Hi Fodorites,

I'm planning a two week trip to Spain. After a 4 night stay in Barcelona, my friends and I will be headed to Andulasia, Granada is the first stop. My question is what is the best way to get there. I checked the vueling airfare which is fairly inexpensive at 35 E pp. The train tickets are about that much. But when you factor in transportation costs to and from the airport it could be more to take the plane?

We don't mind taking the 11.5 hour train ride if there is something to see along the way. Has anyone take this train before? Any advise is welcome, thanks!

I took that Vueling flight from BCN-Granada last year. I thought it worked very well for me. The Barcelona Airport is fairly easy to get to (30mins by the A1 bus from Placa Catalunya for 4,25 euros). Once you arrive at Grananda airport, there will be a bus waiting, and it's about a 30 to 40-min ride into the old center of Granada.

Therefore, if you include the travel time to/from airport, plus arriving at the airport at least 1 hour in advance, plus the 1 hour flight, you are looking at a minimum of 4 hours to get from Barcelona to Granada by plane.

Is the Barcelona-Granada a night train? If it is, you can consider it a way to save one night's hotel - IF you can sleep well on trains.

Spending a day of your trip on a train?!? Buy the air ticket immediately. Check with Vueling and see if they have a bus to the airport from the city center. Ryanair has one in some of their cities that is cheap.

There is so much to see in Granada and Andulasia that you won't have time for it all. Why waste a day on a train?


I just checked the Vueling website. Under "destinations" you can see there is a public bus in Granada that leaves about every 1.5 hours and costs 3 euros and in Barcelona there is a train every half an hour 24 hours a day that costs 2 euros.

yk, there is one o/n train to granada but like kelliebellie said, we only have so much time. I think the plane is the way to go. It's reassuring that there are good bus transpo from the airport.

I think I've made a decision, thanks!

If you want more detail, you can read about my Vueling flight to Granada here:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...omment-1545398

Since there is an overnight train, you don't really "lose" much sightseeing time per se. The only issue, IMO, is whether you can get a good night's sleep on the train or not.

I've taken the Granada-Barcelona night train - it would be a dreadfully long day train ride and through in my previous travels a bleak kind of country - very little to look at in between IMO - either fly or take the night train IMO. www.renfe.es Spanish Rail web site for schedules and prices and, in theory to purchase. In the U.S. RailEurope sells these tickets but usually at a mark up - that said many folks get frustrated with the renfe.es site - i would think you could arrange this night train once there - esp if in Barcelona some days before your train. If you are the type to want everything done so you just hop on the train then the extra money you pay in the U.S. may be priceless. (In U.S. i always advise contacting Byron at www.budgeteuropetravel.com for expert and personal service by phone IME - www.ricksteves.com has good info on Spanish trains but his outfit don't do reservations but only sell railpasses and www.seat61.com also has good info - if you were doing more travel by train i would look at the Spanish Railpass.

Good choice!

Now be sure to check luggage restrictions. I know Ryanair charges for every tiny thing. They are even toying with charging to use the bathroom! But even if it costs a bit more, I think you are making the right decision to fly.

W/ the night train, the original plan was to see the Alhambra palace at night and then the next morning so if we didn't get there till the next morning it would mess with that (only spending two nights there). One friend is only spending 2 night in Barca and won't want to give one night up for the night train to Granada.

Overall I think the plane works fine. We're all resolved to pack efficiently so hopefully the charges won't be too high. I was worried about that but the vueling website didn't seem too explicit on the charges.

just checked vueling's webstie it's 10 E per checked bag up to 20 kg.

IIRC, there's one set fee for checked bag if you purchase that in advance (when you buy your ticket).

If you wait until you're at the airport and then decide you need to check your bag, the calculation for that fee is much higher.

It is a plain pain to take a train across the plains in Spain instead of taking a plane.

We don't mind taking the 11.5 hour train ride>

the new high-speed line is now open and now a Barcelona-Granada day train ride is about 8 hours - not as bad as 11.5 and you do change trains in Madrid. And these are amongst the most modern trains in Europe and the fastest too - going nearly 190 mph with 205 mph on the horizon