Travel from Toledo to Sevilla - looking for most efficient travel route.

You're right about the train route: Toledo's on a spur line connected only to Madrid so you have to return to Madrid before heading south to Seville. However, both the Toledo-Madrid train and the Madrid-Seville train are fast. You'll simply make a connection at Atocha Station. Although it's disappointing to have to return to Madrid, the distance between Toledo and Seville is nearly 300 miles. If you had a car, the driving time would be at least 5 hours as estimated by ViaMichelin.com.

Honestly, with the time you have available (9 nights), I wouldn't devote 5 nights to Madrid. Seville definitely needs more than 2 nights. Do you have special activities planned in Madrid over the Easter weekend, or have you determined that too many sights in Toledo will be closed during that period? If not, I'd try to move on to Toledo on your arrival day and put all your Madrid nights in one block at the end of the trip. That reduces your hotel stays from 4 to 3, saving some time.

Spain is one country where trains do sometimes sell out. That applies to trains between Madrid and Toledo as well as trains between Madrid and Seville. I'd want to buy all my train tickets in advance to be sure I could travel on the desired days. Buying the Madrid-Seville ticket early will also save a good bit of money.

It's always a guess when you buy train tickets for the day you arrive in Europe; you can't be sure when your flight will actually land and how long it will take you to clear the airport. Fortunately, the rail fare to Toledo is comparatively low--just over 22 euros round trip, I think. Missing that train wouldn't be a financial disaster. In a pinch you could get to Toledo by bus (albeit more slowly) or (at greater expense) by taxi. I don't think a taxi would be a terrible back-up plan in this situation, since you're traveling on a holiday weekend and there are three of you.

Good advice from acraven. Unless you have a specific reason to be in Madrid, you're devoting too much time there. The art museums are fabulous and while I'd love to live there, it's not as interesting for a visitor than Sevilla or Toledo, imho. Two nights in Seville is not nearly enough.

The holiday week will see heightened demand for trains, and they'll sell out earlier than usual. The long-distance train should go on sale about 90 days prior, but maybe earlier as competition from three operators has changed the landscape a bit. Trains between Madrid and Toledo usually don't go on sale until a few weeks to a month before and are a fixed, flat fare. Normally, the risk of selling out there is only for the same day or maybe the day before. But don't underestimate the holiday migrations of Madrileños—but those when you can, too.

I agree with the idea that you might want to give Sevilla another day or two. I'd probably take a night from each Madrid and Toledo to shift to Sevilla. (Unless you maybe went straight to Toledo on arrival—then maybe two nights, and spending the 'landing day' there could make sense.) I realize the holiday may be a factor in some of your timing here.

But please don't lose out on the richness of Madrid by making the mistake of seeing it only as a place for a few large art museums to check off a list. It probably deserves about equal time to Sevilla.

Bus from Toledo to Ciudad Real ?
Then train to Sevilla.

Sometimes there's no alternative (other than a car) to combining bus and train transportation, but that's not the case here, and I see several issues:

• Bus service between Toledo and Ciudad Real seems to be infrequent, based on the info I found online.
• The bus/train combo wouldn't be significantly faster than taking the train back to Madrid and then heading to Seville; it could be slower, depending on the connection time.
• Mixing modes of transportation introduces risk: If the bus is late or cancelled, you could miss your intended train. Because of their exposure to road traffic, buses are more likely to be delayed than trains.
• The bus/train link wouldn't be a protected connection, so if you had to switch to a later train, the cost of a new, last-minute ticket would come out of your pocket.

Just pretend Madrid is east or west of Toledo rather than north. The Toledo-Madrid-Seville trip is actually pretty fast. Don't get hung up on the direction you have to travel initially. There are plenty of situations in Europe where the fastest way to get somewhere is to backtrack from where you are to the nearest big city that has express-train service to your desired destination. The spur line to Toledo calls for a similar approach.

I'm going from Toledo to Madrid in a couple of weeks. Taking the train back to Atocha station in Madrid, then transferring to a train to Seville.

Hello,

Happy 2024!

Thanks for the advice. Based on your suggestions, I have changed our itinerary to add an extra day in Sevilla.
Since we are closing in on the two months before departure day, I am working on pre-purchasing train tickets for travel from:

1) Madrid to Toledo (Monday, April 1, 2024)
2) Toledo to Sevilla (via Atocha station in Madrid) (Wednesday, April 3)
3) Sevilla to Madrid (Saturday, April 6)

I am looking for help with the following questions.

• How much time do we need to be at the station before departure? Are there security checkpoints? Do we have to check-in?
• What side of Atocha station do the long distance trains arrive & depart?
• If, by chance, one misses their ticketed/reserved train, can you exchange your ticket for a later train?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Jeff