Cordoba to Granada

Curiously, it is a confusing answer to your straightforward question: the Rome2rio website says the bus is 25 minutes faster than the train!? And Spanish trains go about 200 mph (in the straightaways), so why the train would be slower isn't obvious at first.

Now 3 weeks ago we were home basing in Sevilla (to minimize hotel changes) and we day-tripped to Granada on a Viator day trip by private bus, a long day but it was worth it for us. We had arranged the Viator trip a couple months in advance and it was very convenient, which is why we used the Viator tour.

But what I'm getting to is this: At one point the bus was going near what appeared to be a modern, new train track, and the guide chuckled and said: see the new train track over there? Due to some political or other problem (he wasn't specific), the new fast train is not allowed to operate on the new express line that would probably cut the travel time in half between Cordoba and Granada. I understood him to say that people who take the train are taken to Antequera, and then transferred to a bus to complete the trip to Granada, and that the buses only run every couple of hours!

Admittedly, this sounds odd and maybe I have it wrong. But the Rome2rio site appears to confirm what I heard, giving 2hr:45min for the bus, 3 hrs:10min for the train from Cordoba to Sevilla, and 2hrs:5min for driving. Buses taking longer than driving makes sense since the buses presumably make more stops than a driver, who might stop once or not at all.

I figured I'd better give you a heads up on this apparently odd situation.

I also answered your other question re Sevilla to Cordoba.

As stated, the train tracks have been ready for some years, and despite dangling start dates in front of anxious travellers, it doesn't come to fruition. So, train to Granada requires a Renfe sponsored bus from Antequera to Granada....keep in mind, it is part of your train ticket and they take care of it all. It arrives at the 'train' station closer to downtown Granada. The bus station is a little distance from tourist area of Granada, so requires a longer taxi ride or the simple local bus.
If the train ever gets activated, it would be faster, but for today, bus seems to be the way to go.
For planning Rome2Rio website can be helpful.

Tickets for the new Madrid-Granada AVE route are due to go on sale on 3/June, with the first services from "around" 24/June. These services will stop at Cordoba. So if you're not travelling until before late June, you might as well wait a week or so and see if this happens.

Our AVE train a few weeks ago showed the train speed on the monitor in our train car: our AVE train from Sevilla to Barcelona went 300-310 kph at least half the time, if not more than half, and that's about 190 mph). Covered about 700 miles in 5.5 hours, even with a stops.
That's at least twice as fast as driving and 3 times faster than a bus.
And it's as fast, if not faster, than flying when you consider you don't have to do any of the airport pain stuff (security, getting to airport, etc)--the train takes you from city center to city center.

If you book the trains a couple of months in advance, the cost is not higher than other options, considering the time saved.

My mom and I took the ALSA bus from Córdoba to Granada a few years ago.
We then took a taxi to our hotel.
There’s also a city bus that you can take.

Have a wonderful trip!

We also took the ALSA bus from Cordoba to Granada in 2017. We then took a taxi from the bus station to our hotel. Taxis are inexpensive in Spain. The ALSA bus was modern, clean, comfortable, and air conditioned. No complaints!

Hello...you also have services with private local drivers, it's perfect because you can have sightseeing, we always use in this trips. Just search in bing or Google.