Maybe Reconsider

This may not be what you want to hear, but if your plan is to leave Madrid on the 24th and be in Lisbon in the afternoon on the 25th, then I would forget going via anywhere in Andalucia and instead go direct. Did you mean "next day on 25th" or have I misunderstood? If you really do want to do this, however, you might I suppose look at the express trains from Madrid to Sevilla and then see if TAP have a flight from Sevilla Airport to Lisbon next day since that seems to be a route.

It's hard to tell because you don't provide more details, but...it sounds like you're planning to "pass through" Granada with an overnight there. What are your plans for seeing the Alhambra?

Granada and Seville are must-see stops if you're in this region (Cordoba, too). How exactly are you budgeting your time?

The Mezquita in Cordoba was IMHO the best thing we saw in Spain and we also so the Alcazar in Seville and the Alhambra in Granada. I would not miss that. No point going to Granada unless you are making time for the Alhambra and that is most of a day.

Thanks for the information. Yes, my description was a bit "veiled". I''' fill in some gaps. We'll spend several days and nights in Barcelona, a day and night in Zaragoza, another couple days in Madrid, with an additional day trip to Toledo, then begin our trip on October 24.

Our original question had to do with the time from early morning on the 24th until the evening on the 25th. As we were planning the original itinerary, we checked the train from Madrid to Granada, the duration is approximately 5-1/2 hours (part of the route on the AVE). It appears there's a train that departs around at 9:00 and another at 11:00 hrs and both arrive in Granada around 5-1/2 hours later. We thought we'd familiarize our selves with the city, have dinner and get up early the next morning to visit the Alhambra. We'd plan to pre-purchase tickets and arrive at opening time (8:30) and plan to spend 4-5 hours there. Then go back to the hotel, pick up our luggage and head for the airport. We didn't check specific flights, but it appears as though the trip from Granada to Madrid and then to Lisbon would take about 5-3/4 hours (including a layover in Madrid). This would have us arriving in Lisbon around 20:00 hr, or thereabouts.

The "reconsider" part of the original question had to do with the 11 or so hours transportation getting from Madrid to Granada to Lisbon. The train from Madrid to Cordoba is about 1-3/4 hour and from Cordoba to Seville (by train) and Seville to Lisbon is about 4-1/2 hr. A total of around 7-1/4 hours. (better than 11, but still a lot of time moving).

The train from Madrid to Seville is around 2-1/2 hr. and the trip from Seville to Lisbon (bus and flight) is around 3-1/2 hrs or about 6 hrs.

So, rephrased, it it worth 3-1/2 hours more travel time to visit the Alhambra rather than to visit Cordoba, or is it worth 5 hours more travel time to visit the Alhambra rather than Seville?

I realize there are more details to work out on all the options, but this "first-pass" at least made us think we should at least ponder the three options and get some feed-back on this forum.

Shame on me. I am aware it is GrAnada, not GrEnada

My feeling is that all of those trip options are going to take more time than you're estimating, what with getting to and from train stations and airports. I wouldn't do any of them; I'd opt for a day-trip to Segovia instead. That would be a decent amount of time for Segovia. You don't really have enough time for Seville or Granada. Second choice: day-trip to Cordoba.