Fodorites,

Please help me. I am trying to plan my trip in May from Madrid,day trip Segovia, back to Madrid then day to Toledo .

Here's where I'm getting confused. I will not be renting a car, but traveling by bus where possible, otherwise probably local trains.

I want to go to Cordoba for a day, Seville for 2 or 3 days, LaLinea for Gibraltar- just a day trip, and then on to Granada for three days, then fly back to Madrid for plane home.

Or do I reverse it all?

what order do I go to these cities in? And what transportation?

Is it better to fly to Granada from Madrid, then bus to La Linea? then train, bus or plane ? to Seville? Then how to Cordoba? And from Cordoba how back to Madrid? for plane home to the states?

Sorry but I'be been working on this for days online and now am totally confused.

I can't book hotels or planes till I know where and when I'm going . Yikes - and time is growing short!

BTW, instead of going back to Madrid from Toledo, should I continue onto Cordoba? then again, by train or bus?

A bit fearful that I'd be spending too much time on buses and wasting siteseeing time.

But it does seem to be the least expensive way of travel in Spain.

Next least expensive seems to me to be internal airflights, and most expensive seems to be the high speed train.

I could definitely be off mark on this, so again am looking for those familiar with the routes for suggestions.

Thanks

Have you thought about flying 'open jaw'? I tend to open jaw to the satellite city and then return home from the major gateway. Example: in May I'm flying into Marseille and out of CDG. I'm willing to put up with more hassle at the beginning of a trip than at the end.

Fly into Seville, do your thing down there and then take the fast train to Cordoba, store your bags at the station and tour the city. Pick up your bags later in the day and train into Madrid. There's no sense taking the train both ways.

The new AVE train from Madrid takes you to Toledo in 30 minutes, easy enough for a day trip.

If you head to Segovia, find a way to get to El Escorial. Maybe you can find a tour combination. Keep looking. Try www.google.es and say words in English and you'll get a lot of hits.

Many other posters have said that Gibralter wasn't worth it, so see if you can find out why from them.

Thanks Rastaguy.

Madrid to Toledo isn't a problem even by bus cause it's only 44 miles BUT I was just trying to find train from Toledo to Cordoba (to avoid spending on another hotel night in Madrid) or Toledo to Seville on the Eurail site- no luck.

Is the AVE fast train at a different site?

Otherwise, yes I'd have to do Toledo go back to Madrid, and then I'll take your suggestion and look up a flight To Seville - seems to have trains from Seville to Cordoba...

then to figure out the rest. Train or plane from Seville to Granada?

Fly Granada to Madrid to home if I dont take in Gibraltar?

Hate to sound "duh" but I really don't know what "open jaw" flight means. Is it that you dont have to fly back to the same place you left from?

Looks like I'll have to give up Gibraltar.

Thanks again - keep the suggestions and advice coming

No, open jaw means you arrive at Madrid and leave to the US from Seville (or the reverse), but I don't think it is worth it in your situation.

You can't find trains from Toledo to Seville or Cordoba because they don't exist. You have to turn back to Madrid from Toledo. The AVE from Madrid to Seville and Cordoba is a different train from the AVE to Toledo. They don't share the same route.
From Seville to Granada is train or bus, there's no flight (it will be too short).

Open Jaw is when you fly into one city and out of another. It doesn't have to be in the same country. Visualize your flights in the concept of what an open jaw looks like.

It all depends on how you're flying. If you have a connection at MAD airport that's not too long, then stay at the airport and connect down to Seville. I think that it is worth it. It usually doesn't cost you any more for the connection to Seville. and saves you the hassle and 30 euro (the metro sucks) of going to Madrid city only to catch a train. Been there, done that.

The Toledo connection is what I'm trying to ease. The Seville, Cordoba, Madrid is all high speed. Once you settle in to Madrid, take your side trips.

I understand the 'another night in Madrid', but packing and unpacking isn't always fun. Having a home base and a day pack of some sort is a lot easier... and you can find central hotels in Madrid that aren't that expensive. My favorite area is the Puerto del Sol.

Try this; fly in to Seville, train to Cordoba and transfer to Granada. You'll probably have to go back through Cordoba to get to Madrid. Choose when you want to explore Granada.

LOL Kenderina,
no wonder I couldn't find a train or bus going on from Toledo !! Have been on this computer all day looking for one!!!

think I have the problem solved though with your new advice. Will fly from Granada to Madrid the day before the flight home...gives me the afternoon to take a bus or train to Toledo, get back to Madrid that evening - out to airport the next morning.

Also solves the problem of train to Seville. I'll go AVE to Cordoba and then AVE to Seville - train or bus to Granada.

Wish I had asked this question a week ago...

Muchas gracias, Senora y Senore

mahya, I haven't done this yet, but I don't think you will need a night in Madrid between toledo & cordoba. Take your bags to the AVE station and find a lugguge store area. Take your day trip to Todelo, pick your bags up and head to cordoba. It is only 30 min madrid-toledo, and 1 3/4 hours madrid to cordoba.

I think you have the order correct to take advantage of the high speed train most. If you are going to do buses it might be better to reverse the order and end up in Seville for the flight back since this seems the furthest. I am not sure, but you could map out the bus times.

i have just seen some info about www.eurohop.es, a hop on/off bus that circles spain with four different routes.

might be interesting to avoid backtracking and meet people.