Córdoba Transportation

You could do a day trip from Granada by bus which would take some 3 hour journey through olive plantation along the way. The risk however there could be a Church ceremony at the Mezquita that would not allow you to move around freely. Notice the big screen erected in the main hall and long benches for sit in of the pilgrims. In addition the only day that you were in Cordoba mother nature decided that there should be a downpour. Lesson learnt - Stay overnight!

FROM
Retuning after a long hard day on foot from Cordoba to Seville, I opted for the train.
I was able to buy my ticket at the station in Cordoba just before the trip with no problem.

The train arrives in Seville at the Santa Justa train station. Easy walking from there to Santa Cruz, or a short bus or taxi ride.

It was a much faster and more comfortable trip than the bus was that morning. It is a direct train with just one or two stops as I remember it.

I took the 18.32h train and was in Seville by 19.49h.

Seats are reserved, but the train was not crowded and people prety much sat wherever they wanted to. I got a window seat because a couple wanted to sit together. Not much to see, so a window seat is not really important on this ride.

There was a food car on the train that sold coffee, drinks, snacks and sandwiches. I decided to wait till I arrived because the prices were higher than one would expect to pay for these items.

The train ticket cost Euro 8.60.

The bus is a very convenient and easy way to travel from Seville to Cordoba. It leaves from the Prado de San Sebastion Bus Station on c/Manuel Vazquez Sagastizabal, a 7 minute walk from Puerto de Carne in Santa Cruz.

The bus I took was a slow one, but there are faster buses that don't make so many stops.

There are 6 buses a day, two in the morning and four in the afternoon. The last, late evening bus is a Eurobus.

My bus stopped in Carmona, then back onto the highway. Rolling agricultural land, some sheep, once horses, pleasant and undemanding scenery. Lots of big heavy "train-trucks" . The driver kept a steady 100 km/h. Nice smooth ride. Stop again in Ecijana - now I understand why this trip is 2h10min and the late afternoon return trip is only 1h45min. Ecijana had a regular bus station, not just a stop on the road.

There is no need to buy the ticket in advance. One can get it when one is ready to travel. Seat numbers are assigned which is nice, no pushing and shoving to get a good seat.

The price one way is September, 2009 was Euro 10.36 on the ALSA line.

On arrival in Cordoba one can walk to the main tourist area, the Mesquita and the historical Jewish Quarter, but it is a longish walk about 30 - 40 minutes. Or one can then take a local bus to anywhere that one wants to visit. There are good route maps and diagrams at the main stops.

On the urban bus one pays the driver when entering the bus. The price, if I remember correctly was Euro 1.20 in September, 2009.

We arrived in Cordoba by bus from Granada. There are 9 buses a day between the two cities and the journey takes about 2.5 hours. Most of the buses are operated by the Andalucian company Alsina Graells.

Cordoba's bus and train station are located opposite each other in the west of the city, just beyond Avenida America, about 15-20 minutes walk from the Mezquita. There are a couple of buses which run from the centre to the stations, though we walked to an from the stations each time. There aren't too many facilities in the bus station, though the train station has plenty of shops and a couple of good, cheap cafes.

Transport links from Cordoba are excellent. We made a day trip to Seville by train, a journey of one hour twenty minutes on the slow train, or 40 minutes on the fast one. Moving on from Cordoba, our next destination was Malaga, again by train, a journey of one hour.

The AVE from MAdrid to Cordoba is the way to go. It only takes about an hour and a half.

In Madrid, I made the mistake of thinking it would be no problem with two suitcases. The subway stations in downtown madrid do not all have escalators/elevators. Save yourself the hassle, take a cab directly to Atocha station and catch the train there.

I took the Preferente class which was only a few dollars more than the second class cabin. We got a lovely breakfast and excellent service. The seats were confortable enough to rest comfortably.

It is not uncommon that you will meet someone who lives in Cordoba but comes to work in Madrid every day. The high speed train makes that possible (though it must be rather expensive)

Along the way you wont see much. The route from Madrid passes along a lot of not too gorgous countryside and you have to notice how many abandoned villages you see on the way. With relatively rocky soil its not hard to see how agriculture just became too difficult.

We wanted to keep our driving around Andalucia to a minimum, so we took the train from Malaga to Cordoba. You don't have to do this, but we bought our tickets online before we left and they were waiting at the Malaga window for us. The train between Malaga and Cordoba is the high speed Talgo 200, which reaches speeds of abut 140 mph. The trip was 1 hour 45 minutes each way.

Since this was a vacation, we splurged and bought first class tickets. They weren't that much more than tourist class, but they were fun. We got breakfast and first class service. However, on the way up, my neighboring passenger was on his cell phone the ENTIRE time. One hour and 45 minutes. That would never be tolerated in California. This man would have been thrown out on his ear after 10 minutes in California. In Spain, no one said a word to him. This told me that Spaniards are much more tolerant and just don't let the little things in life upset them so much. I think it must be a very nice way to live your life.

The train station in Cordoba is five minutes away from the main sights of the city - in fact, it is walkable. A taxi is very easy to get at the station, and equally easy to find in the old town when it is time to go back to the station.

Taking the train to Cordoba definitely beats driving.

From Málaga you have to take the A-45 and follow the signals, it takes about 2 hours and the road is ok, only in Antequera there are works for the new highway but there is not problem. There are daily bus and train servicies from Málaga to Córdoba. If you do from Sevilla or Madrid the best option is take AVE the high speed train, from Seville is only 40 minutes and from Madrid about 2 hours.

Si vas desde Málaga tienes que coger la A-45 y seguir las señales, se tarda unas 2 horas, el camino está bien, solo en Antequera que están construyendo la nueva autovia pero no hay problema. También en tren y autobus se puede ir desde Málaga, hay varios servicios diarios. Si viajas desde Madrid o Sevilla la mejor opción es usar el AVE o tren de alta velocidad, desde sevilla se tarda unos 40 minutos y desde Madrid unas 2 horas.

We traveled to Cordoba as a day trip from Madrid. We took the AVE high speed train from Madrid to Cordoba. We were debating whether or not to go as the train fare to and from Cordoba was as expensive as all of our other tickets combined (I think about $100 round trip). We decided to go and were not dissappointed. If I remember correctly the trip was about 2 hours each way. Although we went in the middle of Septemeber the temperature ws still around 38oC. It was HOT! But the city was one of my favorites of the trip!