Trains or Plane within Spain???
 

Hi!

We found that flight one way from madrid to Barcelona, Barcelona to Seville and Seville back to Madrid is each $41 for March 2004.

1. Are the airports too far away from the main areas, that is will a cab ride to get around within the towns cost a lot? We are opting for flights because we save time and the train prices are more expensive surprisingly!

Thanks!!!!!!

If you don't mind public transport both Madrid and Barcelon have excellent Metro systems so you may rarely need a cab. Both cities have areas that are very walkable, too.

The trains in Spain run mainly on the plane.

vacation03
where did you find this price?
is it $41 each person for each segment (i.e. $41 Madrid-Bar, $41 Bar.-Serville etc.) or $41 each the entire ticket?

mrwuhrfl--very cute!

Like artlover, I would like to know where you found the $41.00 fare. I've been searching for cheap fare from Barcelona to Seville without any luck.

oh boy maybe then I looked at the wrong info?!

Well go to iberia.com, I compared iberia and spanair.com and iberia was much cheaper, yeah it was 41$ each segment, around 30 something euros. The train tickets seem much more expensive, I checked that under renfe.es and it was almost like 70-80$ hence why we're not sure what to do....if the airports are too far away from the main town then we'll be spending a lot in cabs?! but looks like most of you are flying in between cities as well yeah?

LOL MrWunrfl, I opened this thread only to see if there are other Fair Lady's fans.

What's it like getting from Seville airport to Santa Cruz area compared to taxi from the train station?

Let's try to find some negatives with flying.

Assuming you have a reservation for both train or plane from Madrid to Seville, how much extra time should you allow for flying as opposed to AVE train?

In other words how much time should you allow for each from the hotel to departure time? Assuming a 10-11AM departure.

We are going to be flying from Paris to Malaga next summer and it looks like the cheapest fare is on Air Europa for about $165 rt. Has anyone had experience with them, or can suggest a better alternative?

Myer,

If you have your tickets in hand, for a domestic flight I would leave the hotel 2.5 hours before the flight departure time. With the Ave, I would leave 45 minutes before, because you can board that train up until 5 minutes before departure. This allows for average traffic jams and baggage handling.

Myer, the only thing I would add is that the AVE train does have more stringent security procedures than other trains in Spain(but certainly not as much as airport security) .
In Madrid and Seville, there were separate access points just for the AVE that require you to go through metal detectors and have your bags x-rayed.

Again, it's much faster than at the airport, but even when you have a reserved seat on the train, don't expect to cut it so close that you'll arrive at the train station 5 or 10 minutes before departure!

Taxis at the train station in Seville were plentiful ,and the ride to Santa Cruz would be about 6-7 euros,and less than 15 minutes, I would guess. Like virtually every place in Spain I visited, there was a small added cost per suitcase (even the small carry-on ones) and, I think, a supplement for trips to/from train stations as well as the airports (though I might be confusing the train station supplement with another city rather than Seville)

Dear Vacation03,

To break up your travel routine, take the AVE train from Sevilla back to Madrid. Second class non-smoking was fine. Also, cab fares in Madrid and Sevilla are very reasonable.

Tam

P.S. They can no longer charge for bags. But there is a small 3-5 euro surcharge for going to the train and airport stations.

The airports in Madrid and Barcelona are less than 15 miles from the cities. There are aerpbuses and/or metro options in both cities, so that would be pretty cheap. You don't have to take cabs.

I agree with the suggestion to fly from Madrid to Barcelona, then Barcelona to Seville, but then train from Seville to Madrid.

Also, if you don't have your international flights yet, can I offer an alternative?

Fly into Madrid, train to Seville, fly to Barcelona, then fly home from Barcelona - saves a segment of flying.
Just a thought.

Karen

Along these same lines, does Iberia airlines run on time. We are flying from Granada to Madrid taking the last flight out on a Friday after Easter week. We depart from Madrid on Saturday. Will I be cutting it too close? If that plane cannot take off what would my alternative to Madrid be on a Friday early evening? We want to make the most of our time and according to some of these posts we should allow 2 hours to board?

Thanks Kaudrey - unfortunately we already have our rt tickets via madrid only. So we looked at all the option and decided on this - fly into madrid, train to seville, (on the way day trip to cordoba), then bus or train from seville to granada and then fly from granada to barcelona to save time - and then fly from barcelona to madrid to save time - right now iberia is showing up as 41$ for both these flight segments - figured why not.

vacation03 - That's a good plan. I am doing something similar. Over a 2 week period, I am flying into Madrid, train to Sevilla, drive around the white towns and over to Granada, then fly to Barcelona.

I'm flying home from BCN, but I actually think my Delta flight is stopping in Madrid briefly anyway, so it's almost the same thing, except I don't have to change plans, I don't think...(?) :)

I'm going in February, so if you are interested, keep an eye out from my trip report upon my return!

Have a great New Year!

Karen

awesome K - would love to hear about your trip report - it sounds very similar to ours!!!!!

The only thing is you're driving to Granada? We're thinking of taking either the bus or train from seville to Granada - any recommendations on this? I looked up T.R.D. - and they have 3 hour trains and someone on Fodor listed bus schedules on the Alsae G lines that take upto 3 hours also.....which is more doable as far as cancellations/delays etc?