Day trips from seville

[mrmartin]

Going to seville for a week in mid sept hopefully.

Anyone suggest any day trips I could do to nice places on the train (or coach at a push if it makes things a lot easier) that are around an hour each way?

I was thinking of getting the train to the coast around Cadiz (or one of the towns nearby) and exploring round there for a day for example, might be nice to be near the coast.

However the trains look pretty infrequent especially if l look to my travel dates (w/c 22nd of Sept - is there engineering work or are tickets not available?). Also doesn't seem particularly high speed down there...

Open to other suggestions though.

 

[ac6000cw]

I can recommend both Jerez (a centre of the wine and sherry business) and Cadiz. A few years ago we stayed for a week in Jerez and visited both Cadiz and Seville by train and some other places in the surrounding area by car.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Cordoba is worth a look - has a cathedral within a mosque. High speed or broad gauge local train from Seville.

 

[ac6000cw]

Cordoba is worth a look - has a cathedral within a mosque.

I agree - a very interesting place.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

You can reach Malaga via either the AVE route (via Cordoba) in about 2 hours, or the MD (slower/cheaper) route via Bobadilla, about 3.5 hours.
Malaga has a frequent Cercanias service along the coast in either direction.
You can reach Granada (infrequent services) via the AVE route in about 2.5 hours.
Agree that Cordoba (frequent AVE service) is a great stop with its superb mezquita-catedral and roman bridge.

 

[stuu]

However the trains look pretty infrequent especially if l look to my travel dates (w/c 22nd of Sept - is there engineering work or are tickets not available?). Also doesn't seem particularly high speed down there...

Renfe often don't make tickets available so far in advance, have a look at next weekend to get a better idea of the timetable

 

[AndrewE]

We went to S Spain in May and can recommend the old line / slow train from Malaga back to Seville (to spot the glimpses of the Cameinito del Rey) , also echo comments elsewhere about how thin the train services are and the need to book well beforehand: no seat available, no ticket! Cadiz is always lovely, Seville grossly over-touristed.
Huelva is a nice train ride and an interesting little old town, a major old ore-exporting jetty survives (think any old UK iron pier: same designer!) and the town museum has a big section on British / RTZ company influence on the town from when it was just a fishing village.

 

[Watershed]

Jaén is also definitely worth a visit, I'd say. There are direct "MD" (regional express) trains from Seville taking around 3.5 hours, or options involving high speed trains between Seville & Cordoba which reduce that to 2.5-3 hours.

As with almost all Spanish rail routes, the frequencies are very poor and even regional services are "compulsory reservation" - although though on the MDs nobody seems to take much heed of their actual allocated seat. Fares are quite reasonable though.

The Castle of Santa Catalina on the hill overlooking Jaén is stunning, with panoramic views across the valleys in all directions:

 

[nwales58]

Seville-Jerez+Cadiz is about 13 MD services a day plus around 3 long distance trains taking a similar time. Fantastically frequent by Spanish standards. Currently bookable for the next 6-8 weeks which is long by their standards. If you only see Alvias you're looking at the wrong site or dates.

Beware the 'full train' problem especially Fridays and Sundays, if making a day trip make sure you book the return time or you could have to spend more time in bus stations than you intended.

All the above suggestions are good. I'd add Arcos de la Frontera by bus for an Andalusian white hill town.

Cadiz tram-train is running at last, worth a ride. Makes Rotherham look like a well-executed project.

Off-beat idea. To appreciate the sparseness of real Spain try the line towards Merida. You can just get to Zafra, pretty little town, typical Extremadura, couple of hours to eat, then back to Seville in a day. Typically sparse service too.

Madrid is only 2h45 and the train air conditioning will be much nicer than the heat in Sevilla. Try Iryo one way, RENFE the other for variety, but no Ouigo yet.

 

[peteb]

Earlier this year I did a day trip to Seville from Cordoba so certainly the reverse is possible. Easy and loads of trains so pick the cheapest!

Granada is also a possibility I think the direct fast trains still reverse at Cordoba, journey time about 2.5 hours. Plenty of choice of return trains.

Ronda is excellent for a day trip too, as it's quite a small town: fine scenery after the 40 minute change at Antequerra Santa Ana, journey time about 3 hours. Better on the return as you'd get an intercity back to Cordoba in the early evening then a train to Seville from there.