Moving around in Spain - Brian
There are lots of ways to move between cities in Spain once you arrive, here are some of our recommendations.
Trains: The new high-speed (300km/h) train system called AVE is centered around Madrid. You can travel from there to and from Barcelona, Sevilla and Cordoba very quickly. The trains are a nice way to travel, leave on time and offer sleeper cars for longer trips however sometimes its actually cheaper to fly (see below). You can find tickets and other info (including all the normal speed trains) at http://www.renfe.es/, it looks like in the bottom left you can pick English language timetables.
Planes: There are a few low-cost carriers to move around Spain in that you can’t book anywhere except their web sites. Often you can fly 1-way from Barcelona to Granada for 40e, prices vary a lot based on time and date but I don’t quite understand the logic of what is cheap vs not so its best to just try a bunch and see what you get.
Ryanair – http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/
Vueling – http://vueling.com/EN/index.php
Spanair – http://www.spanair.com/web/en-gb/
Automobiles: Driving is fun but can be a pain in many cities, the streets are very confusing in older parts of the cities. A GPS rental is a nice add-on and I think worth the extra few $$ if you decide you want to drive. You can rent from the usual big US companies like Avis and Hertz but they are also the most expensive. 1-way rentals normally cost a lot more than round trips and often places will charge you an extra day if you return the car a couple hours later than you said when you took it.
I like EuropCar more than Avis and Hertz (http://www2.europcar.com/EBE/module/booking/FirstStep.do), they have better rates and are at most airports and train stations.
Buses: Buses are the least expensive way to travel around and often have the most frequent departures from any given city. There are typically multiple bus operators at any given bus station, sometimes its best to go to the bus station to figure out the times and costs if you don’t have a route already planned. We use Continental Auto to book tickets online, they might have your route too.