Granada to Seville - Best methods?
 

Has anyone traveled from Granad to Seville by car, bus or train? We are trying to make the most of our time in the area after flying in from Barcelona. Can't get a good feel about bus travel, and the local trains don't seem to get rave reviews as far as ease of purchasing tickets, etc. Would love to hear from those who have driven the route or taken a bus (or train!) A rental car is inexpensive, and we could drop it off the minute we got to Seville, rather than trying to brave the city streets with it.

Karen, <BR> <BR>I took the train (AVE) from Seville to Cordoba, stayed the night, and took the bus from Cordoba to Granada. Both the train and bus were clean, comfortable, and convenient. I don't know if there is a direct route from Seville to Granada as I planned to stay in Cordoba and didn't investigate it. But if you are concerned about the quality of bus/train travel, don't be, it's excellent.(I just bought my tickets at the stations and I was there during Semana Santa and had no problem). <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

michele, <BR> Thanks for the tips. Did you have any trouble communicating with bus ticket folks? Heard that some of the train and bus people don't speak any English. My Spanish isn't bad, but I'm nowhere near fluent.

Karen, <BR> <BR>My Spanish is practically non-existent and I had no problem. You can also ask at your hotel and someone will call ahead for you ( I did this is Seville for the train).

We drove from Seville to Granada last year and it was a piece of cake, once you get out of town. The road was highway all the way, hampered only by road construction same as we run into here at home. It took about 4 hours.

Karen, <BR>If you'd rather go by bus and avoid driving, the Alsina Granells bus co. has 9 departures daily to Seville-trip takes 4 hrs. Busses leave from the Carretera de Jaen, 3 km outside city center-take city bus to station. Should cost under 3,000 pts. I agree completely with Michele about bus travel in Spain. <BR>Train is inconvenient because you'll have to make a change at Bobadilla. <BR>Hope this helps.

Karen <BR> <BR>Last November I travelled from Seville to Granada by train and had a problem with the RENFE timetable regarding the change of train at Bobadila. I found that the easiest way was to take the train that left 1 hour later, pay the extra as it is a "fast" train, and arrive in Granada at approximately the same time. If you have a Europass then the extra is a P200 supplement. <BR> <BR>If you are planning to travel further in Spain by train then a must do is the AVE. I believe that it is a superior service than the French TGV - which is very good. <BR> <BR>Enjoy Spain <BR> <BR>David

Thanks to all of you for the replies. It was very useful to know the driving time, and that there are so many bus runs. Really helped with our planning!

Karen, <BR>David is right on about the express/fast trains-Renfe says there are 4 to Granada that take 3-3 1/2 hrs.-NO change in Bobadilla. www.renfe.es

We made the trip from Granada to Seville via rental car a couple years ago, going more or less straight south to the coast (nice drive through the mountains) thence east to Marbella, then north to Ronda (back over the mountains again) where we spent the night. The next day we picked our way through the "white villages" and cork oak plantations, ending up in Sevilla by evening. <BR> <BR>I'd repeat those two wonderful days in a heartbeat if given the chance. Ronda alone was probably worth the trip, but there was much more. We enjoyed stopping alongside the road for short walks in the country and picnics at particularly scenic spots. I found the driving to be easy to the point of relaxing and the traffic on the country roads practically nonexistent. Even the traffic in the two cities was of minimal concern - but I live outside of Boston, so maybe I'm just used to a little craziness.