Car or train travel through Spain?

I would lean towards booking trains, provided ...
a) You only want to visit the 3 big cities. ie 2 train rides.
b) You book as early as possible to get the cheapest fare.
And also, with 6 of you, it would probably mean renting a more expensive people mover.

I agree with David in terms of traveling via train.

• You may consider choosing the 'multi-city' option when booking your flights. You could fly into Barcelona & fly home from Madrid or vice-versa, to avoid backtracking.
• The 3 cities you want to visit are easily accessible via AVE (high speed) trains.
• You can also book your train tickets in advance and save money.
• Check here for train schedules: http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/index.html

The trains will get you from point to point faster than a car and will be more comfortable. Seville and Madrid are hotter in July, so you may want to spend less time there and more in Barcelona - where there are beaches and water sports activities for the kids as well as many sights and day trips.

With those 3 cities, trains are best - this will be much faster and easier than a car. Not to mention not having to worry about parking it in a big city!

A car would be useful for visiting a chain of smaller towns, but for connecting bigger cities - train. I can see a scenario where you may want to rent a car for a day or two (i.e. if you want to leave Barcelona and drive to certain smaller towns in Catalonia, or leave Seville for the white hill towns), but for the overall trip I'd suggest train.

These are all good points! Train travel it is--thank you!

Train travel! You made the better choice...The stations are nice, and the AVE train you will be on is even better. Barcelona to Madrid 2 1/2 hours and a similar distance to Seville. The Atocha station has a pond filled with turtles, which all of your group will enjoy seeing. Both of your trains have a food service car, sandwiches, cokes, etc., Look for it as you board. The tickets will have the car number and the seat number on them. Tourista class will be more than ample..almost equivalent to first class airplane service in the 'old days'. The man in seat 61 web site will offer additional help. It can be tricky purchasing tickets on line about 60 days in advance but you will save a good bit of your euros! Be sure to "register" on the AVE site when instructed. Luggage goes with you and is stored in the bins by the door.

So, H.J., you recommend NOT buying train tickets online until 60 days prior to our trip? Is it possible to purchase tickets 6 months in advance? When we travelled to Italy twice, Portugal and France, we purchased on the day of travel. I'd like to have those details already taken care of this time. Thanks, everyone, for your help.

Maybe not a big issue, but something different that what you experienced in France and Italy: Spain X-rays your baggage before you carry in onboard trains, so be prepared to line up and run your bags thru the scanner. It's quicker than airport security, and you don't have to remove shoes, but they are guarding against potential problems.

Tickets don't become available until about 60 days prior to travel in Spain. That date varies so watch the RENFE site closely and don't panic if they aren't available right away at 60 days. RENFE is a tricky site to use, even when in English language mode. You need to know the exact rail stations departing and arriving and sometimes there are several in a city (and sometimes with similar names). Discounts vary from non-refundable or changeable to changeable to full fare. And payment really needs to be with Paypal as trying to use a US credit card does not work well (if at all).

The man in seat 61 web site ( http://www.seat61.com/ ) offers invaluable info on traveling by train in Europe. I'm keeping my eye on trains via the links on that site, as I'm planning to take the RS "Spain My Way" in October 2016, but want to fly in and out of Paris. So plan on taking TGV to Barcelona, then at the end of Rick's tour, take the AVE from Sevilla back to Barcelona and connect to the TGV back to Paris.

If you are planning 4 nights in each city, then mix it up a bit, trying to keep the kids interested.

Day 1 - Arrive Sevilla - 4 nights
Day 2 - Sevilla sights
Day 3 - Excursion to Cordoba
Day 4 - More Sevilla sights
Day 5 - Train to Madrid - 4 nights
Day 6 - Madrid sights
Day 7 - Excursion to Toledo
Day 8 - More Madrid sights
Day 9 - Train to Barcelona - 4 nights
Day 10 - Barcelona sights
Day 11 - Excursion to Montserrat or Girona+Figueres
Day 12 - More Barcelona sights
Day 13 - Depart Barcelona

Allocate any extra days to Barcelona as beach days.

The more research I do, the more I think we'll spend time outside Madrid visiting Toledo, Córdoba and Granada. With the ages of our kids, I think they'll prefer doing some outdoor activities instead of more museums, churches and garden tours. Many thanks!

First mention of Granada. How do you think you will slot that in ??

First off, read this article for everything you need to know about using trains in Spain. You can use the Renfe site for train schedules.

You can day-trip from Seville to Cordoba. You can day-trip to Toledo and Segovia from Madrid. Granada is too far for a day trip. If you want to see the Alhambra, you should plan on 2 nights in Granada. Granada is 2-3 hours by train or bus from Seville or Cordoba, over 5 hours to Madrid, and about 5 hours to Barcelona if you fly, more by train.

Keep in mind that your family will move no faster than the slowest person in the group at any given time, whether it's packing or walking with luggage or just getting out of bed in the morning. Take into account how long it's going to take you to get from your hotel to the train and from the train to your next hotel when planning your trip.

Take note of Chani's points re Granada.
Admittedly the Alhambra is Spain's most visited and most breathtaking sight, but with the size of your group and the time available, I don't think it's worth the cost and effort to include it this time.

Granada is my favorite place in Spain...but to include it you will need to do a full reworking of the itinerary. I agree - it needs 2 nights if you are coming from farther away. The Alhambra takes most of a day, and getting tickets requires a lot of advance planning, and you may not get the exact timeslot you want.

I have heard of people doing the Alhambra as a day trip from Seville - an organized bus-trip type thing. While this seems insane to me (it's like 3 hours by bus one way!), it is a possibility if you want to see the Alhambra and nothing else in the town. The Alhambra is worth it, IMO. This is a case where an organized day tour makes sense - the logistics of doing this in a day are very tricky! Add a day to Sevilla if you really want to do this.

It sounds like we'll need to visit either the Alhambra OR choose to stay in Madrid for more than 1 day. You all are correct in that we'll travel only as quickly as our 11 year old (but she's a pretty seasoned traveler.) The Alhambra might need to be saved for the next visit. Thanks so much for all of our expert advice! It's greatly appreciated. Happy travels to all!

If you landed in Granada and picked up a vehicle there for the first portion of the trip then you could squeeze things in, just as long as organizing your family is not like herding cats ...

Day 1 - Arrive Granada - 2 nights
Day 2 - Granada sights - Alhambra
Day 3 - (Pick up rental van) Drive to Ronda - 1 night
Day 4 - Drive to Cordoba - 1 night
Day 5 - Drive to Sevilla - 2 nights
Day 6 - (Return rental van) Sevilla sights - Cathedral + Alcazar
Day 7 - Train to Madrid - 3 nights
Day 8 - Madrid sights
Day 9 - Excursion to Toledo
Day 10 - Train to Barcelona - 3 nights
Day 11 - Barcelona sights
Day 12 - Barcelona sights
Day 13 - Depart Barcelona

Granada is a small airport and the big birds can't use it, so while you may get non-stop flights to Barcelona and Madrid, you'll have to be creative in finding a connection to fly into Granada. If you have to connect anyway to get to Spain, it may be feasible. If you're connecting from Madrid or Barcelona, it probably won't save you much (if any) time. Another consideration is if you do start in Granada, are you going to appreciate the Alhambra on the first day of your overseas trip (jetlagged? sleep-deprived?).

Yes, if you choose to include Granada, then it is possibly best to finish there.
Fly in to Barcelona, and then reverse the itinerary (or similar) above.
Granada does not offer much more than 4 or 5 flights per day to/from both Barcelona and Madrid.
Get your homeward connection through either of these ports.

We were in Spain last May and used Vueling airlines for most of our travel. By booking well in advance we were able to fly for less than the cost of a bus. The only limit is that you need to use very small roller boards to meet their carry-on bag limits. And you need to pack light.

Since you are a family of six, another option with Vueling is to buy a check-on bag ticket when you purchase your other tickets and you or your wife can carry a large roller board bag to hold the bulky, heavy items you might be bringing with you.

In each city, you need to figure out how to get to and from the airport. In Madrid and Seville there are buses. In Barcelona, there's a train. Overall, flying takes about as long as the train, especially since there are now high speed rail links between major cities.

I definitely would not rent a car, and I think your original plan is the best. Just visit three cities. Any one of them could keep you busy for a month.

Have fun.