Seville Airport

Compared to my other experiences of provincial Spanish airports Seville is indeed a breeze in many ways. Rebuilt for the 1992 Expo (along with much of Seville) the airport is spacious and well- functioning with a huge and airy departures hall. Arrivals is pretty spartan but baggage was delivered swiftly (even though several suitcases fell off the conveyor belt at the first ‘bend’). Taxis are plentiful and cost a fixed rate to the city centre (currently €24). Airport buses also run regularly to/from the city centre picking up in Nervion and Santa Justa station and cost a mere €2 – allow plenty of time on the return journey as traffic can be a nightmare. Beware also that the bus drops off at ground level and you will need to carry your luggage up two flights of stairs or wait ages for one of two lifts. Swift check-in with Ryanair more through luck than organisation. Security ng goods at usual inflated prices and plenty of (very hard!) seating to wait for your flight. Once through into the departure lounges there is soft seating but the only facilities here are toilets and vending machines. There is a quiet café seating area behind the non-functioning departures board (don’t worry there are also monitors that do work) which has good views of the runways to while away the hours.

This airport is basic but have been to worse. If you arrive on a night the Taxi Fare is around 23 euros and on a daytime 18.60. It is a set fair which is good. Iberia Check in was awful taking nearly an hour as only 3 desks open when there were about 5 flights checking in. Facilities to eat and drink are very basic and there is no information desk in the departure area and staff are very hard to find. If you need help its best to pop into one of the VIP lounges as I did. Had a four hour delay and after an hour or so the seating gets very hard to stay comfortable one. Had only one announcement as well during delay and that was only to tell us to wait an hour for another one. Not a bad airport but lack of information during our delay meant i will be hesitant to use it again.

Arrivals at Seville is pretty basic but airport shuttle bus is easy to find and cheap (Dec 2005: €2.30 one way). The shuttle gets you to the train station quite quickly but then it hits the usual Spanish city centre traffic and crawls to the main stop in the centre. On the way back the shuttle was 20 minutes late which didn’t help. Check-in at the airport was slow due to system failure but finally got through to security. Airport facilities are basic and the lounge used by BA is not massive and quickly filled up (it is run by Iberia).

Seville airport is in all ways but one quite excellent. On Saturdays and Sundays the cheap efficient bus service to the RENFE station and city centre has a 2-hour gap just as the Iberia flight from London arrives. This is plain daft and makes otherwise satisfied customers take the surly taxi - which given the fixed fare puts a tourist off using the otherwise fairly inexpensive taxis to go around the city later in their stay.

I flew from Amsterdam to Seville via Madrid. Best way to get to the airport from city centre is just to take a taxi. It will be around 15-20 euro. It's just a basic clean airport with not much activities for passengers. Luggage reclaim went very well and after customs you will be in front of the airport exit.

Seville airport is modern and spacious but it is not easy to get to from the city centre without a car. That means either a long bus journey or a taxi. Last time there the taxi was far too expensive and I wish I had taken the bus. Problem is that the bus isn't hugely convenient from the city centre.

In October 2003 I flew to Seville and back from Manchester- I thought the airport - though quite modern and bright did not have many amenities and the eating areas were very basic and not cheap.