My partner and I are traveling in May/June. Madrid to Seville, Seville to Granada, then Granada to Barcelona. What's the best way to travel between cities? I'm assuming train, but what about between Granada and Barcelona? Air?
Thanks for the help.
Rob
There is also Flixbus between cities in Europe. Maybe someone on this site has used them. They appear to be like airport shuttles, except that they are to and from city centers.
Buses in Spain are generally very good, but the high speed trains are so much faster. I'd suggest the train, Granada to Barcelona is 6:30 by train though so flying might be an option.
Madrid to Seville—the train is the way to go. Either IRYO or Renfe. Seville to Granada—the Alsa bus takes 15 minutes longer than the train and costs half as much. Granada to Seville— fly to save time as there are no direct high-speed trains.
www.IRYO.eu/en
www.Renfe.com
www.Alsa.com
For airfares and schedules: www.Skyscanner.com
Train would probably be easiest for most legs, and could be used for all.
Madrid to Seville is a direct train, about 3 hours.
Seville to Granada usually requires a change in Cordoba, but some trains are direct, also about 3 hours.
Granada to Barcelona is less straight forward. There may be buses, but train would be faster. Basically the route is Granada to Madrid, then Madrid to Barcelona. Each leg is 3 hours, maybe a bit more, but leave a decent buffer in Madrid to change trains, so plan maybe 7 hours. That is long enough that flying might be tempting, certainly look, there are direct flights by both Vueling and Iberia, takes 1 hour 30 minutes, but figure close to a half hour to get to the airport outside Granada, being there two hours early, then about a half hour to get to Barcelona center from the airport, so really, 4 1/2 hours, but still saving you 2-3 hours over the train.
If train is not available, consider buses as a modern, cheap, reliable, clean, safest and frequent alternative to train, frequently overlooked by US visitors, IMO for no logical reason at all.
Madrid-Sevilla - railway. Renfe, Iryo and Ouigo all run that route with fast services taking under 3 hours. If you look on the trainline.com all three operators will be shown, so you can find the best departure time/price for you. You can then book direct with the rail company if you prefer.
Sevilla-Granada - pretty much a toss-up between coach (operated by Alsa) and rail (operated by Renfe). The train is more comfortable perhaps, but there are more frequent coach services each day. Some rail service will also involve a change along the way.
Granada-Barcelona - fly. Granada airport is fairly small and easy to get to from the city centre. Barcelona airport also has good connections into its city.
