benefitting the most.  

What routes will Iryo operate in Spain and when will they start?

Iryo will launch its operations in Spain on November 25th 2022 with its Madrid-Zaragoza-Barcelona route. 

On December 16th 2022, it will kick-start its second route: the Madrid-Cuenca-Valencia line.

By March 2023, Iryo intends to increase its offering connecting Madrid with the southern Andalusian cities of Córdoba, Seville and Málaga. 

By June 2023, it plans to add two extra destinations to its train services: Albacete in east-central Spain and Alicante in the coastal Valencia region. 

iryo map route spain

The routes Iryo plans to launch in Spain in 2022 and 2023. Map: Iryo

When will Iryo train tickets be available and how much will they cost?

Iryo began selling tickets on its website www.iryo.eu on September 18th, so far only for its Madrid-Zaragoza-Barcelona route. 

Until October 2nd, they have discounts of up to 50 percent on this line, but it’s necessary to register on the website and use the iryo50 code to complete the purchase. 

Ticket prices from Madrid’s Atocha station to Barcelona’s Sants start at €18, although for the service launch on November 25th they’re going for €31.18. 

Passengers can choose from four categories with different offerings and prices:

  • “Inicial” (economy class which includes USB and standard two-pin charging spots, 5G internet and a free entertainment platform)
  • “Singular” (business class which includes onboard entertainment, internet and a food menu), 
  • “Singular Café by Only You” (designed as a coworking space, includes a food menu and gives access to the Iryo lounge at Madrid’s Atocha) 
  • “Infinita” (top-of-the-range seating, access to Iryo lounge at Atocha, free drinks and wine and a variety of menus to choose from)

READ ALSO: How to get free train tickets in Spain

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TOURISM

Spain’s Canaries rule out tourist tax and property ban for non-residents

The Canary Parliament has voted against introducing an ecotax for holidaymakers or banning the sale of properties to non-residents, following huge protests over the weekend against mass tourism in the Spanish archipelago.

Published: 24 April 2024 14:49 CEST
Spain's Canaries rule out tourist tax and property ban for non-residents

The Canary Islands’ political sphere is attempting to appease their almost two million inhabitants with measures which will protect the islands’ nature from rampant overdevelopment derived largely from their ever-growing tourism industry. 

This comes after on April 20th tens of thousands of protesters took the streets of all eight Canary Islands and European cities such as London, Berlin and Madrid under the slogan “The Canary Islands have a limit”. 

READ ALSO: Mass protests in Spain’s Canary Islands decry overtourism

On Monday, President of Tenerife’s Cabildo government Rosa Dávila proposed an environmental tax, or ecotax, one of the main demands of the protests’ organisers. 

Proceeds from this ecotax “would go entirely to the protection and recovery of protected natural spaces”, Dávila said, such as the Teide National Park or the lush laurel forests of Anaga Rural Park. 

It is unclear if such an ecotax in Tenerife would take the shape of the usual tourist tax that exists in numerous cities in Spain and in 21 countries across Europe, which usually is a small amount added each day to holidaymakers’ hotel bill. 

In any case, at Tuesday’s plenary session in the Canary Parliament the right-wing Popular Party opposed such a measure across the archipelago, with their leader and vice president of the islands Manuel Domínguez saying “we are not in favour of creating a tax for sleeping in a hotel, a caravan or a holiday home”.

The motion presented by centre-left coalition Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-BC) also included other proposals such as a moratorium on new hotel beds, banning the sale of properties to non-residents and limiting Airbnb-style holiday lets, suggestions the PP and other Canary political parties shunned.

The leader of the Canaries’ Ashotel and CEHAT hotelier associations Jorge Marichal has also unsurprisingly voiced his opposition to a possible tourist tax, shifting the blame instead onto the proliferation of short-term holiday lets and their impact on Tenerife’s rental market.

Banner at April 20th’s protest in Tenerife reads “Tourismphobia doesn’t exist, they’re lying, it’s the excuse politicians and hoteliers use to not introduce an ecotax nor change the tourism model”. Photo: Alex Dunham

An NC-BC spokesperson stressed that every 15 days a new emergency is declared in the Canary Islands – water, energy or housing – which is “evidence that something is colliding, that something is not right, and that’s what people expressed during these days”.

READ ALSO: ‘The island can’t take it anymore’ – Why Tenerife is rejecting mass tourism

Catalonia and the Balearic Islands both charge holidaymakers tourist taxes. Spain’s Valencia region was also planning to until the right-wing government now in power revoked the law early in 2024. 

However, the measures that were approved by the Canary Parliament were charging an entrance fee to visit Tenerife’s key sites and natural spaces, from which residents of the Canary Islands would be exempt from paying, and no offering up anymore land to hotels and other tourist complexes.

For his part, the regional president of the Canaries Islands Fernando Clavijo, whose national party Coalición Canaria is also against an ecotax, has suggested that an “environmental VAT” would be a “more efficient” way of improving the quality of life of islanders, as it would redistribute the wealth of tourism and advance social policies.

The reticence of the governing elite to adopt drastic measures that will lead to a more sustainable tourism model in the Canaries is unlikely to go down well among disgruntled locals, whose turnout at Saturday’s protests prove how much they want change.

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