scdreamer

Will be leaving from Atocha in Madrid to get to our rental apartment in old town area of Seville. I see there are a number of stations in Seville - which is the one we should arrive at for the easiest transfer to our place?

janisj

Sevilla Santa Justa . . .

scdreamer

Thanks, Janis - that's what I thought. Do you think it's worth it to buy tickets in advance online for this short trip? Or just get them while we're in Madrid? We're still slightly over a month out.

kimj68

Hi,
We just did this trip a couple of weeks ago. We were repeatedly advised to get the train ticket from Madrid to Sevilla in advance, because it is a popular route but also tickets will be less expensive. Was it really necessary? It might depend on the day of the week, or even the month of the year. But we decided we didn't want any hitches. We wanted to get to Sevilla as quickly as possible. We were coming from the US, on a flight that is notorious for delays, so we opted to select a ticket that could be changed in case we ran late or our flight was canceled. This was a more expensive ticket, but also gave us access to the very nice Sala lounge at the Madrid train station, with complimentary snacks, beverages, couches, charge stations, etc. Not at all necessary for us, but was nice, especially because our flight over ended up being an old 767, no in-seat media, lumpy seats and none of us slept a wink. My son's seat was broken and didn't even recline. Turns out we arrived on time. Signs in Madrid's airport were well marked, including in English, and it was easy to find the local train departure point to the train station in the city center, or to the line of taxis. The high-speed train from Madrid to Sevilla was super efficient. When the track was posted, we went straight to our car (noted on our ticket) and got comfortable. It left on time and the whole experience was easy and lovely. Once at Santa Justa, we went outside, got into the taxi line (two people ahead of us) and caught a cab to the Barrio Santa Cruz, where we were staying. Very easy. It was such a wonderful trip, I'm just in love with the city and its people, food, architecture... Have a wonderful time!

scdreamer

Thanks, Kim. I went ahead and bought the tickets - we will be flying into Madrid, but staying a couple days at a hotel not far from the Atocha station, so I just booked the 1:30 pm train. Pretty sure we can walk to the station from our hotel in Madrid. We've been to Madrid a few times, but not Seville, so we are looking forward to our time there - it will be Semana Santa - and has been on my bucket list to spend that week in Seville with a day trip to Cordoba and maybe one other city. After that, we have four more weeks in Andalucia as we leisurely make our way to Barcelona.

danon

Robert2016

If you take a taxi from the train station to your renal in the old quarter (Santa Cruz) during Semana Santa, in most cases the taxi will not be able to take you all the way. The driver will let you know where he/she can drop you off. Make sure you have a good map, or better yet, plot it out on your smart phone. The Santa Cruz neighborhood is a Morrish maze. Unless you are comfortable speaking Spanish, I'd have the address written on a piece of paper for the driver.

The processions happen at night and into the morning, and depend on the weather. If it's raining they will not go out.

the Giralda tower at night


La Macarena


Metropol Parasol

scdreamer

Robert - Thank you for that information. We'll be arriving on the train at about 3:30 in the afternoon on the Monday before Easter, so I guess we'll see how close a taxi can get us to the apartment. Luckily we are traveling with carry-on only, so if we have to walk part of the way, it will be fairly easy.