I am planning a trip in April. My frequent flyer miles will only get me in to and out of Madrid. How far (and complicated) is the drive from Madrid to Barcelona.

Unless you are absolutely determined to drive it I would suggest you look into air fares between the two cities...sometimes they are less than one might think including one-ways.
Am sure someone will respond with the actual land distance.

Madrid is about 370 miles from Barcelona, not horrendous but who wants to drive it?
Spanair has some pretty good one way fares between MAD and BCN if you check their website. (I think it's cheaper, or at least as cheap, than taking the train)

We took an overnight train, arriving in Barcelona around 8 am. It's a reasonable alternative if you like train travel and/or don't like airports, and it saves a night's hotel room.

Hi,

FLY! Try Spainair and Iberia. On Iberia.com, I put in random dates in April and came up with a one way price of 33 euros, r/t of 66 euros. The flight is an hour and 10 minutes. I think they also give you a 5 euro discount for booking online.

I am flying from Granada to Barcelona in February (one-way) and the ticket cost 29 euros.

Have fun!
Karen
Karen

Hey Karen

Saw your recommendation to fly and wanted to find out more from u. I am also thinking of flying as it is ahorter and much cheaper option. However, my concern will be the taxi fares to the airport. what are the charges like? Also, is it easy to fly inter-city? any problem with check ins and luggage? thanks

Lisa

Lisay,

I asked a very similar question but nobody answered. It has to do with travel from Sol area to the airport. How much time to allow to get there between 8-9AM on a week day and how much lead time to allow at the airport.

I wanted to know if it was worth saving money and flying from Madrid to Seville or take the AVE.

Essentially the trade-off is cheaper faster flight or easier to negotiate and less lead time with the AVE.

If anybody knows the answers I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

I can't speak for flying from Madrid to Seville but it's hard to beat the AVE. And once you factor in airport transit and waiting times, there's really no time savings with a plane. The AVE moves! It's a 2 hr 15 minute trip down to Seville that's quite comfortable, and from center city to center city. Plus, there's a money back guarantee if its more than 10 minutes late.

lisay,

My understanding is that both the Madrid and Barcelona airports are less than 20 miles from the cities.

You can take the subway or shuttle buses in both cities as well, and that would be less than taxis. The shuttle in Madrid is about $18 one way, subway would be a few dollars, I think.

Same general costs in Barcelona, I believe.

Karen

Myer,

Well, I haven't done it yet (my trip is in February), but Seville is much closer to Madrid than Barcelona.

Since the AVE train is only 2 1/2 hours, it is probably easier to do that than fly (no airport hassles).

I'm doing that train trip, with a stop in Cordoba, on my trip, so I'll let you know how it is when I get back.

Karen

There are now high speed trains from Madrid to Barcelona. The new line isn't open all the way yet, but the fastest journey seems to be 4 hrs 35 mins (www.renfe.es) with tickets costing 59 euros.

I have not driven from Madrid to Barcelona but it is almost 400 miles each way which means that you will lose a day of your vacation time each way. You also need to consider that gas is expensive in Spain and there may be rather expensive toll roads. Flying would be the better choice at less than E70RT.
Madrid to Seville is also an easy decision. Taxi to the airport in Madrid is about E25+, the taxi to the train station was about E5. In Seville the taxi to the airport was E30+ while a taxi to the train station was about E5. Cost of airfare RT and the train was pretty close last month.
I also think that it would take less time to take the AVE to Seville than to fly when you add up all the time you need to get to the airport, wait for the plane etc. Driving to Seville from Barcelona takes about 6 hrs+ so you lose a day as opposed to a half day by train or plane. I would only drive from Madrid to Seville if cost were the only issue and you had 4 people to share the cost of the car.
So, in summary, fly to Barcelona but take the train to Seville.

Thanks MJS...it certainly helps...that's what i'm going to do...

I will be in Spain for 10 days and intend to stay at Madrid, Barcelona and Seville...Hence, I will fly to barcelona and take a train to Seville...

looking forward.