Barcelona Travel Forum

Hi Guys,

Arriving in barca on Aug21 and by Aug 28 need to visit Cordoba, granada and then to madrid to leave for home, canada.

What is the best way to get to those cities in spain with minimum travel time?

I've looked at rail europe. If i buy a 3day 2month rail pass first class for spain, does this mean I can use it to travel in first class in AVE or regular renfe trains depending on what is available to the destinations.

Eurail and Raileurope are not train operators. They are ticketing agencies and charge commission for tickets which they sell. Eurail passes are no longer the budget option they once were.

To find out on which trains you can use the pass you will have to look at the relevant Raileurope details. You may well have to pay extra for seat reservations, sleeper/couchettes and to travel on the faster trains (there is often a supplement involved). You still need to make reservations, if required, even with a pass.....you can't just turn up and use it.

Many people find that the total of their potential point-to-point fares is cheaper than the cost of the pass, so it is worth checking your point-to-point total.

www.renfe.es is the Spanish railway site. It also has an English version here:

http://www.renfe.es/horarios/english/index.html

Total tourist class (i.e. 'normal') fares for your itinerary is from around 155 euro, first class from around 227 euro (depends on train departure time/type).

I have not travelled on Spanish trains but imo it is unnecessary to travel first-class elsewhere in Europe....you pay a lot more for not very much difference. I doubt Spain is different but hopefully someone who has used Spanish trains will comment.

I did almost he same trip last month from Pakistan!
No rail europe or euro rail please!
Barcelona to Granada: catch a flight, Vueling Air runs on this route with amazing prices. I use www.skyscanner.net for searching and then book directly from the carrier's website. Vueling is a low cost, no frill airline but reliable and not-too-stringent. I did this rout for just 30 euros and paid 5 extra for my luggage. It was a great deal as train/bus takes more than 10 hours and costs more than this.
Granada to Cordoba: don't do anything but bus, easy and cheap, 2 hours and less than 15 euros. no need to book until you are there in Granada. frequnt and easy to book.
Cordoba to Madrid: there you have options. train is the best but is expensive unless you get discounted advance ticket which are difficult to get because of hasslesome booking process of renfe, the official train operator. It will cost you more than 50 euros. Bus takes 5 hours but is cheap, there is an overnight bus that may save you the cost of night stay.
Btw, feel free to ask me anything about this trip, I have some great tips for you.
I will also suggest you to do more cities in Andalucia, if time allows.
And believe me it will be an unmatched experience for you, just plan well and make most out of your time!
Best wishes from Pakistan!

Hey Mozambus:

Thanks for the great tips bro. Listen, do you have any recommendations for hotels in Barcelona and Granada? No bed bugs etc..

Also what did you visit in these places? Are tour buses worth it?

Also where did you get really tasty food.. cheap and expensive. I'd like to try one top restaurant.

Hi
look at www.aena.es - you can see airlines flying B-G-(M)
if you want to see AlHambra , book tickets in advance (in the morning)
I cannot tell you much about restaurants, but you'll not starve in Spain
:D

thanks Imran, below are some more tips/suggestions, hope they will help:
Site Seeing: Alhambra Palace is the climax of Andalucia, so I will first give some tips about visiting Alhambra.
located in Granada, Alhambra is one of the top tourist attractions around. One needs to dedicate one full day to Alhambra. As one poster suggested, you need to book in advance through internet via credit cc

thanks Imran, below are some more tips/suggestions, hope they will help:
Site Seeing: Alhambra Palace is the climax of Andalucia, so I will first give some tips about visiting Alhambra.
located in Granada, Alhambra is one of the top tourist attractions around. One needs to dedicate one full day to do Alhambra. As one poster suggested, you need to book in advance through internet via credit card. This is not a mere suggestion but a near compulsion. There are three sessions: morning, afternoon, and evening. Morning and afternoon sessions are full sessions and are preferable. Book your session keeping in view your arrival time in Granada. If you are arriving in the morning, you may book afternoon session, or vice versa. Further, keep in mind that Alhambra Palace is a big vicinity within which are located different sites: Gardens, Platio, Alcazar, and the mighty Nasrid Palace. During booking via internet, after you have selected your session, you will be asked for the half an hour slot for Nasrid Palace, which is very crucial. Suppose, you are looking for afternoon shift which starts at 2 pm, while booking you will go through a page showing you half an hour slots for Nasrid Palace to choose one from. I would suggest you to not to choose the 1400 hrs slot, as many people do, and instead book a later time, say 1600 hrs. You need to be there at the entrance of the Nasrid Palace as per your selected slot. Once you enter into Nasrid Palace you may choose to stay there as you like, but if you get in there late they will deny you the entrance. It is not as complicated, once you go through the booking process, as it sounds. What you need is to do it right which you will do. While booking through internet, you will be asked of your credit card details, keep in mind that you need to carry your credit card with you in order to get the tickets from outside of the Alhambra Palace. Internet booking will only show you booking confirmation and not the tickets. Make a print out of the confirmation and keep this with yourself, you may need this paper once you are there. Arrive at Alhambra 15 minutes ahead of your session time. Once you arrive there, you will see ticket machines, you need to put your credit card into the machine which will print you tickets. There will be someone from the staff to help so don't worry. In case you could not get your tickets, go to the ticket office and show them your confirmation to get your tickets. I personally found the credit card mechanism flawless, quick, and easey.
As I suggested earlier, take a flight if you are coming from Barcelona, and book in advance to get discounted fares. I checked on www.skyscanner.net and there are almost daily flights between these two cities, ranging from 40 - 90 euros. Spainair, clickair, and Vueling are the budget carriers on this route. clickair and Vueling actually belong to one group. So it might show you a clickair flight which is actually operated by Vueling or vice versa. I will suggest you to first book your Barcelona - Granada flight as the later itinerary will largely depend on this flight.
You will find more tips is upcoming posts. In the meantime, please share your itinerary so that felloe VTers may provide you with some more tips.
Best wishes
Muzzammil

'Also what did you visit in these places? Are tour buses worth it?'

In Granada, we - a group of 5 friends - visited Alhambra Palace. Besides, we also wandered around the streets of Granada and enjoyed this a lot. Since we stayed there only for one night, therefore, we could not explore Granada much. However, there is much to see but then you need to stay there for atleast 2 nights. Anyhow, there is no need to take the bus tour in Granada.

Although Granada is a walkable city but at times you may need to take bus rides. one ride will cost you 1.1 euro and the bus driver will give you the ticket as you board in. I will suggest you to ask bus driver for a carnet which will save you approximately half the cost. From Granada, take the bus to Cordoba, you can buy your tickets from the Intercity Bus Station, or you can book via phone. Bus will cost you 15 euros as compared to 60 euors of train. Bus journey is about 2 hours and is comfortable. I will suggest you to take the bus late in the afternoon, say 5 pm so that you reach Cordoba just after Siesta.

In Cordoba, there is much more to see. Mezquita - the mosque - is one of them which actually is the anticlimax of Andalucia but ought to visit this place to see the different facets of history. And do Mezquita in the morning when there is no entry fee, otherwise it will cost you 8 euors. I will suggest you to do Mezquita early in the morning, say 8 am for another reason. Actually, there is a bus tour every morning to Madinatu Zehra, ruins of a 1000 year old purpose-built city. It will cost you 6.5 euros, including the return bus fare and site ticket, which is a deal actually. It is the only bus tour I found worth it.

Whenever you reach a city, first contact the tourist information center, ask for a map and for upcoming festivals during your stay. People in this region love and live Siesta and Fiesta, so did I and so will you. Simply put, they rest in afternoons and call it Siesta and party at nights and call it Fiesta.

I will try to give you some more tips in the upcoming posts.

Enjoy Andalucia!

Time you made pages and tips from your recent trip, Mozumbus........all your useful info will soon get lost on the forums and I, for one, would like to refer to it in future.

thanks leics for the appreciation. I will definitely build my travel pages and will post tips.
I owe a lot to VT and fellow VTers for their help without which I would not have enjoyed my last trip.

Forget Rail Europe. They are the biggest rip-off ever invented. And they only show certain routes and services. That applies to all of Europe, not just to Spain!

I can travel from Santander to Bilbao, by train, for 10 euros. Rail Europe insisted the fare was 134 USD. I live in Spain. We have euros here, not USD. I can travel direct in 2h40, Rail Europe wanted me to go via Valladolid - three times as long.

Check out the www.renfe.es webiste. Look for Tarifa Web fares, booked ONLY via Internet. Discounts of between 50 and 60% on standard single fares.

Why waste money on an expensive rail pass? Check RENFE first. If you have problems, check out the Thomas Cook Trainseurope website. They will not rip you off.

Funny - I seem to be writing the same response to hundreds of people. Why not shout it from the rooftops? CHECK OUT RENFE'S TARIFA WEB FARES FOR LONG DISTANCE SERVICES!!!! 2009 fares at early 1990s prices!!!!