Getting Around Spain
Spain's AVE high-speed rail network is the best way between cities — Madrid to Barcelona or Seville both run under 3 hours, faster door-to-door than flying once you count airport time. Book on Renfe's site a few weeks ahead for the cheapest fares (from roughly $35). Inside cities, metros are excellent and cheap; Cabify and Uber both operate in the bigger cities.
Getting to Spain
Madrid-Barajas (MAD) and Barcelona-El Prat (BCN) are the two main international gateways. From the US East Coast, flights run 8-9 hours; from the UK or Europe, just 2-3 hours on frequent low-cost routes; from Australia, 20+ hours with at least one stop. Round-trip fares from a major hub start around $400. Madrid's metro line 8 runs direct from the airport to the city center in about 20 minutes for a few dollars; Barcelona's Aerobus does the same route to Plaça Catalunya in about 35 minutes.
Getting around: the real options
Spain's AVE high-speed rail is one of Europe's best networks, and it genuinely reshapes how you should plan a multi-city trip — flying between Madrid and Barcelona rarely makes sense once you count airport transfer and security time.
- Trains — Renfe's AVE covers Madrid-Barcelona and Madrid-Seville in around 2.5 hours each; book a few weeks ahead on renfe.com or Trainline for the cheapest fares (from roughly $35-60), since prices rise closer to departure like airline tickets.
- Buses — ALSA is Spain's dominant long-distance bus operator, cheaper than AVE but slower, and useful for smaller towns the rail network skips (much of Andalusia's interior, parts of Galicia).
- Domestic flights — worth it only for the Canary or Balearic Islands, where flying is the practical option regardless of price; skip flying for anywhere the AVE reaches on the mainland.
- Car rental / driving — driving is on the right; skip a car entirely for Madrid, Barcelona, or Seville's historic centers, where parking is expensive and the AVE plus metro cover everything faster. A car earns its keep in Andalusia's white villages, the Basque coast, or a road trip through wine country.
Getting around inside cities
Madrid and Barcelona both have extensive, cheap metro systems that cover nearly everywhere a visitor needs to go; Seville and Granada are compact enough to walk almost entirely on foot. For rides, both Cabify (a Spain-founded app, arguably the more locally dominant option) and Uber operate in Madrid and Barcelona with standard upfront pricing; Uber's coverage thins out considerably in smaller cities like Seville or Granada, where Cabify or a standard taxi rank is more reliable.
| Route/option | Typical cost | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Madrid airport to city center (metro) | $5-6 | 20-25 min |
| Madrid to Barcelona (AVE, booked ahead) | $35-60 | 2.5 hrs |
| Madrid 10-trip Metrobús pass | $14 | — |
Book AVE tickets on Renfe's official site or Trainline a few weeks ahead — fares climb sharply closer to departure, the same dynamic as airline pricing, and a same-day ticket can cost two or three times what an advance booking would have.
Common transport mistakes
The most common mistake is booking a flight between Madrid and Barcelona instead of the AVE — once you add airport transfer, security, and boarding time, the train is usually just as fast and considerably less hassle. The second is renting a car for a Madrid-Barcelona-Seville itinerary; none of those cities need one, and parking costs eat any savings. And don't assume Uber works everywhere the way it does at home — it's solid in the two biggest cities but Cabify or a local taxi rank is the safer bet in Seville, Granada, or smaller towns.