yes!

first time I went to Tavira was via Seville and Ayamonte. I did it via Huelva (end of the railway) but there is now a direct bus run by Damas. The bus station in Ayamonte isn't that close to the ferry, I think it was the old railway station. The address is Avenida Cayetano Feu.

Damas website http://www.damas-sa.es/ the English tag at the bottom doesn't work but if you select Rutas y horarios and then Consultar Horarios (which even I know means Consult timetables) it takes you to ticket sales (!!??) which can be set to English and will show times.

Obrigado Steve, I have flown into Seville a few times and car hired over to Tavira but apart from the airport and the "multi lane" ring road we have never seen Seville. This year we thought we would have a couple of nights there and see the city.

Obviously the Tavira to VRS bit and over on the ferry is straight forward so now I shall investigate this bus time table and sort it out.

Many thanks for the link.

Taff.

it's about 15 minutes walk from Ayamonte bus to the ferry and then another 15 from VRSA ferry to the station. There's probably taxis at Ayamonte bus station but I'm not sure at VRSA ferry.

There is also a direct service from Seville to Tavira via the bridge but the morning one leaves a bit early, the afternoon one arrives mid evening. They are in the Damas system. There's a midnight service by ALSA (=National Express) http://www.alsa.es - you can buy mixed returns with either company in a sort of code share arrangement, as will Eva in Portugal.

Cubsur is the real expert on this though! I only blundered into this route because the first I went Damas didn't have a website and the only info I could get was via the Thomas Cook railway timetable which showed Huelva - Ayamonte because it was a rail replacement. And don't forget, VRSA tends to be down to a 2 hourly train service so you may need an Eva connection, which is handy because the VRSA bus terminus was by the ferry last time I was there.

DAMAS operate direct coaches Ayamonte to Seville thus on weekdays

0645, 0930, 1530 and 1930 journey takes about 2hrs 30 minutes.

Times are different at weekends.

The DAMAS website no longer lists their timetables! You are redirected to movelia.es which requires you to enter a specific date for travel and then will cough up the times. One way ticket is €12,33 and can be booked on line.

The two daily EVA/DAMAS buses still run between Lagos and Seville, calling at Portimão, Lagoa, Albufeira, Faro, Olhão, Tavira and Vila Real de Santo Antonio. In summer there may be two extra, faster, journeys. ALSA runs its overnight service seven nights a week, but the daytime service was cut back to four days a week this winter. I don't know if it will return to daily operation for summer 2011.

The railway station at Vila Real is about 10 minutes walk from the Ayamonte ferry. The Bus Station is right alongside. The ferry runs once an hour in winter between about 9am and 7pm. There are no ferries on Sundays in winter according to the timetable I saw. In summer they run daily and have been every 30 minutes in July and August but still not early in the morning or late at night.

Unless it has changed in the past couple of years, the Damas goes from Lagos to Seville and vice versa and it stops in Ayamonte, so no need to get ferries etc. I have done this a few times and it is a good service.
Pat