Salema to Sevilla bus and train options?

There is no train. The direct bus from Lagos or Faro to Sevilla is operated www.damas-sa.es and eva-bus.com. If you have Rick's guidebooks, see Connections info at the end of either relevant chapter.

You may already be aware of this and have discounted it, but I don't remember seeing any positive comments about Salema on this forum in the last 2-3 years. Folks have reported that it has been spoiled through overdevelopment. I believe there are better options for time on the Algarve if you feel you must go there.

Tavira is one place that has drawn more positive comments. It's relatively close to the Spanish border and seems to have more bus links with Seville.

You can use Rome2Rio.com to find links to the websites of companies operating buses between Salema and Seville (probably with a change in Lagos). Just keep clicking through until you find a link. Don't trust the fares, travel times or frequencies on the Rome2Rio website itself.

There is no rail service between Faro and Seville unless you count the 26-hour(!) overnight routing that involves at least four transfers, including Lisbon and Badajoz.

I too would recommend Tavira over Salema, particularly if you haven’t got a car.

In October, the buses are on their winter timetable, so the schedule is significantly reduced and you would have to take a bus from Salema to Lagos and another to Seville. It’s going to take most of the day for this journey. You have already been directed to the relevant websites.

Thank you all for the fast and helpful replies! We are not driving, but relying on public transport. The bigger picture is we will be going to Lisbon and Sevilla. A laid back beach break sounded great on paper but Salema is a big dog leg and the transport connections esp between Portugal and Spain are not as straightforward as we imagined. Our thoughts are now to take in Sintra and Cascais close to Lisbon for a few nights then fast train to Sevilla via Madrid (and possibly Cordoba for a night on the way). [TL;DR we live in Australia, we have beaches... same same but different, so maybe somewhere like Tavira "next time"].

I like the new plan a lot better, but unfortunately there is no fast train between Lisbon and Madrid. There's a day-train routing that takes 11 hours (plus 1 hour for the time change). It requires three changes. There's a night train that takes 10-1/2 hours (plus the 1-hour time change) but requires no changes. And those trains just get you to Madrid; you still have to go to Seville.

Flying is the way to go, though you're probably too late to snag a low fare. Check skyscanner.com for flight options.

Again, thanks for the fast reply! Well, I guess you can tell we are new to this, so back to google. The night train sounds romantic if there are sleeping berths, and would save a nights accomodation, I'll check that out. And as you recommend look at the flights as well.

There are sleeping berths, but spend some time Googling to see if you can find some comments on the comfort level. At every stop, there will be deceleration, bumping, noise and then acceleration. It doesn't usually make for a very restful night. And any sleeping accommodation above the level of a couchette (padded ledge) is usually rather expensive, though I don't know about this particular train.

When I went back to the Deutsche Bahn website to check on how many stops there are, and at what time, I found no listing for the night train I saw before--an artifact of the particular random dates I chose during the two look-ups. So the first thing to do is plug your actual travel date into either the Deutsche Bahn or Renfe website to see whether the night train even exists for your date. Perhaps the train runs in September but not in October, or only on weekends.

I have to correct what I said in the earlier post about the length of the trip: It's 10 hours (plus the 1-hour time change) if you look at the time from the final departure point in Lisbon (Oriente Station) to the arrival at Madrid-Charmartin. But based on the list of stops for September 13th, you won't be getting much sleep:

Entroncamento 22:30
Caxarias 22:49
Pombal 23:06
Coimbra-B 23:32

Next day:
Santa Comba Dao 00:16
Mangualde 00:46
Celorico da Beira 01:20
Guarda(P) 01:45
Vilar Formoso 02:35
Fuentes de Onoro 03:40
Ciudad Rodrigo 03:59
Salamanca 04:56
Medina del Campo 06:18
Avila 07:05
Madrid-Chamartin 08:40

Thanks again. For 2 adults total;
Loco2 website has the night train with 2 bed sleeper 203 Euro (244 with WC and shower) , Madrid to Seville 94 Euro (2 1/2 hours). So ~300 Euro for trip + accom and a day and a half gone.

A quick look on skyscanner; Lisbon to Seville is 207 Euro (just 1 hr 15 mins), add in taxi/uber. Our accommodation budget is to aim <100 Euro per night.

So cost is a wash - the question is whether to trade the time for a train trip? It dos not look like the Orient Express ;) so I think the plane...

Believe me, that train trip would not be anything special, except in the negative sense. Being woken up at every train stop would leave you brain-dead the next day (and possibly still subnormal the day after). There are far too many stops to hope for any reasonable amount of sleep. I know whereof I speak; a few years ago I took a night train from Rome to Sicily. The next day was a total loss; after a sleepless night I fell into bed as soon as I got the key to my room, and of course my sleep schedule was messed up after that.