Information on How to Get to Seville from Cadiz Port

Since everyone always asks how to get to Seville from Cadiz, I have compiled the following information, based on our recent (August 2014) visit there:

See attched excerpt from Cadiz map. Most cruise ships dock in the “U” shaped dock right by old Cadiz (“Puerto Comercial.”) You can look up who else is docking with you (if anyone) on the port web site: http://www.puertocadiz.com/opencms/PuertoCadiz/es/galerias/descargas/puerto/boletines/Cruceros.pdf Both times we’ve been to Cadiz, we’ve docked on the western side of the “U” – close to Plaza de Espana. The official name given for our pier was “Alfonso VII Pier”. The following instructions pertain to walking from this part of the port, but if you dock on the other side, the information below will be helpful, and your walk will be a little shorter. Based on our experience (60-somethings walking fairly briskly in late August in hot sun), it will take you about 20 minutes to get to the bus station, buy tickets, and be ready to board the bus. If it takes you a long time to get off your ship, you are a slow walker, you get lost in Cadiz, or there are lots of people at the bus office waiting to buy tickets, obviously it will take longer! The trip to Cadiz is generally about an hour and 40 minutes (see below).

As the ship docked, I oriented myself to Cadiz and scoped out where I needed to go on the other side of the dock. If you dock on the side we did, walk around the port, keeping the water on your left and not crossing the road (Av del Puerto). When you get to the part of the port where the other side of the “U” juts off to the left, you’ll see a fountain (see second attachment, although this picture was taken while walking back to port, so the port area is behind the fountain, whereas you’ll have your back to the port as you face the fountain). You will be at Plaza de Sevilla. Walk across the street and head to the area shown in the third attachment. There is no bus station in Cadiz, so you are simply looking for a white corrugated building (trailer?) with bus stands behind it (and probably a bus or two angled out there). In the picture, the train area is to your left in the back, and the bus area to the right. Go to the back of the white trailer (near the buses lined up, if any) and you’ll find an office inside for purchasing tickets. You may be able to pre-purchase tickets online, but we didn’t explore that option, as we didn’t want to pre-purchase tickets in case our plans changed or the ship didn’t make it to Cadiz. I am not sure if you can use a credit card in the office, as we used cash. I doubt you can buy tickets onboard the bus. If you want a one way ticket ask for “ida.” For a return (roundtrip) ask for “ida/volta.” I don’t know if tickets are purchased for a specific bus or just any bus to Seville, but I’m guessing the latter. I also don’t know if credit cards are accepted, as we used cash. The fare when we traveled August 2014 was 13,45 euros one-way. The bus was comfortable, with AC but no bathroom. It was about half full when we boarded, and picked up some more people at one or two stops in “new” Cadiz. Then it traveled non-stop to Seville, passing lots of brown land with an occasional white village on a hillside. When the bus passes a few architecturally interesting buildings and pulls into a slotted space and stops, you’ve arrived at the end of the line (Sevilla). We traveled on a Sunday, which meant service was slightly reduced in frequency. However, it was still quite frequent. The bus web site is http://www.tgcomes.es. If you need English, hit the little Union Jack icon. Enter the information requested (enter “Sevilla” rather than Seville; enter day before entering month) and you’ll get information on each available bus.

3. Once you get to Sevilla, you’ll be at what the locals call “El Prado.” It’s not much of a station, but I believe there is a small tourist information center inside one of the buildings on either side of where the buses come in. The “station” is on Av Carlos V near Av del Cid, and my notes compiled pre-trip say there are ticket machines inside for the bus ”that may or may not work and may or may not take credit cards.” Keep in mind that American credit cards usually don’t have chips, so they normally can’t be used in automated ticket machines in Europe. I would suggest buying a round trip ticket when you board in Cadiz unless returning on the train is more convenient due to where you’ll end up or when you’ll get there.

4. From “El Prado” you can get to a number of tourist attractions by walking, and when we were there, a couple taxis were waiting for fares. Close to El Prado, we went to Plaza de Espana, which is a huge, beautiful moon-shaped set of buildings built for the 1929 Exhibition. To do that was easy, and it took about 10 minutes to walk. I hadn’t pulled out a map to use to navigate to Plaza de Espana, but we ended up just sensing that we needed to head toward the big park that was close by, passing tram tracks on the way. We cut straight through the park, but there were also people walking on the street to our right (El Cid). When we saw the dark brown, tall spire of one of the towers, we knew we were there. Close to Plaza Espana is the “Queen’s Sewing Room,” which is only a tourist information center but colorful and fun to photograph, and also the Casino Terraza (pretty building), and the river with the Torre de Oro not far away. Not too far away are the Alcazar, the Barrio de Santa Cruz with its narrow, white streets, and other tourist attractions. There are a couple public buses for 1.40 euros each that circle the old part of Seville (though not going through it). I think both the C1 and C2 go past Plaza de Espana, El Prado and the train station (Santa Justa). The Seville public bus system is operated by Tussam, and their website is http://www.tussam.es. Taxis seem to be reasonable in Seville. I read that the drop rate is 3 euros and then it is one euro for each kilometer driven. We only took one taxi, but what we paid seemed to be in line with that. Tipping is generally minimal.

5. We didn’t go to too many places in Sevilla, so I didn’t get a map of Sevilla. I don’t have an iPad or handheld navigation system of any kind. However, pre-trip I found an excellent app that allowed me to download maps to my Kindle Fire for later viewing offline. The app is called OsmAnd Maps & Navigation, and I read about it on http://tomsportguides.com, a wonderful website maintained by cruiser Tom Sheridan. You can download up to (I think) 10 country maps for free, and they are very detailed, covering just about any city and street you’re likely to visit.

6. If you prefer to take the train to Seville, the company is RENFE (http://www.renfe.es). Cost and travel time are similar to the bus, but the train is a little less convenient, as it drops you north of the historic part of Seville. However, the local Tussam buses or taxis can get you to the historical/tourist area (see 4 above). The bus and train also go to major tourist cities around Cadiz (for example, Jerez de la Frontera and Arcos) but you may need to check both bus and train sites to find the best alternative, especially if you are in Cadiz on a Sunday. The only major car rental company I found in Cadiz was Europcar, which is in the train station. It is a good company, but the rate I found in August ($241) was just too high for me to stomach. In any case, unless you want to drive around to the white villages or do some heavy traveling, there really is no need to rent a car.

Have fun! We did!

In case anyone is using this information in 2015, here's more information on the train:

Go to renfe.es

Push "Welcome" to get English (it may at some point, however, flip back to Spanish!)

Select or enter "Cadiz" and "Seville Santa Justa" (or "Sevilla Santa Justa" - note "a")

(There is also a San Bernardo station in Sevilla which some people may find convenient. If so, enter that station name.)

Enter your dates, although if you need to check schedules a few months out, you will likely not find them. Just enter a date about a month out, same day you'll be traveling, and then check the schedule later to confirm the schedule. (Renfe train schedules don't change very often.) I use the calendar to select dates, as Europeans write dates starting with the day rather than the year, and the calendar avoids making mistakes!

Select tourist or second or dorada class.

Price in March, for a March 2015 ticket is 16,05 euros for a one way ticket and 12,85 if you buy it as part of a round trip ("return" or "ida y vuelta"). (Round trip is 25,70 euro total.) There are also more expensive Alvia trains. You don't save much time by taking those. However, they are spaced out in between the local trains, making them useful for timing purposes.

We only took the train back, and I don't remember if we charged our train tickets or paid cash. However, if you're leaving from Santa Justa station, it is the main station, so I assume you can do both. However, keep in mind that if you're going somewhere that may not have live bodies at a ticket window, it's possible you might have trouble using an automated ticket machine in Europe. Many require use of a card with a PIN and chip, or just PIN, and some may not accept cash.