How to get to Seville: flights, the airport bus, trains and driving, with door-to-door times
What separates a useful guide from a list of transport options is the door-to-door time. Here it is for each route, with the airport fares, their year and their contradictions, and what changes if you arrive during Holy Week.
Seville has one airport (San Pablo), one main railway station (Santa Justa), two coach stations and four motorways into town. Coming from the UK, Ireland or further afield, you will almost certainly fly, so the leg that matters most is the last one: from the airport to your hotel.
What almost no guide works out is the total time, from your front door to the hotel, which is the only figure worth comparing. This page does it for the usual starting points and details the last stretch into the centre, with published prices and their year. Where the sources contradict each other on fares, all of them are shown.
How long does it really take, door to door?
| From, and how | Journey | Door to door |
|---|---|---|
| London, Paris or Brussels, by air | 2 to 3 hours | 4 h 30 to 6 h |
| Madrid or Barcelona, by air | 1 h 15 to 1 h 30 | 3 h 30 to 4 h 30 with security and transfers |
| Madrid, AVE high-speed train to Santa Justa | Between 2 h 30 and 3 h | 3 h to 3 h 45 with city transfers |
| Madrid, coach | 6 to 7 hours | 6 h 30 to 8 h |
| Madrid, car on the A-4 | About 5 hours | 5 h 30 to 6 h |
| Málaga, car on the A-92 | Between 2 h and 2 h 30 | 2 h 30 to 3 h |
| Málaga, Córdoba or Granada, train | Between 1 h 30 and 3 h depending on the city and the type of train | add 30 to 45 minutes |
The journey times come from transport guides; the door-to-door ranges are our own calculation with the usual city transfers, not a published figure. If your flight lands in Madrid rather than Seville, the AVE beats a connecting flight in almost every case: Santa Justa station is 10 to 20 minutes by bus or taxi from the historic centre.
If you fly into Málaga and drive, the A-92 brings you in from the east. The other motorways are the A-4 from Madrid and Córdoba, the A-49 from Portugal and Huelva, and the AP-4, a toll road, from Cádiz. No source publishes the total cost in fuel and tolls, and the city penalises the car once you are inside: the guide to parking in Seville puts numbers on it.
How do you get from the airport to the centre?
The airport is between 8 and 10 km from the centre. Some blogs say 3 km; maps and official sources do not back that up, and this page sets that figure aside.
TUSSAM's EA bus line takes about 35 minutes to Plaza de Armas, via Santa Justa, running every 15 to 20 minutes. In May 2024 it left the airport from 5:20 to 1:00 and the centre from 4:30 to 1:13.
The price is the first point of disagreement. In 2024 a single ticket cost €5 and a same-day return €6, while another guide from the same year mentioned about €4. In 2025 the single went up to €6 according to the official fares reported by the local press. Buying in advance or on board makes no difference: it is a flat fare.
A taxi takes 15 to 20 minutes in normal conditions, on a fixed fare that depends on the time of day and the season. A 2024 hotel guide sums it up as about €22 at the standard rate, without detailing the supplements.
Your hotel decides between bus and taxi, not the price. If you are staying near Plaza de Armas or Santa Justa, the EA drops you at the door for €6. If you are in Santa Cruz or Triana, a taxi saves you the second change and half an hour with suitcases on cobbled streets. Checking the location before you book saves that half hour.
See places to stay in Seville by area →Affiliate link: booking through it helps keep this guide going, and costs you nothing extra.Why don't the airport taxi fares add up?
Two travel blogs copied out the same 2020 municipal fare table and came up with different figures. One gives €24.98 by day, €27.84 at night and on public holidays, and €34.79 during Holy Week and the Feria. The other, €25.72 by day and €28.67 at night, on public holidays, during Holy Week and the Feria.
The gap may come from an update in between or from a copying error; neither source reproduces the full bylaw. The 2024 guide that quotes about €22 gives no supplements, which makes a comparison with the 2020 tables impossible.
What every source agrees on: the airport fare is fixed and does not run on the meter, it goes up at night and on public holidays, and it has its own Holy Week and Feria supplement. Ask for the amount before setting off.
What changes during Holy Week?
Three things. Flights and AVE tickets rise sharply and sell out: the guides all say so, without publishing figures, and advise booking months ahead. Taxis apply their Holy Week supplement.
And the last stretch gets longer: a 15 to 20 minutes ride can stretch to 40 or 60 minutes if a brotherhood cuts across the route. That comes from travellers' accounts, not from official data.
The old town is closed to traffic between 10:00 and 2:00 the following morning during Holy Week 2026, and the Campana is closed from Tuesday 24 March at 10:00 until Easter Sunday. Driving into the centre on those days is not an option: the park-and-ride car parks and public transport are.
The EA line announces no Holy Week supplement, only bigger crowds. Its last departure that week was at 2:00 from Archivo de Indias in 2024. The other extra services are in the guide to getting around Seville, and the dates in the Holy Week guide.
What about getting to Sevilla Este?
Sevilla Este is a residential district on the east side of the city, between the airport and Santa Justa, and no tourist guide explains how to get there: they all stop at Puerta de Jerez or Plaza de Armas. From the airport or the station you take a city bus or a taxi, a ride that the distances put at 10 to 25 minutes, though no source measures it.
A single TUSSAM ticket costs €1.40 in 2025. The transport map page explains what to download to see the lines.
What don't the sources publish?
- Prices for flights, the AVE and coaches by origin, season and how far ahead you book: only vague pointers such as "dearer at the last minute".
- Which airlines still fly each route and which have dropped seasonal routes: the lists are not kept up to date.
- The full cost of driving, fuel and tolls included.
- Real journey times across town on procession days, which exist only as travellers' stories.
- The full taxi fare bylaw, which no blog reproduces in full.
If you are travelling for Holy Week, transport is the easy part: beds are what sell out. In 2025 hotel occupancy in Seville reached 83% on average, 87% from Maundy Thursday to Holy Saturday and a peak of 89.2% on Good Friday according to the Junta de Andalucía. Booking your room before your flight is the order every guide recommends, and none says how late something reasonable is still left.
See places to stay for the Holy Week dates →Affiliate link: booking through it helps keep this guide going, and costs you nothing extra.Sources
- Travelling to Live: getting from Seville airport to the centre, EA timetable and prices (May 2024) and 2020 taxi fares.
- Mochileando por el Mundo: 2020 airport taxi fares.
- Stay in Seville: standard 2024 taxi fare by type of hotel.
- Spain.info: Seville destination page, airport, EA line and motorways (updated in 2026).
- Guía Sevilla, España por Descubrir, Los Viajes de Margalliver, Oway Tours: AVE, flight, coach and car journey times.
- Sevilla Emprendedora: access motorways and trains from Andalusia.
- Buendía Travel, Conociendo España: stations, transfer from Santa Justa to the centre, Sevilla Este.
- Sevilla Habla, Sevillaweb: airport distance, the 3 km versus 8 to 10 km contradiction.
- Seville City Council: special Holy Week 2026 traffic plan. El Correo de Andalucía: last EA departure in 2024.
- Europa Press: Holy Week 2025 hotel occupancy (22 April 2025).
Every price carries the year of its source. The 2020 taxi fares are published as two different blogs copied them out, because they do not match each other and neither reproduces the bylaw.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the AVE from Madrid to Seville?
How do you get from Seville airport to the city centre?
How much is a taxi from Seville airport during Holy Week?
Can you drive into central Seville during Holy Week?
Marta Bermúdez
Marta spent five years on the front desk of a hotel in the centre, answering the same questions about parking and the metro every day. She writes the pages she would have liked to hand to her guests. She checks every fare on the operator's website, never in a guidebook.
