If you have been lured into the art, culture, and history of Spain, you will be wanting to figure out how to fly to Spain. Because the vast majority of readers are located in North America, I am concentrating on transatlantic flight options for this post. There are so many options when flying to Spain; it is often difficult to know how to travel:
- What direct flight options are there?
- If direct flights aren’t available, what connections are required?
- How do you get from the airports to the city center?
- What facilities are available in each airport?
Finally, while I am not covering rail options in this post, Spain is well connected to the rest of Europe by rail. If you plan to tack this trip onto another in Europe, consider taking a train. While it won’t always be the cheapest or faster option, it can be in some circumstances. Therefore, it always merits checking that option before booking a flight.
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Major Spanish Airports
As a country of over 47 million people, Spain has several major airports. Most of these airports are located near major urban areas. The biggest airports in Spain (ranked by total passenger traffic as of 2016) were:
- Madrid Airport – 50 million passengers
- Barcelona Airport – 44 million passengers
- Palma de Mallorca Airport – 26 million passengers
- Malaga Airport – 17 million passengers
As you can see, the vast majority of the airline traffic arrives and departs from the Madrid or Barcelona airports. Many airlines connect Spain to all major countries in the world via a direct flight from either of these two airports.
In addition to the Madrid and Barcelona airports, Spain has several regional airports. The regional airports include Bilbao in Basque Country, Granada and Seville in Andalusia, and Valencia. These smaller airports have some international connections within Europe (especially with low-cost carriers) but don’t have any transatlantic flights. If you are originating in North America, a connection will be required to fly into these smaller regional airports. However, don’t let a connection discourage you. Flying into and out of these smaller airports can save a lot of time. Flying to two different airports for arrival and departure is often the best approach. This practice is known as “open jaw” flying and is described in the next section.
Using “Open Jaw” Flights
“Open jaw” is the funny name given to the practice of flying into one airport and flying out of another as part of round-trip air travel. An example of this type of trip would be:
- Fly from Washington, DC (Dulles – IAD) to Seville (SVQ)
- Travel through Spain on your vacation itinerary finishing up in Barcelona
- Return flight from Barcelona (BCN) to Washington, DC (Dulles – IAD)
Now that you know what an “open jaw” is, why would you want to do it?
- Better Flight Prices – First, you can sometimes find a better flight price by having multiple airport options. Airline ticket prices often don’t follow an easily discernable pattern so changing up your departure or arrival airport can impact prices greatly.
- Save Time – Second, by flying into one airport and out of another you save the time you would have spent traveling back to the origin airport. In the example above, once you finish sightseeing in Barcelona you can hop on a flight from there. You would avoid the need to cut your trip short and travel back to Madrid to catch a flight from there.
- Eliminate Transportation Costs – Finally, eliminate the cost of traveling back to your original arrival city by flying out of the last city on your itinerary. This often eliminates a short domestic flight or train ride. Even if the “open jaw” ticket price is larger than the simple round-trip, it is often cheaper once a domestic flight or train ride is taken into account.
Flying into Seville
As the first city on The Best of Spain in 10 Days Itinerary, travel starts by flying into the regional Seville Airport (airport code SVQ). Seville airport is located approximately 6 miles outside of Seville. This regional airport is quite small by comparison with Madrid or Barcelona airports. Even though it is small by airport standards, the airport still handles about 5 million passengers a year. Because of this, most of the facilities that are available at the major airports will also be present at Seville airport.
Connections
If you’re arriving from North America, there are no direct flights to Seville. The most common connection locations heading to Seville airport are Madrid (MAD) on Iberia, Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) on Air France, Frankfurt (FRA) & Munich (MUC) on Lufthansa, and Lisbon (LIS) on TAP Air Portugal. Most transatlantic flights coming from North America to Europe land in Europe in the early morning (6 AM to 8 AM). As Seville requires an additional flight, most passengers arrive in Seville between 10 AM and 12 PM.
Lounges/Airport Facilities
The Seville airport does not provide any arrival lounges (and only has one lounge for departures: Sala Vip Azahar). Because of this, you will want to head to your hotel upon arrival to see if you have the opportunity to freshen up before starting on Day 1 of The Best of Spain in 10 Days itinerary.
The airport does provide free Wi-Fi while on the property. This is great if you need to look up an address or directions to your hotel. Free Wi-Fi is also helpful to check in with family and send some messages upon arrival.
Getting to the City
The Seville airport lacks good connections to central Seville via public transportation. There is a regular bus route going from the airport to the city center, but it takes over 40 minutes to make the trip. The best way to get from the airport to the city center is to use a taxi or ride-share (like Uber). The taxi ride will run about €23 and will only take about 20 minutes. You should use the free airport Wi-Fi to check Uber rates after landing to know if this is better than the standard taxi rate.
Flying out of Barcelona
The Best of Spain in 10 Days Itinerary, finishes in Barcelona. Because Barcelona airport (BCN) is a much larger airport than Seville, there are many more flight options. Therefore, flights tend to cost less from Barcelona. All of this combines to provide a more facility-rich environment to wrap up your vacation. However, at the same time, you will have to contend with the 44 million passengers that transit Barcelona airport every year. 44 million passengers are almost nine times the passenger volume of Seville airport, and it shows.
Connections
The flight options include many direct transatlantic flights to North America. These destinations include Montreal (YUL) and Toronto (YYZ) on Air Canada; Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), Chicago (ORD), and Philadelphia (PHL) on American; New York (JFK) and Atlanta (ATL) on Delta; New York (EWR) on United; and Toronto (YYZ) on WestJet. In addition to these direct flights, many more flights with connections are available.
Lounges/Aiport Facilities
Most international travel will leave from Terminal T1, but make sure you check your flight before you head to the airport. Once you have arrived a T1, several airport lounge options are available:
- Sala VIP Colomer – Not accessible to North American transatlantic passengers. This lounge is accessible to Barcelona – Madrid shuttle service passengers only.
- Sala VIP Miro – Usable by all North American bound flights EXCEPT United or American operated flights leaving from B gates. Access the lounge for free using Priority Pass or with elite status or a business class/first class ticket on United, Air Canada, Iberia, British Airways, or Delta.
- Sala VIP Pau Casals – Only accessible to Schengen or domestic Spain flights. Exception: Sala VIP Pau Casals serves United and American-operated flights leaving from B gates. Access this lounge for free using Priority Pass or with elite status or a business class/first class ticket on United or American.
Getting to the Airport
Barcelona has established dependable public transit connections between Barcelona-El Prat Airport and the city center. There are regular trains and buses leaving from the city center that travel to the airport. Each of these transit options generally takes between 40 and 50 minutes.
Bus
If you want to take the public bus, the Aerobus will be the best option. Aerobus is an express bus service that runs from Plaça España and Plaça Catalunya to the airport. A single one-way ticket is €5.90 per person. While this is more expensive than the local bus service, the airport express buses are larger, nicer, run more frequently, and have space for luggage. It is well worth the more expensive fare in my opinion.
Metro and/or Train
If you aren’t interested in the bus, another public transit option is to take a train and/or metro to the airport. There are several different train/metro routes that could make sense depending on which stop is closest to your hotel. The first option starts with a multi-stop ride on the Red L1 metro or the Green L3 metro. Both of these lines intersect the Orange L9S line which runs to the airport. The metro price is €5.15 per person.
Likewise, a second train option that does not run as frequently is the Renfe Trains. The R1 Blue Renfe train can be taken from Plaça Catalunya and will take you to Barcelona-Sants station. From there you can transfer to the R2N Aeroport line which will take you the rest of the way to the airport. The Renfe trains will run you €4.60 per person.
Taxi
A ride in a taxi from Barcelona center to the airport will typically take 20 to 30 minutes. While this is shorter than the public transit options, the taxi fares are €30-35. If you have 4 or more people in your group, the cost difference between public transit and the taxi is small. With this number of people, small kids, or if you have a lot of luggage, the taxi fare is likely worth the premium. Otherwise, save some money, and take public transit.
Wrap-Up
You should now know everything you need for flying to Spain for The Best of Spain in 10 Day Itinerary to explore this vast country of art, history, and culture. I am unable to cover ticket costs in this post because of the seasonal fluctuations, demand, and whims of the airlines. However, prices are generally affordable, and I encourage you to search websites like Google Flights, Priceline, or Kayak for finding the best prices.
I hope you have found this useful. If you have any tips or tricks for flying to Spain, please leave them for everyone below.
