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Barcelona>Andalusia>Madrid...8 days with a pre-schooler

Barcelona>Andalusia>Madrid...8 days with a pre-schooler

Old Feb 11th, 2016, 07:59 PM
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Barcelona>Andalusia>Madrid...8 days with a pre-schooler

tlr - 8 days in Spain with a kid...GO!

Long version:

Travelers: myself, husband, 3.75-year-old daughter, celebrating 10th wedding anniversary!

Dates: early July. And just realized that I thought we had 9 full days when in fact we really have 8. Sigh. Stupid AAdvantage Award availability.

Arriving early to BCN on Day 1.
Departing MADrid on Day 9 (noonish).

Ideally, we would change hotels no more than twice (for a total of 3 stays) to minimize the luggage-lugging with a preschooler.

Husband and I spent a couple of days seeing the highlights of Barcelona in 2009 but want to hit a few again to see how they've changed (Sagrada Familia) or to experience with our daughter (Parc Guell). Also, jet lag tends to hit my husband hard, so I'm thinking Day 1 will be a short day.

Next, I'd like to spend the bulk of our time in Andalusia. Ideally would love some sort of upscale B&B or hotel that has an really good restaurant or restaurants nearby. I also want to be able to do day trips from this base or just chill for an afternoon if we need a break from being on the go. I'm anticipating renting a car and car seat at this point to accomplish this but looking for advice on where to make our hub. So far, looking at a hotel outside of Ronda or the Barceló outside of Granada or something in Sevilla. A property with a pool would be nice since I don't think we'll make it to the coast (and we live in Florida anyway). My top towns on my list for day trips are Granada/Alahambra, Ronda, Sevilla, and Córdoba. Does that sound reasonable for 5ish days in the area (days 3-7)? If you had to cut something in favor of more time somewhere in particular, what would you do? Or would you try to stay IN one of these towns as your hub vs something outside the city?

As far as getting TO Andalusia, I'm looking for advice on that too. Does one of these options sound good:
A) day 2: PM train to Madrid, then Córdoba. Stay one night in Córdoba, sightsee in the morning of day 3 then train to Sevilla and/or car to our Andalusia base.
B) day 2: PM train to Madrid for the night then train on day 3 to Córdoba for a day trip (though where do we put our luggage?) and on to our base via Sevilla and/or car.
C) spend another night in Barcelona and take a morning train through Madrid to Sevilla and either skip Córdoba or hit it in the way back to Madrid.

After Andalusia, we'll mostly use day 8 to travel to Madrid and then fly out of MAD on day 9.

Looking at this, it feels like a lot. We are not really planning on doing museums this trip unless we get some bad weather or need some air conditioning (though that is a shame since I haven't seen any of them as an adult). This trip will be more about eating well and taking in the surroundings and enjoying each other in a place that is new to us and different from home. As a reference, one of our favorite places is the Cinque Terre...not a lot to "see" there, but just being there and exploring the little area without much of a schedule really fit our style. But we do like to have 1-2 "activities" planned most days that we don't have planned downtime.
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Old Feb 11th, 2016, 08:03 PM
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PS. And I understand that it will be warm. Don't worry, we're from Texas and live in Florida. 90 degrees sound like a cool front to me.
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Old Feb 11th, 2016, 11:22 PM
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We where in Sevilla last week and it broke 70F every day, so you might expect it to be a little warmer come July. But unlike Florida, there's little to no humidity to deal with. Note that last year was the hottest on record

If you decide on visiting Granada for a couple of days, I would do that first and then spend a couple of days in Sevilla before heading for Madrid for your last night.

Barcelona - 3 nights
Granada - 2 nights (fly Barcelona to Granda - the highspeed rail line may not be ready in July)
Sevilla - 2 nights (bus from Granda to Sevilla)
Madrid - 1 night (train from Sevilla to Madrid)
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Old Feb 11th, 2016, 11:48 PM
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I would shorten Barcelona stay to two nights (one full day is enough to see what you want to) and then spend most of your time in Andalucia, using two centres. Granada (two nights) and Seville (four nights) and one night in Madrid. Córdoba can be seen en route to Madrid (there are luggage lockers at the bus station across a street), and take a taxi to Mezquita/Catedral.
It will be very hot in Andalucia, with daily highs topping 40C/105F in Seville and Córdoba. It will be dry heat, and they take a very long siesta from 1 to 5 or 6 pm. Air con is usual but not normally set as low as in the States.
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Old Feb 11th, 2016, 11:49 PM
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If you only have eight nights, reduce Seville stay to three nights.
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Old Feb 12th, 2016, 05:01 AM
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the average highs in inland Andalusia in summer is 100 with highs as 120 possible. Way hotter than Texas. Make sure your lodging as strong AC (many lodgings, restaurants and shops don't) plus a pool since it is likely you will spend the afternoon there when some places shut down midday - opening again late afternoon.

I'm sorry - but I think you just have too many places for just 8 days. We have been to Andalusia twice - once for 10 days and once for 12 and there is still a lot we want to see/do. If you need to drop something there I would make it Ronda. But really I would do either Barcelona/Madrid or just Andalusia, esp with a little one. Your time there is just way too fragmented to be effective in seeing even the most major sights.
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Old Feb 12th, 2016, 06:01 AM
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>>Don't worry, we're from Texas and live in Florida. 90 degrees sound like a cool front to me.
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Old Feb 12th, 2016, 09:46 AM
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So, you are absolutely stuck with flying into Barcelona and home from Madrid?
If so, you could

Go North rather than south
Barcelona, 2 or 3 nights
Fly or take train to San Sebastián, 4 nights
(Could go by way of Bilboa also)
Fly (or train) to Madrid, 1 or 2 nights

Two
Barcelona, 2 nights
Fly to Granada, 2 nights
Rent car, drive straight to Seville, (nice highway, easy drive) 3 nights
(Day day trip from Seville to Córdoba by train, if you must. Actually, I would skip it on this trip. It is just too much. I would spend two whole days in Seville with afternoon at a pool.)
Go to Seville and you can then decide last minute about the day trip to Córdoba.
Train to Madrid, 1 night
Fly home.

Weather. I lived in the South too and found on one trip in July, that the heat was unbearable. Remember, at home, you are not out walking all day and all of our stores, etc. have AC. OTOH, a second trip, also in July, was right after a major heatwave, with a friend calling me and saying, "Don't come." But, we already had tickets and temperature dropped about 10 degrees the day we arrived and it was perfect.

Stores and restaurants may be closed in the afternoon, and dinner is very late (think 9:00 to 10:00 PM), so buy water and snacks early - don't want the little one to get hungry and cranky.
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Old Feb 13th, 2016, 05:52 AM
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Thanks for the advice so far.

To answer a couple of points, yes, we are locked into that flight. The award flight availability that worked for us was very limited.

I would only spend a max of two nights in Barcelona. 1.5 days is sounding like enough, honestly. So most of the trip would be in Andalusia (though I recognize it is not much).

I am trying to avoid taxis so that we don't have to bring our (heavy) car seat from home that we don't really need on most of the trip and could rent with a car if we do need.

Also, for those of you that recommend flying to Granada, is that going to save us much time vs doing a train?

For those of you saying to split the hotel stays between Granada and Sevilla, is that because you don't think a single Andalusia hub would work? For example, I don't think we will spend an entire day at the Alahambra so that sounds like a day trip to me. But maybe I'm wrong and Granada is worth more that that?

I don't feel like we'll want to do much in Madrid this time. I would like to do museums in the future, but I'm thinking we'll save that for when she's older and has a longer attention span. So for this trip Madrid will really be more of a stop for dinner before heading to the airport the next day.

I think those who said we definitely need a pool are right. That's going on the must-have list! We'll be sure to take time for siestas too. She's great at taking long naps so in that sense it sounds like Spain will agree with us. And snacks. So many snacks.

When we did Rome/Venice/Florence in July a few years ago, I definitely remember the heat while sight-seeing. And being covered in dust from the ruins. But the good thing about having a single hub (hopefully) is that we could go back after morning sightseeing and relax before dinner.

Anyway, this is not our one and only trip to Spain. We will be back one day. We don't need to see everything and tour as if we were still broke 20-somethings. We just want to enjoy being away from work and enjoy each other and take it all in.
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Old Feb 13th, 2016, 06:20 PM
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I agree 100% about sightseeing in the morning and being able to go back to your hub (hotel) to play or relax before dinner. There is a certain point, however, when distance between hub and places of sightseeing is too far for one base to be a feasible hub.

It is a 2 & 1/2 to 3 hour drive each way between Seville and Granada, so 5 to 6 hours RT. That is why, IMHO, Seville and Granada are just too far apart for it to be a decent day trip from one to the other.

Especially with the Alhambra, one of the great architectural treasures of the world, you would be cheating yourselves by trading time at the Alhambra for time on the road. The Alhambra is like fine wine, a place to be savored, not gulped. Besides the architecture, the gardens and fountains are so beautiful, your little one might enjoy that.

Perfect would be stay the night in Granada. Get up, breakfast, etc, have early tickets for day tour of Alhambra and gardens. Finish by noon. Have lunch, nap for child, snacks, play in pool, etc. take evening tour of Alhambra, have dinner, sleep.

There are lots of places I say, OK, a quick look and march on, but not the Alhambra.

You could skip the night tour and do just a day trip from someplace closer like Malaga, an hour and a half drive, but from Seville, IMHO, not a good plan.
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Old Feb 14th, 2016, 12:07 PM
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I spoke to some [wealthy] Spanish people a couple of years ago, and honestly, their summer days are exactly as Sassafras described: out early, home for a big lunch, sleep all afternoon, get up, snack, bathe, dress, drinks, dinner at 10 or later.

Sounds okay to me.
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Old Feb 14th, 2016, 03:14 PM
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Ackislander,

I remember our first trip to Andalucia. Not having AC forced a whole lifestyle for dealing with such heat. Thought I understood until the first night at the hacienda where we were staying. For American and British guests, dinner was scheduled for 8:00, then delayed until 8:30 because it was still too hot to cook, then 9:00, etc. Dinner was finally served at 11:00 pm, finished about 2:00 am.

Still being naive and not taking it seriously, we stopped in a restaurant in Seville about 7:00. We were seated nicely - the only patrons there - and offered wine and drinks, no menu. We waited patiently, but finally asked, only to learn no orders would be taken until at least 8:00, with food served starting at 9:00.

Both times, we were starving by dinner, but we adjusted quickly, learned to make sure we had snacks and loved it. I do hope it hasn't changed to accommodate tourists. It forced us to get up to see things, but to relax and enjoy local culture in the evenings. In summer, it can be light until 10:00 or 11:00 at night, but the intense heat is gone, so sitting out in a plaza filled with families and little ones running around, playing in fountains, etc. is a joy.
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Old Feb 14th, 2016, 03:44 PM
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No need to wait till 9 pm or later for dinner. Ok, for a proper sit down meal, but for tapas, they start serving around 7 pm (still not many customers, and mainly foreign tourists while Spaniards are just having drinks). Certainly feasible both in Granada and Seville.
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Old Feb 14th, 2016, 03:52 PM
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Yes, we learned that too. Good way to prepare for dinner.
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Old Feb 14th, 2016, 05:58 PM
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Great tips! And thanks Sassafrass for the Granada explanation. I saw tours on viatour.com to Alahambra from Sevilla so assumed it was do-able.

We're considering the Barceló hotel that is west of Granada and doesn't seem to be too far from Córdoba either. Would that make a good hub, at least for Granada, Córdoba, and maybe Ronda?

Don't want to leave Sevilla out but maybe we can do a couple of nights there then go straight to Madrid to fly out.
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