Looking at the Best of Spain Tour for October 2025. Was wondering how previous tour members have flown back to the States? Do folks return to Barcelona, if so what transportation do you use? Or fly out of Sevilla. My home port is SFO so I don’t expect to get a direct from Sevilla.
Thanks.
I took the AVE train from Sevilla to Madrid. Stayed another night in Madrid. Then flew home from Madrid to LAX. Or you could check to see if a SFO flight would line up well if you didn't want to stay an extra night in Madrid. I really enjoyed Madrid, so it was a good way for me to segue to my trip home.
Chances are you'll need to fly to one of the big European gateway cities to get a regularly scheduled flights non-stop into SFO. Right now, there are some "seasonal" flights out of Spain, but who knows if the dates would line up with your needs this far out.
Right now, TAP Air Portugal flies from Seville to Lisbon and there's a non-stop flight into San Francisco from there. I didn't check the times or days of service to see if they line up for you, however.
It's a little early right now to figure out your best flight options.
We took the first flight out of Seville to Madrid onto Boston. No problems at all - hotel arranged for taxi and had a bagged breakfast for us. Worked out great and got our travel over with in one day. No fog delays ;). Friends we made on the tour did Seville to LAX. Worst was a couple that flew Seville,-LHR-Toronto-SeaTac. They had to be at work on Monday and they made it!
There were a few that AVE’d back to Madrid so that works too.
I also took the train to Madrid and spent an extra night there before taking a flight back to the U.S. That gave me an extra afternoon in Madrid to see one of the museums that I missed on the tour stop. There weren’t a lot of great options for connecting flights out of Sevilla for me and by going back to Madrid I was able to get a non-stop flight home.
I did the same thing as Laura. The train from Sevilla is easy and there are usually several other tour members going to the station at the same time so you can share a cab (if you need one). There are also direct flights from Sevilla to many places - you can do a Google flights search (one way) from Sevilla to "anywhere" and select the date you would be flying. This search brings up a map that shows all the options, which you can further refine for non-stop flights or specific airlines. Many of the flights are on low cost carriers, so you'd need to be mindful of baggage restrictions, etc.
I somewhat regret not making time to stop in Cordoba on the way back, but I didn't have the spare time. In hindsight it was a good thing because it was during the Iceland volcanic eruption disruption period and I would have been unable to get home.
We're on the BOS tour this September, flying round-trip from NC in and out of Madrid. It was the easiest and cheapest way for us to travel. We land in Madrid in the morning and immediately take the high speed train to Zaragoza for two nights before heading to Barcelona. At the end of the tour, we're taking the high speed train from Seville to Madrid for two nights before heading back home.
By expanding your airport search, you may have the opportunity to visit cities you'd miss on tour.
Not specific to this tour, but I like to end my trips at a large enough airport that I can get a direct flight to a US city, in your case, that is likely Madrid (Could be Barcelona, but that is a longer train ride...that goes through Madrid). Direct to SFO would be nice, but even an interim stop in the US is better than a stop in Europe on your way home.
One big advantage of a direct flight is that you can get a departure at a reasonable time, 10 AM or later. I have seen too many posts on here of people who book flights from small airports, than ask how they can get to the airport at 3 AM for an early flight.
Great thread, thanks for posting. I just booked Best of Spain for September 2025. First time Rick Steves traveler. It looks like a train from Sevilla to Madrid might save money, but looking at American, flying out of MAD vs SVQ is near the same. That said, I’m using Sep 2024 for comparison as I can’t see Sep 2025 until October.
Since I had extra time after the tour, I took a train to Cordoba and then to Madrid, with several nights altogether. The tour doesn't include Cordoba, and spends only one full day in Madrid. You may need to get home sooner than I did. Returning to Barcelona for a flight home would make sense only if you could get an easier or cheaper homebound itinerary from there than from Seville. Living near Seattle, I always end up going through London, Paris, Frankfurt, or Amsterdam, but with SFO you probably have more choices.
TAP offers a flight Lisbon from Sevilla. In Lisbon you might have better chances of getting a flight that suits you best
I have the tour later this year. I chose to stay in London prior to and post tour to get over my jetlag at the beginning and at the end to unwind a bit - because having two sets of tickets was much cheaper than flying directly from Seattle to Barcelona and then back from Sevilla. The 'direct' there and back would have had me stopping in London for a few hours.
I flew from SVG to LIS, spent the night at the Melia Airport Hotel because I had an early departure back to SFO.
We taking this tour in September. It was easy (and cheaper) to fly in/out of Madrid. When we land in Madrid, we're taking the high-speed train to Zaragoza for two nights, then on to Barcelona for two nights (pre-tour).
