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Difficult finding flight itinerary for Best of Spain in 14 Days

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Navigating websites Kayak, Iberia, etc., etc. is making me pull my hair out!

Seattle to Barcelona - Oct 4, 2018 (This works well: IcelandAir to Paris CDG then Air France to Barcelona.)
Sevilla to Seattle - Oct 20, 2018

The biggest problem is leaving Sevilla. Seems you have to go to Madrid first. Then I get stuck after that!

We prefer IcelandAir but are not married to it.

Thanks for any and all suggestions,
Kim

Posted by
11056 posts

Madrid to Paris Orly, Paris Orly to Iceland to Seattle.
Take high speed train to Madrid(2 hrs) and you can connect to a train to airport. We took the high speed train and stayed in Madrid a couple of extra nights. Our original flight out of Seville was cancelled so this is what we ended up doing. Nice to have a couple of extra days in Madrid. You could stay at Madrid airport hotel if you stay only one night.

Posted by
1103 posts

The leg from Seattle to Barcelona appears to be on two different airlines. It would be better to book the trip on one ticket with one airline (which might include flights on a partner.

You would have to get from Sevilla to Madrid and stay overnight in Madrid,but this would be cheaper than trying to fly home from Sevilla.

Posted by
4138 posts

I like to use Google Flights to search for flights. You can search for multi-city options, mess around with the results and set up tracking of your favorites so you get an email when things change. The best times and prices for your dates ($1280 multi-city SEA-BCN and MAD-SEA) now seem to be for American and its partners. Interestingly, RT SEA-MAD is only marginally cheaper at $1244.

I saw no 1-stop options from Sevilla, only from Madrid. You can take a fast (2.5 hours, no changes) AVE train from Sevilla Santa Justa to Madrid-Puerta de Atocha. You can see the options using the DB Bahn search engine. Click on "show details," "show intermediate stops" (there may be none) and "show map." I just love the fast trains in Europe. There's something fun about looking up at the screen and seeing that you are traveling at 300 kph.

You'll have to use a different source to purchase the tickets. The Man in Seat 61 has info on that. I've had no trouble with Renfe, but others have and swear by using Loco2.

If this, "IcelandAir to Paris CDG then Air France to Barcelona" means going through Iceland, then to Paris on one ticket, followed by a separately ticketed flight to Barcelona, I'd be concerned about the layover between flights and the overall length of the trip. Sometimes cheaper is not better.

Having said that, going from Seattle to Spain and back for $1280 seems pretty cheap to me. About 14 hours to BCN and 17 back to SEA also sounds good. I'd do that with the AVE train transfer from Sevilla to Madrid. I'd make that transfer on 10/19, spending the night in Madrid or at the airport depending on how soon I'd need to be at the airport on 10/20 for the flight.

Posted by
11034 posts

Seattle to Barcelona - Oct 4, 2018 (This works well: IcelandAir to Paris CDG then Air France to Barcelona.)

How much time are you giving yourself in Paris to make the transfer?

I realize your question is about your return, but your arrival has potential dangers, depending on how much time you have given yourself.

Here is a one stop each way on Delta--- no idea what your cost is for what you have been looking at---- perhaps when you add up the 'extra' flights or trains it may be competitive

Flights
THU04OCT
SEA 1:19 PM
to BCN 11:30 AMArrives Next Day
Flight Number DL 34,
Flight Number DL 83921
Travel Time 13h 11m 1 stop
Main Cabin (V) |
Economy (V)

View Details of DL 34 DL 8392

SAT20OCT
BCN 12:10 PM
to SEA 10:02 PM
Flight Number DL 477,
Flight Number DL 863
Travel Time 18h 52m 1 stop
View Details of DL 477 DL 863

Price Overview
Price per Passenger
$1,587.00
Taxes, Fees and Charges
$122.91
Total Price (USD)
$1,709.

Posted by
15560 posts

Sevilla is a tiny airport. It's a 3- hour train ride to Madrid. You could spend your last day seeing Cordoba including the wonderful Mezquita (45 minute train from SEvilla, store your luggage in the bus station across the street). Then another 2 hours by train to Madrid for the night.

Posted by
440 posts

The AvE train to Madrid is the fast option if you do not want to change flights a couple of times. Also Delta fly from Malaga to NYC if you wanted to change there.

Posted by
4025 posts

You can let the Internet do more of your research. Instead of trying to sort out individual flights yourself, you can use a multi-city search function which will show you many options. No site covers all airlines, but matrix.itasoftware.com (in my opinion) covers a lot, especially trans-Atlantic. It only provides information, without selling tickets. It is owned by Google but, unscientifically, appears to offer more than Google's own sales site. There are plenty of commercial agencies; I like cheapoair.com for ease of use. They will provide complete itineraries and then you can make your choice.

Posted by
1103 posts

Multi city flights are usually a good idea. Sometimes regular round trips work well too. For example, if you adjusted your travel dates to 10/3 -10/21 you could fly Seattle-Barcelona round trip for $631 on Aer Lingus.

Posted by
5471 posts

Are you willing to spend a night or two in another city before you fly back to Seattle?

When I took this tour, I ended up taking the train to Madrid, spending the night in Madrid, and then flying back to the U.S.

Another option that I considered was getting a cheap flight from Sevilla to London and then spending my last night in London before flying home. Easyjet has flights from Sevilla to London Gatwick.

Posted by
8094 posts

Seville to Dublin on Ryanair.
Dublin to Seatac non-stop on AerLingus.

Posted by
2699 posts

We also took the train to Madrid and enjoyed another day there, a very late dinner, and flew out the next day. We got a good rate at the hotel we stayed in with the tour. Interestingly, the room was a much better one compared to the drab threadbare room we had on the tour. If we had a few days we might have flown elsewhere in Europe, but for an overnight this was easiest.

Posted by
210 posts

Feel your pain. Although Seattle was not my final destination.....flying out of Sevilla was just clunky. After reading all of the recommendations on Cordoba/Mezquita, I opted to take a train to Cordoba. I will spend one night in Cordoba and enjoy a more leisurely visit there. I will then train to Madrid and spend two nights there. This will give me a full day in Madrid to celebrate my first annual Tapa/Churro Festival.....lol.