Spain, transportation Please Help
 

Two of us are going to Spain in end of September for 16 days:
Madrid-Barcelona-Granada-Sevilla-Lisbon-Madrid.
Do not know what is the best way to connect these places (plain, train, bus)????
To save money, time, and see as much as possible.
Where can we find info about it? Should we make a reservations ahead?
Please advice!

I'm assuming you've put them in the order of travel:
Madrid-Barcelona - Plane is best, but you can get there in 5-6 hours on the train. Check the Iberia, Spanair and Air Europa websites for fares, they can be quite reasonable.
Barcelona-Granada - Plane, for sure. The train ride is either all-day or overnight, so if time is a consideration, wing it. Again, airfares can be quite reasonable (35-40 euro one way).
Granada-Seville - El autobus. Spanish buses are clean and comfortable, and there are numerous departures every day from Granada to Seville, at about 10 euro each way.
Seville-Lisbon and Lisbon-Madrid - I've never done these routes, but the plane would seem the most logical and feasible mode of transportation.

agreeing with martytravels
but
Granada-Seville, you can take the train, it is about 3 hours or so-not the most scenic ride but...

plane might be the best way to go. i was considering going to lisbon last year but there are limited trains between madrid and lisbon and the trip was just too long to be worthwhile.

This reply is going to seem like I am just trying to put you down, and make you feel bad - - but hopefully, it's information shared with others reading this thread - - and conveys an important lesson about the need to plan (and <i>budget for</i>) your <i>intra-Europe</i> as an integral part of your plan to get to and from Europe.

I can only hope you got a terrific bargain on your air travel to/from Madrid - - because you're going to need a lot of savings in your pocket to cover all the transportation <i>within</i> Spain and Portugal you will need.

I assume it is too late to change your flight(s) to and from Europe. If so, it's very unfortunate, because some forethought could have saved you a lot of money and might have added two full days to the enjoyment of your trip (as opposed to staring at a seat back while you travel from point A to B to C to D... etc...)

The way to do this, to save wear and tear and money would be:

Fly into Barcelona
Fly Barcelona-Sevilla
Train Sevilla-Granada
Train Granada-Madrid
Fly Madrid-Lisbon
Fly home

(or the reverse)

I'd still recommend a variant of that:

Fly onward to Barcelona, as soon as you arrive Madrid, without even leaving the airport.

Fly BCN-SVQ
Train Sevilla-Granada, and then train back to SVQ again.
Fly SVQ-LIS.
Fly LIS-MAD
Fly MAD-home

That's a lot of flying, and fully two flights at $100-200 each that could have been avoided.

Spanair.com will probably be your best source of flight info, though it could also be worth checking www.opodo.com or www.whichbudget.com

Train schedules are at www.renfe.es or www.raileurope.com (but don't buy tickets from Raileurope - - just wait until you get to Spain and purchase them there).

Best wishes,

Rex

Thanks very much for the replies!
Looking at your suggestions I?d change our itinerary. Move Lisbon to the future.
Unfortunately, we can?t fly open jaw, so start &amp; end in Madrid.

Thanks for all the info! Much appreciate!