Train from Seville to Madrid to catch flight home to Rome

[Sandrac]

Hello everyone,
I'm not really familiar with Spain's Renfe train system - I have used it once and liked it very much. But before I book my train ticket for my trip next month, I wanted to check some opinions about my plan.
I need to leave Seville Sunday morning 15 April to catch a flight from Madrid home to Rome at about 3:30 p.m.
I'm assuming that my best bet would be the AVE high-speed train into Madrid's Puerta de Atocha main railway station? Then, presumably, a taxi to the airport (or a train if there is time and the station isn't a maze)
Does this sound reasonable?

I'll be in Madrid for a few days at the start of the trip and will book the train down to Seville for a week in an Air B &B there. But leaving Madrid will be a more relaxed pace than my return.

Thanks very much for any advice. I'm feeling a bit anxious since Madrid is not at all familiar to me.

Cheers,
Sandra

 

[Giulia da Urbino]

Hi Sandra!
Yes, it makes sense... the Ave takes 2.30 hours from Seville to Madrid and it's 99% likely to be strictly on time.
There's a bus from Atocha to the airport that works pretty well but I don't know where it stops exactly in Atocha... Pretty sure it's well signposted, though. It takes 30 to 40 minutes depending on the Terminal you fly from.
Underground is also 40 minutes aprox... you can calculate your journey here Atocha Renfe to Aeropuerto T1 T2 T3 or Aeropuerto T4 (no big difference).
When will you be in Madrid? No worry... Madrid is very tourist friendly and Spain in general works a lot better than Italy

 

[Sandrac]

Ciao Giulia, Thanks so much for your help, it's really useful to know how much time to expect transfers and so on will take. Also the advice about the bus from the train station, which would be a much better deal than a taxi. I'm very glad to hear that the trains run on time. (And of course, as a sometimes-resident of Madrid, you know of what you speak!)
Cheers,
Sandra

 

[Bruce Pollock]

We plan on doing a similar sort of thing, going from Toledo (train) to Atocha to the airport (bus). According to my research, I believe the Expres Aeropuerto bus leaves from the 'cercanias' or regional train side of the station. Tickets are €5.00 cash from the driver.

 

[Sandrac]

Hi Bruce,
Thanks for sharing your research -- that's very helpful! Sometimes the most difficult part of taking aeropuerto buses is actually finding the correct stop.
Cheers,
Sandra

 

[Bruce Pollock]

One other suggestion. When you get to the point of booking your tickets, I suggest you use www.trainline.eu instead of the Renfe site (which I found confusing). Trainline is dead simple to use, books trains throughout Europe and does not add any extra fees.

 

[Sandrac]

Thanks very much for the tip! I have already booked my train tickets using the Renfe site, which is certainly not very user-friendly. But I will keep trainline.eu in mind for future use.
Cheers,
Sandra