darcyisrad

Hello!
I'm looking for advice on train versus flights for a month in Spain. My boyfriend and I are going to Spain Sep4-Oct 4. His extended family lives there and they've helped a lot, however I'm comparing prices and for our itinerary I'm not sure which is smarter. We'll arrive in Madrid, stay for a few days, rent a car for the south of Spain. Then, fly or train from Granada up to Bilbao where we'll stay with family. then off to Barcelona for a few days, then up to Paris for the weekend and finally back to Madrid for the flight out. Each flight would be about forty euro plus baggage and fees which comes to a whopping $584 us. Then a four day europass is about $558 for both of us. Should we go with the shorter flights, direct but less flexible? Or the longer train rides but more flexibility? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Aduchamp1

Take a look at Vueling and Spanair, they are inexpensive Spanish airlines that travel some of your routes.

lincasanova

you may be able to get web and estrella fares on renfe also. but within spain I would fly from granada or sevilla to bilbao,( whichever were cheapest) and from Bilbao to Barcelona. I would also fly to paris, whether weekend or not, from where it was cheapest.

The other routes can be by train/bus.

Perhaps you can reduce your luggage fees by leaving some of the unnecessary stuff at home.

Packing light becomes attractive when you start seeing you can save 40E/flight for two people every plane you get on.

I also never envy the people with those large bags trying to get on trains .

cova

There isn´t a direct flight from Granada to Bilbao, you have to change planes in Barajas and it will probably take you a minimum of 5 to 6 hours, if everything works fine.

There are direct flights from Sevilla to Bilbao with Bilbao, and knowing your dates in advance, you might get a good fare. I would try first this option, because Iberia can be really expensive when flying one-way, and you would avoid Barajas. From Sevilla, depending on the day, you have a flight at 11:00 am and another at 20:50

Another option could be Malaga-Bilbao with Vueling. There are two daily flights, 7:00 and 17:10

Bye, Cova

darcyisrad

Thanks everybody. Yes, I think we're leaning toward flying. We each have one backpack. I guess it has to be under 33lbs, so we're doing our best.

Michael

How about an open jaw ticket, landing in Barcelona and leaving from Paris? Your itinerary would then assume a train to Madrid, a car for southern Spain, train or plane to Bilbao, and the same to Paris. If you book a train from Hendaye to Paris early enough through SNCF.com, you might get a very cheap ticket (although it might be already too late for that). The same is true for Barcelona to Madrid.