Just returned from an almost two-week trip to Spain and will do a trip report soon. But I wanted to do a quick thumbs up on all the public transportation I took.
Vueling & Volotea are both low-cost airlines but you wouldn't know it from their nice planes and on-time service. DH and I flew from London Gatwick to Bilbao on Vueling and from San Sebastian to Valencia on Volotea. I paid for our checked luggage in advance. Prices weren't dirt-cheap but were entirely reasonable. I ordinarily take trains once I've arrived in a country, but it was something like six hours by train from San Sebastian to Valencia compared to a 50-minute flight!
We took the bus from Bilbao to San Sebastian. Very comfortable with reserved seats. Spanish buses aren't like American Greyhound buses. Even though the route was on the highway it was still quite scenic. It made me wish we had weeks to explore the Basque country rather than five days. Another trip.
We took the Ave train from Valencia to Madrid. Two hours! Because we'd purchased the tickets over a month in advance we bought first class. It wasn't necessary but only a few euros more so why not? If you don't already have a link, I recommend checking out the Man in Seat 61 website. It tells you absolutely everything you want to know about European trains.
I love the freedom of taking public transportation in Spain. It's safe and comfortable, we can stay right in the city centers without parking hassles.
Now the rain in Spain last week is a whole other story. To be continued when I recover from jet lag.