Were there many other passengers? I only ask because 5 and a half hours is a long time for a journey. I know with a flight you have to factor in getting to the airport, check-in times and the rest, but even so I would still think many people going all that distance would prefer a 1 hour flight.

Go to:-
https://venta.renfe.com/vol/index.do...oma=en&pais=UK

Put in a return journey dated a month or so in advance. I used 24/9 out 1/10 return.

You could of course buy the €258.10 each way business class

The flight is 1hr 40 mins by Ryan Don'tcare at about €75 for the same dates.

But as it would be a holiday what is wrong with admiring the countryside, stretching your legs and traveling in relative comfort?

And with as much luggage as you like!

Yes Fred the wife makes a good packhorse

Good point. There are any number of small niggles that make flying (especially with the cheap flight operators) full of stress and anxiety. Will they charge £35 to print my ticket if I mislay it? Will they charge £5 per person per flight for "card charges" Will they stop me taking food/water onto plane so we have to buy their overpriced offerings? Etc etc. Of course the rail service is trying to adopt the flight method, so we'll probably see some of this rubbish creep in there.

if you're taking Sevilla to Barcelona for example there's a street down the side of the station where, if you're lucky you can find a free parking place. I've recently heard from a Spanish friend that if you book just after the tickets are released (I think that's 3 months in advance) the prices can be MUCH cheaper. It's so much nicer than taking a flight that if we can get it anywhere near the cost of a flight we'd always chose Ave over a flight.

I understand that if you go Preferente from Malaga they give you 48hrs free parking at the train station.

Someone has kindly filmed various sections of the Barcelona to Malaga journey. They claim it's the longest route of high speed rail in the world.

Thanks Fred they are quite cheap for mid week journeys.
The one we used was from Puente genil - Herrera to Barrcelona: we actually missed it as the taxi turned up too late ( he forgot the booking) so Renfe transferred us ( 3 adults) onto the next days train for 100euros ( total) Next morning taxi driver turned up bright and early got us to station in plenty of time gave me 100euros and did not charge us for the journey!
Pete