Spain/Portugal
 

I have an upcoming trip to Spain. I am flying in and out of Barcelona but have about three weeks to spend. Have been to Europe a few times but never for longer than a week and usually only one city with a day trip here and there. Looking to spend a few days in Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla and Lisbon. I have never "ridden the rails". I am told that the best way to fit in Lisbon is the night train from Madrid but am hearing bad things about being robbed why you are sleeping. I am travelling solo and am not nervous but just looking for the best way to get around, places to go and places to stay. WOuld appreciate any feedback from fellow travelers as this trip is coming up soon and want to have as much research as possible.

Have a look at www.vueling.com. You can get one-way flights from Barcelona to Lisbon for as low as 50E. You can navigate the site in English by clicking the lower right corner.

Buen viaje!

Lower left corner!

Thanks I looked at the website and it appears to have some pretty cheap flights. I will have to see if there is a late train ride out of Madrid to Barcelona. Sounds like flying between Madrid and Lisbon is the way to go and taking the AVE for Barcelona, Madrid and Sevilla is good. ANyone know if there is an online place to see an AVE schedule?

www.renfe.es - Spanish Rail official site. AVE's go about hourly however between Madrid's Atocha station and Cordoba and Seville - takaing just two hours.

Thanks for the renfe site that will help. Just wondering whether to buy a rail pass or if there are seperate AVE passes that would benefit me more as I think I will only be taking the AVE between Barcelona, Madrid and Sevilla.

To the best of my knowledge the high speed railbed between Madrid-Barcelona (AVE) is not yet complete so you'll be taking a Talgo if you do that leg by train.

That's also the case Madrid-Lisbon: The Luisitania Express (overnight) is one way but there are Bus Companies that do that route in daytime, or you could fly. Vueling airlines has service Barcelona-Lisbon and Madrid-Lisbon (20 Euro). SpanAir sometimes has 'ofertas' (i.e., 'sales') on its Madrid-Lisbon service; they're just advertised in the Spanish Press.

From Lisbon, you could take a bus or train to the Algarve and then another bus to Sevilla.

there are no "ave" passes. each train has different prices per/km., which has caused quite an uproar on the madrid -zaragoza line ( this part is finished) where users complained of the high tariffs charged and asked to be treated more like the reasonable tariffs on the madrid-toledo route.

i think the suggestion of flying between some of your cities on one way vueling.com or roundtrip with iberia, could give you more time at your preferred destinations.

Thanks for the vueling tip and letting me know that the AVE is not finished between Barcelona and Madrid. My guidebook (letsgo) tells me not to buy a railpass if I am just travelling between Spain and Portugal so that is my biggest concern, whether or not to actually buy a railpass. I know that I have to still purchase reservations or supplements for the trips that I would be making on the AVE. I guess I would kind of like to know what my transportation is going to be before I book my hotels in case I decide that it is too much hassle to go to one of the places that I would like to go.

you could also add valencia to your itinerary. from barcelona, take any train, but the high speed euromed is certainly pleasant. (3 hrs.), although not the least expensive. The buses are also very nice, and less expensive than the trains. The direct ones go on the toll roads and make one short stop every 2 hrs. or so. Some have a toilet on them.(takes 4 hrs.)

You can get virtually everywhere in this country on reasonably priced public transportation.

then after visiing here, there are rt flights to lisbon, or one way vueling to sevilla quite reasaonable. (rt-lisbon about 105 euros).

or go to granada by bus or train from valencia.

you do have plenty of time to get a good feel of diferent parts of the country.

have a great trip.

Thanks for all the great tips. My trip is still a few weeks away so I still welcome any feedback. I think that I will go with the railpass between the cities in Spain that I want to see. I think I would like to try the train out a little and see what the fuss is about. I don't want to be on the trains more than in the cities though so I think that I will fly into Portugal. My parents loved Portugal and I figure that I should check it out too since I will be pretty close. I will still check for any suggestions of things that my fellow travelers have and even let you know how I did on the trains.