I took the AVE from Barcelona (Sants Station) to Madrid (Puerta de Atocha Station) last year. We covered around 400 miles in a sizzling 3 hours 15 minutes with five intermediate stops. The topography of the run is remarkable, as Sants Station is just a few meters above sea level, but Madrid is around 700 meters above seal level.

The train has three classes: club, a premium service at the forward end of the train; preferente, akin to 1st class on services in other European countries; and second class. I rode in preferente class. This is 2 x 1 seating, with very comfortable seats and decent leg room; at certain times of the day, they serve meals; at the time I rode (4 p.m.), they had sandwiches, and they had a drink service between each stop, where you can have a miniature of hard liquor, a split of wine or an 8 ounce beer, or soft drinks or mineral water. There was audio and video (not AVOD) available; the train staff passed out ear buds in little cardboard boxes.

The car I rode in had a digital readout of our speed, and at one point it read out 301 kmph; they tried to maintain 300 kmph for as much of the run as they could.

In Spain, due to the Atocha bombing, they take train station security seriously, and you will have to go through a magnetometer and your bags will be x-rayed before you will be allowed to board AVE and similar high speed services in Spain (this includes the high speed commuter train between Atocha and Toledo). You must have a ticket and seat reservation to be allowed through security (rail pass is not enough).