I'm checking the Iberia website and it seems I can get a ticket for as low as 80 euros to fly from Sevilla to Barcelona! A sleeper train will cost me 168 euros. Has anyone travelled on Iberia at that prize before? Any other charges involved? I'll definitely fly if its really 80 euros!

Go for the plane ride,it's a pleasure.Iberia is friendlier in Spain than they are flying from USA to Spain-<BR>I always fly them from Madrid to Malaga,no problem and what a time saver.

How do you get 80E flights on Iberia? <BR><BR>Other than Madrid-Barcelona anything such as Sevilla-Barcelona or Granada-Barcelona seems to come up at 208 on their sight.<BR><BR>

These prices are not that unusual. Air Europa used to have a &quot;You fly for 60 E and your companion for 30 E round trip from anywhere to anywhere in Spain&quot; deal.<BR><BR>The train takes at least 12 hours (unless you go to Madrid and change to the AVE) so by all means take the plane... I am sure that you can find a hotel in Seville for less than 100 E.

I just check out the AirEuropa web site.<BR><BR>Yes, they do have some great specials. However, they expire Nov 30. That's 2 days from now!!<BR><BR>When I looked up some flights for next spring (early June, they came up at the same price as Iberia. In the 200Euro range per person, one way.<BR><BR>Any ideas?<BR>

Myer,<BR>I just checked the Iberia site myself for my spring travel. <BR>Right now, up until mid Dec. they're offering some super deals, like Seville-Bcn, Granada-Bcn for 99 euros, but only now. For spring deals (if they even exist-you never can tell) you'll have to wait, I'm afraid, and they may appear only at the very last minute with a short window -vexing, I know, if you're trying to firm up your travel plans now.<BR><BR>While that 200+ air fare, Seville/Granada-Bcn, is annoyingly high, the Gran Clase sleeper on the overnight train won't be inexpensive, and it's a long 12 hr. ride. How well do you sleep on trains? Some enjoy the hotel train, particularly as a novelty, but some don't because of the cramped space, inability to sleep soundly. <BR><BR>About Air Europa, lately I've only seen one of their flights for less than 200 euros one way (standard fare for Iberia on that Seville-Bcn route), but it's the one leaving Seville at 10:20 p.m. On that one flight they seem to offer a K fare of 145 one way.<BR><BR>Wish I could give you a definitive answer.<BR>i would try to switch my itinerary around to take the lower cost Spanair shuttle from Madrid to Bcn, if at all possible.<BR><BR>Maribel<BR><BR>

Maribel,<BR><BR>I know that Iberia has gotten some less than great reviews (any personal opinions?), but I've been playing with their web site (as well as others).<BR><BR>I have not as yet tried for consolidator fares. Will do that in a week or two.<BR><BR>For last half of May (Iberia web site only goes 6 months out (and last half of May might be ok for us), while expensive (850-950 per person), I could book Miami-Granada and return Barcelona-Miami (if I keep Barcelona in) or Madrid-Mia for the same price.<BR><BR>If I did this, the only overnight or plane ride withing Spain would be one-way Madrid-Barcelona or none at all if Barcelona is skipped.<BR><BR>That definitely reduces cost and travel times and simplifies matters.<BR>

Hi Myer,<BR>I think you're definitely on the right track here simplifying matters and cutting down travel time for your 2 week trip. If you can fly back to Miami non-stop from Bcn, I'd do it, if you're still planning to include Bcn. I had forgotten that you live in the south Florida area. In and out of NYC then, doesn’t make sense for you.<BR><BR>Although I've had a few unpleasant TRANSATLANTIC experiences with Iberia ( lost luggage, involuntary bumping), I will actually fly them again next spring. from Miami-Madrid. <BR>It's a free ticket and a long story... Flying back AA.<BR><BR>For intra-Spain flights, like xyz, I've found nothing wrong with Iberia's in flight service (flew them Bcn-Pamplona in July). <BR>Their problems lie in labor unrest, work stoppages/slow downs, cancellation of flights, on time record, baggage handling, constantly changing schedules. In July, '01 Iberia threated to suspend all operations entirely (but this fizzled out after 4-5 hrs. and that Miami-Madrid flight did arrive!). The labor situation seems to have improved lately.<BR>On Iberia just make sure to recheck your departure time. I almost missed my flight to Pamplona because Iberia had moved the dept. back 35 min., and I failed to reconfirm the night before. I should have known better, as they often don’t alert passengers about these schedule changes, but I was preoccupied getting friends off to Paris and just forgot. Lesson learned.<BR><BR>I'm expecting our r.t. summer East Coast US-Madrid NON STOP air fare to run well above 1,000. We’ll use a consolidator to bring that down, as we do every yr. when we have no ff miles to redeem (but we prefer our very easy non-stop and our ff miles, and it’s partially business related, so we don’t deal with Priceline and others). <BR>If you can, try to schedule your trip for earlier in May rather than June.<BR>However, I just checked the April US Air non-stop PHL-MAD fare, and it's now running 900. So don’t buy yet!<BR><BR>From Miami your carrier options for non-stop Spain service are limited to Iberia or American, correct?, but sounds like Iberia will give you the better deal throwing in the Granada portion and a non-stop Bcn-Miami return. I would just keep checking those Iberia fares for that route and also the consolidators. And I use the &quot;fare tracker/fare alert&quot; services of Travelocity and Expedia plus smarterliving.com to keep abreast of fare changes.<BR>Can you wait to purchase until late Jan/Feb?<BR><BR>Regards,<BR>Maribel<BR>

Thanks for replying Maribel. <BR><BR>I can wait as long as I like. The problem would then be with hotels.<BR><BR>I'm now inclined to skip Barcelona.<BR><BR>I checked Orbitz the last 2 days (they seem to come up less expensive than Expedia) and they have AA from MIA to MAD (non-stop), Iberia from Madrid to Granada (2 hour wait from arrival) and then return AA Madrid to MIA (non-stop) for the end of May to mid-june for about 850.<BR><BR>While that seems high it's tempting because it results in a simplified trip with no long expensive overnight train or flight.<BR><BR>Two Days in Granada, train to Seville. Three days in Seville (2 1/2) plus a day trip to Cordoba. Train to Madrid and 2 1/2 days there plus a day trip to Toledo and a two day overnight (keep hotel in Madrid) to Avila (half day) and Salamanca (late afternoon, sleep over and next day). Having the Madrid-Granada leg included at the beginning really makes difference. In Madrid I wouldn't want to count the arrival day (after an overnight flight) as a day but for Granada I would. Last year's trip would have had us in Granada only one day. This would add a bit.<BR><BR>This way we only have to change cities twice (not counting return home).<BR><BR>I guess at this point it's trying to decide if we can do better on the plane fare. A less expensive plane would not do much if we then had to fly Iberia for 200.+ from Granada to Madrid.<BR><BR>In May we flew with ff miles and were in Rome, Sorrento and London. For about the same time and paying for the plane this times my guess is that the total cost will not be all that much more.<BR><BR>I think we took over this thread. Not nice.<BR><BR><BR>

Maribel,<BR><BR>You've written at least two rather lengthly descriptions of Salamanca. <BR><BR>One started with Maira and then you wrote a few paragraphs.<BR><BR>In another thread you also described Salamanca but differently. Something about some sort of tradition, etc. Could it have been about finding a frog?<BR><BR>I found the first but not the other. Any idea how it can be found?<BR>

Maribel.<BR><BR>Found it!!<BR><BR>Actually you were responding to me. Thanks.<BR>

Hi Myer,<BR>Glad you found the Salamanca post because I couldn't!<BR><BR>Yes, that 850 fare may seem high, but for mid-May-June and the non-stops, plus Madrid-Granada, I really doubt your going to see it going too much lower. You would find lower fares through other sites (cheaptickets, bestfares, etc.) but your routing would certainly not be non-stop and would require planes changes either in the US or in Europe and thus, more time consuming.<BR>You might still investigage how much, if any, a consolidator could lower that fare.<BR>We do buy our summer tickets only (6 week trip) through a travel agent who gets us a slightly cheaper consolidator fare from a consolidator who only deals through agencies, but still on our preferred non-stop route. We can sometimes even upgrade it to business with our ff miles. <BR><BR>While we spent $357 (plus taxes) for our non-stop fare 2 weeks ago to Madrid and $320 for our non-stop to Paris this coming Jan., these truly great bargains were anomalies. I kept tracking those fares, waiting and waiting and pounced upon receiving the email notice.<BR>From our East Coast city, I've never seen an offer like those for non-stop service in mid-May or the summer when the planes fly much fuller.<BR><BR>While many (or most) will urge you to include Bcn on your itinerary, I think that a perfect first time 2 week Spain trip should include a bit of the heart of Castile and the jewels of Andaluc&iacute;a. But then I don't think of Bcn as &quot;typically Spanish&quot;, and find it better suited to a thorough exploration of Catalunya (a fascinating &quot;country&quot; in its own right with its own language, traditions, etc) plus Rousiillon and Languedoc in southwestern France. But don't listen to me! You're doing a fine job of sorting this out all by yourself, as only you know what's best for you, your interests, your budget and your travel style.<BR><BR>Sorry, winnie, to have hijacked this thread!<BR>My last post here!<BR><BR>Maribel

Make that &quot;doubt that YOU'RE going to see...&quot; Now, this is my last post.

Ladies, <BR>No problems at all. But appreciate if you can advise me further. Have checked the Iberia &amp; Air-europa sites once more. AirEuropa is going for as low as E55 one way from Seville to Barcelona but only for their 2219 hr flight. This arrives Barcelona 2355 hrs. I'd like to know if the budget transportation(buses or watever!) are still operating pass midnight from the airport or am I only left with taxi and a hefty midnight surcharge? Any advise? Tks!

Hi winnie,<BR>I'm afraid you won't make it on time to take the last Aerobus into the city. They stop running at midnight (some guides say 11:30, some say midnight). There's a late night bus service, the EN, that runs at very irregular intervals all thru the night (one departs at 12:30, the next one at 1:35) but not convenient, and it only takes you the Placa de Espanya, and from there you'd need to taxi to your hotel.<BR><BR>Trains only run until 10:30 p.m.<BR><BR>Just take a taxi. The official taxis are black with yellow doors. There is an additional 2 euro supplement for airport runs and a 0.80 euro supplement for each bag carried in the trunk (these surchargs were increased Dec 15). Also between 10 p.m.-6 a.m. and on weekends the fare is slightly more expensive. Even so, a taxi shouldn't cost you more than 25 euros. (During the day- long national strike in June when few taxis dared to run and didn't use the meter, my taxi driver only charged me 22 euros from downtown to airport and apologized for charging so much). The trip by taxi to your hotel should take well under 1/2 hr. at that hour, since a normal mid-morning Aerobus run from the airport to the Placa de Catalunya only takes 25 min.<BR><BR>Hope this helps.

Thanks Maribel! Just booked ourselves Hotel Toledano(cheapest decent one around!). Looks like its cab all the way - which does make sense considering I've got a sleeping 16 mth old to sling along with other baggages! <BR><BR>Many thanks!