Hi, looking to travel between Granada and Segovia in the spring or fall and wondering if anyone has a route preference as to going south to north, or north to south? We would probably be flying into/out of Madrid and Malaga. We are not concerned about the start of the trip, but looking for good public transit options to get back to whichever airport we are flying out of in a timely manner. That would also factor into which direction we make the trip in.
Posted by
Midwest
2768 posts
Can you fly out of Granada? The airport is small but has several flights to Madrid and Barcelona each day. From there you can connect home. This would be the easiest and the one time I did it it was not much more expensive than Malaga. Cheaper when I factored in transport.
Otherwise you will need to travel 1-2 hours before your flight to get to the airport - Madrid for Segovia, Malaga for Granada. This would require a flight later in the day. Perhaps that is what to look at - which airport has afternoon flights to your destination.
Posted by
72 posts
I cannot recommend a specific route but would advise that driving across that large of a country will take some time. We drove from Barcelona to Granada - although there were some nice spots along the way - I would not do that again. It just wasn't worth the time commitment.
Again I have not driven this specific route and there may be some good reasons to drive and stop along the way.
PS - Have you read Iberia by James Michener? A terrific book - nonfiction and he speaks to some of these more remote areas of Spain.
Cheers.
Posted by
OP
Ontario, Canada
92 posts
sorry, I didn't indicate specifically enough that we are not only taking public transit to/from the airports, but also for the whole trip.
We are looking at either Granada-Seville-Cordoba-Toledo-Segovia or vice versa. I'm not as concerned about after we land so much as making sure we have a fairly easy connection back to either the Malaga or Madrid airports for the return flight; probably flying Air France out of whichever we choose as they offer decent pricing and an overall trip time that is reasonable back to Canada from both Malaga and Madrid. Any more specific comments about each of above-mentioned destinations is also welcome!
Posted by
72 posts
Douglas
I LOVE Granada. It is a great little city with interesting sights and people. Bonus - if you buy a cana (small beer) or glass of wine - you get a free tapa. And most places (avoid the touristy squares) are very generous. We spent an afternoon doing a cana walk around the city - stopping at little hole in the wall places. We had fried fish (twice) and paella - for 5 of us I think this cost around 25 euro's and we had 3-4 rounds of beer and wine.
Granada is fascinating - do a little research on this area before you go and it will really enhance your trip. And if you can - visit the Alpujarra region just south of Granada. Beautiful white mountain villages and delicious jamon.
Cheers
Posted by
California 🦋
5222 posts
Douglas,
This is the route we took last October.
We used only public transportation.
Landed in Madrid>> AVE train directly to Córdoba >> bus to Granada>> bus to Sevilla >> AVE train to Madrid then AVANT train to Toledo. We did not stay in Madrid since we'd visited in the past.
We did, however spent night before our flight at a hotel near the airport that offfered a free shuttle to the airport.
Traveling to/from Barajas airport is fairly straightforward via bus or Cercanias train. We opted for the Cercanias train since it was easy & free with out connecting AVE train ticket.
You may want to book your train tickets at considerable savings in advance ( 60- 90 days): http://www.renfe.com
We did not visit Segovia on this trip, but you can easily get there via train from Madrid.
Make sure to book your Alhambra tickets 2-3 months in advance ;-)
Enjoy your trip!