Travel in Spain

Pradeed,

I would not recommend buying a rail pass for you planned itinerary.
You can book you train tickets directly on

Renfe.com and make sure you pay with a PayPal account and not with your credit card.

Regarding your itinerary...
Barcelona is a beautiful city but it’s also very large with many amazing sites to keep you busy for at least 3-4 days.
I see you’re only planning to spend two nights there so this will only give you one full day there. I’d suggest allocating at least another night to Barcelona to give you at least two full days.

Did you book your Alhambra ticket already? If not, make sure tickets are still available as you’ll be very disappointed if you travel all the way to Granada and can’t visit it’s main attraction.

Since you plan 4 nights in Sevilla (3 full days), I’d suggest only taking a day trip to Córdoba. Ronda is too far as a day trip and you’ll need those two extra days to visit Sevilla.

Here are a few other useful websites you’ll want to read prior to booking your train tickets:

• Seat61.com/Spain
• Buying Renfe tickets online

Enjoy your trip!

I'm with Priscilla. I would not travel all the way to Barcelona for just one full day and a few hours. You have only 11 nights, and I don't think that's enough time to hit three large cities plus Granada, which is more awkward to get to than the other destinations. I'd hold off on Barcelona till your next opportunity to see it, when you can devote a more reasonable amount of time to the city and the many attractions of the surrounding area.

You might spend a couple of nights in Ronda, or you could add the time to Madrid to allow for visits to both Toledo and Segovia. Cuenca is also a great day-trip if you're not too late to snag a cheap fare on the AVE from Madrid. Note that it will probably be quite a bit chillier in the Madrid area than down in Andalucía.

I think you'll find that buying individual tickets is less expensive than a rail pass. Check the fares for your dates on Renfe.com. The Promo fares available far in advance are usually a lot cheaper than the Flexible fares offered at the last minute. You can save some money by purchasing Promo tickets once you're absolutely certain of the days and times you want to travel. Those tickets may not be available much longer, because they will be snapped by others.

For your day-trips, always consider buying a round-trip ticket. In Spain, a round trip is sometimes about the same price as the one-way fare.

Pradeep,

I just read your other posts and I agree with David’s suggested itinerary on this post.

Yes, I think spending just 2 nights in Barcelona is registered as a crime against humanity.

For others, this is a classic example where an open-jaw/multi-city ticket probably would have cheaper and provided more time for Barcelona. You best mode of travel will be train.

Thank you for all suggestions.
Which is the best site to buy a ticket to the Alhambra palace

Best regards,

Pradeep

You might find the information on this web page useful for background. Unfortunately, there are lots of advertisements.

Ticketmaster is the official ticket agent for the Alhambra. At the moment I don't see any way to buy tickets, so I wonder whether that means that all the tickets have been sold for the days placed on sale so far. Perhaps there's another explanation, but I know that the tickets often sell out very early. Edit: See Priscilla's posting two steps down for a link to the new(?) ticket source.

We went through our hotel. It is my understanding that a small number of tickets are reserved for hotel guests that the hotels can purchased for their quests. And that was a couple of years ago.

Pradeep,

You can book your Alhambra tickets on the official website tickets.alhambra-patronato.es/en.

I just checked and it looks like there are still tickets available for January 13.

You will want to book your tickets soon since the first 5-6 days of January are already sold out!

For future reference... It’s best to book Alhambra tickets up to three months in advance especially if one plans to visit during high season.

Dear Priscilla,

Thank you.

I booked my tickets through the link you sent.

Best regards,

Pradeep

Is it necessary to purchase tickets in advance to
a) the Alcazar
b) see a bull fight
c) see a flamenco show

Best regards,

Pradeep

I went to Seville in September. I pre-booked Casa de la Memoria for a flamenco show before we left on our trip. We enjoyed it so much that we bought tickets the next day to see a show that night. Since you have four nights in Seville, I would just buy tickets when I arrived just to give you more flexibility.

Bull ‘fighting’ does not take place in January.

You only need to buy tickets to a flamenco show a day in advance or even same day, but early as they often sell out. My favorite is La Casa del Flamenco. I don't think you need to by Alcazar tickets in advance either.

Thank you Chani

Best regards

Pradeep

A big thanks to all of you for the suggestions.
We had a memorable trip covering as much as possible. We even went for a Copa Del Rey football match Atletico Madrid vs Seville.

Best regards,

Pradeep

Pradeepmenen,

It's great to hear that you enjoyed your trip!
Which city became your favorite?

Have you considered writing a trip report?
I'd love to read about the experiences you had in Spain.

Hasta Luego!

It also gladdens me to read that you had a memorable trip., and how wonderful that you saw a football match. Now to start thinking of your next trip.

I hope to write a trip report soon.
Difficult to pinpoint to single place as the favorite but I would love to go back to Seville and Barcelona.

Best regards,

Pradeep