Spain

There is a very fast AVE train from Barcelona to Madrid. I took a picture of the digital speed in our car when it hit 300 KPH. This is only one of many websites that can provide information on it: http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/transport/barcelona-madrid-train.html. I gotta run, but I'm sure others will chime in here with more detail.

How much time to spend at either end is really a personal choice. Personally, I would go into Barcelona at least two days prior to the tour. Allow a couple of days to adjust to jet lag on your own time. You can easily send several days sightseeing in and around Barcelona. And the same for Madrid. As min at least two full days. Does the RS tour begin and end in Barcelona?

Sandy,

I'd also suggest at least two days (or perhaps three?) in Barcelona prior to the start of the tour. There's a LOT to see and you'll need some time to get over jet lag. If you book the same hotel used by the tour, you won't have to change locations when the tour starts. I took the My Way Spain tour in June, so the details are still somewhat "fresh" in my memory.

As earlier replies indicated, the AVE high speed trains are the Spanish equivalent to the TGV (France) and Freccia (Italy) trains. They travel at up to 300 kmH, so it's often faster to use these rather than a budget airline.

The RS Spain tour ends in Sevilla, and it's easy to get from there back to Madrid via AVE train. Travel time is about 2H:30M. I believe you'll depart from Sevilla Santa Justa and arrive at Madrid Puerta de Atocha (it's important to know the stations if buying tickets online). Your Guide will co-ordinate departure of all tour members at the end of the tour and provide information on travel arrangements.

For travel in Barcelona, be sure to brush-up on your Catalan, and your Spanish for other parts of Spain.

¡Buen viaje!

Allow plenty of time to see the Prado museum but also Do NOT miss the Thyssen Bornemisza Art museum...just incredible..went twice in three days. Barcelona is fun but Madrid is incredible!!

Regarding the Prado in Madrid, on the fully guided RS Spain tour the group will be given an excellent tour of the facility, either with the lead Guide or an exceptional local Guide. At the conclusion of that, I believe tour members are free for the afternoon and evening so could either stay longer at the Prado or visit other sites.

Cheers!

I don't know how much time the RS tour devotes to Barcelona but you can easily be there for 4 days and not see everything in the city alone. So if the RS tour devotes only 2 days to Barcelona I would add two. Just make sure your total days in Barcelona (on your own and with the tour) is a total of four days.
The AVE train will take you to Madrid in less than 3 hours. Budget flights are another option. It can be cheaper and faster by plane, but once you in factor in the cost and time of transferring to the airport and the airport security procedures, the train is often a better bargain and even faster.

Sevilla is my favorite city in Spain. Smaller but beautiful and full of life. If the RS tour devotes less than three days to it, you could add some time to the back end of your trip as well and an extra day or two to Sevilla.

We took the RS Spain tour in October this year. It was one of the best out of 7 RS tours. Two extra days in Barcelona is plenty.
When the tour ended we took an early afternoon fast train to Madrid for our flight home the next day. Stayed near the airport and
used their free shuttle to the airport.