I AM GOING TO BE IN BARCELONA NEXT MONTH AND WAS WONDERING WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET TO MADRID? BY CAR, TRAIN, OR BUS, ANY BADVICE WOULD BE HELPFUL

While the train and bus will be cheaper, you'll spend the day making the trip. Last month, I bought a one-way ticket on Iberia once I got to Barcelona (about 4 days before I travelled). It was a lot more expensive than train/bus (about 75 euros), but it was about one third of the price they wanted to charge me in Canada for buying the ticket before I left. The journey time will be less than an hour for the flight, travel time to the airport, and a little waiting time at the airport - less than half of the train journey, I think. There may be cheaper flights with SpanAir, and I think there's a discount operator in Spain (but I don't know its name).

SpanAir does indeed have direct flights between Barcelona and Madrid. I plugged in an arbitrary date in May and got a price of 45 euros. (A date in June was 35 euros.) Obviously the sooner you book, the lower the price. Visit www.spanair.es. The site is available in English.

I had been debating the same question and thought I would take an overnight train but I looked on Iberia and found an incredibly cheap flight (prices differ according to different times of the day so check all the flights you want to travel). I paid 28.5 euros one-way!!!!! Can't beat that.

Having recently made the trip between Madrid and Barcelona, I highly recommend traveling by air. Iberia offers many prices- the cheapest if you are able to book through a travel agency in Spain. But book ahead as cheap fares go quickly. I paid approx $75 USD but a friend paid only $40 in same time frame.