Should I travel by car or eurorail?

My wife and I are making a trip to Spain for the first time for about 10 days. We'll start off in Seville before heading to Cordoba and then from there to Madrid and Barcelona. I'm worried that if we take the train we'll have difficulty getting around to find our hotel and just getting around to visit different attractions. What would you recommend?Should I travel by car or eurorail?
The train is by far much simpler than driving a car in a foreign country. You just sit back and relax and admire the scenery without trying to decipher foreign street signs, read maps, wonder if that unmarked dirt lane is really the road you want, wondering where to park the car, will it be safe or will the windows be smashed out the next morning and your stuff stolen, etc.



If you are only going to be in Spain, you won't need a Eurailpass (not "eurorail." The euro is the unit of currency in many EU member countries.). Visit www.raileurope.com to see if there is a Spanish Railpass available (I haven't checked in a while; just a few years ago there was a very handy Iberia Railpass that covered Spain and Portugal).



If you have time and haven't already done so, contact the Tourist Office of Spain, www.spain.info, and request visitor's maps and transit maps to the cities you will visit. Locate your hotels on the maps and see how close they are to metro or tram lines. Getting to your hotels from the respective cities' central stations will probably be just a simple tram or subway ride. They might even be within walking distance of the train station. If you don't want to take public transport, there are inevitably many taxis waiting outside the station. The fare will be much, much less than a car rental and all its accompanying headaches.



Have a great visit to beautiful Espa帽a!
The train is much more convenient, from city centre to city centre, and far more relaxing than driving in a strange country. You'll find driving into the Spanish cities very stressful and difficult, and not all hotels have car parking facilities.



You will find that train stations are close to the city centres and, if necessary, it's quite easy to get a taxi from the station to your hotel.



Spain has an excellent public transport system. The trains are very clean and efficient. And in the cities you'll have a choice of buses or metro systems to get you to the tourist sights. You'll probably find that many sights are within walking distance of your hotel.Should I travel by car or eurorail?
What is Eurorail? Better call it just "train".

To travel through Spain there are "high speed trains" named A.V.E. (Alta Velocidad Espa帽ola) that take you from Sevilla to Cordoba or to Madrid (they are on the same route).

There is also another route that takes you from Madrid to Barcelona (330 miles in less than 3 hours).

The one way ticket prices are "around" 80 鈧?

If you want to relax and have fun I think the distance between this cities is too long to make it by car and it will take you too much time.

Distance Sevilla - C贸rdoba: 75 miles (2 hour drive by car - 45 min by train)

Distance C贸rdoba - Madrid: 185 miles (4 hour drive by car - 2hrs 20 min by train)

Distance Madrid - Barcelona 325 miles (6 hour drive by car - 2hrs 50 min by train)
All valid points about choosing the train, but personally I'd choose the Car.

For one I enjoy driving, and prefer to make my own route and travel at my own convenience with stops where and when I want. Whilst there are some good public transport links in Spain, many parts of the country are completely missed out by them altogether and traveling by car will give you a much greater degree of flexibility and independence to see these parts of the country.
If you are just going to see the sights in the cities and aren't planning venturing too far outside the cities, then the train should be just fine.



Just pack lightly so that your luggage doesn't become an issue. There's nothing worse than trying to deal with 4 heavy pieces of luggage, a backpack, a camera, a purse, and get to your seats. For 10 days, you shouldn't need more than a medium size rolling suitcase per person and maybe one backpack.



Know IN ADVANCE where your hotels are in relation to the train stations ( http://www.mappy.com ) and head over to http://www.tripadvisor.com to get help on taxis. Some areas have flat rates, some areas have only specific cabs you should take, etc. You may also want to e-mail your hotels to ask what the easiest way to get to the hotel is - whether it's taking a local train or a cab.



You won't need a car to "visit local attractions". You should be able to walk just about everywhere within the cities to see the attractions, or take a train to the main area and walk from there. Get a map when you arrive and a guidebook before you go. Flag all the sites you want to see and plot a course if the guidebook doesn't have good walking tours. Also, if you have a smartphone, look for apps that cover the city. Just make sure you can access them without data usage or you'll end up with a $1000 phone bill when you return.



While you are there, remind them to stop the running of the bulls. I won't travel to Spain as long as they still do it.
Count 20 mn to 40 mn to find a parking space, every time, far away from the centre, and needing to put money in the machine every two hours if you don't want your car to be towed away.

Take the train, you have plenty of buses, underground train, and even taxis to go around at need when you're not walking.