burberry212

We are planning our second euro trip for 14 days and Spain is definitely one country we plan to visit. We will be flying into Madrid.
We are thinking of spending 7 days in spain and
3 days in Madrid
2 days in Barcelona
2 days in Seville

Along with spain I am planning to add one more country for another 7 days.....
Italy (it might be hectic but need opinion)
Switzerland
Southern france (we have already been to paris)
London

sofarsogood

There's no right answer to this.

Toss a coin, choose alphabetically, go for contrast, go for similarity. If you're not strongly drawn to one, pick one out of a hat.

mamcalice

You are shortchanging Spain by spending only 2-3 days in those cities. They deserve longer, especially since travel time between places will also take time. And you are missing Granada - the Alhambra must be seen if you are in southern Spain.

Consider London for 3-4 days and the rest in Spain or take all of your 2 weeks in Spain.

You can't possibly do Italy justice in one week.

Bedar

Stay in Spain and see Andalucia.

neckervd

I agree wth the posts above: spend your 2 weeks for a somewhat decent (although short) visit of Spain.
Check Sevilla, Granada, Malaga, Cordoba, Merida, Caceres, Salamanca, Avila, Segovia, Toledo, Valencia, Santiago, San Sebastian, all great places with a lot of History. In Summer, you may also visit the Islands.

bobthenavigator

Absolutely---Stay in Spain and give Andalusia a week to itself.

Sassafrass

If you have 14 days total, you will use half the first day getting to hotel, settling in, etc. Even with the fast train, it will take a half day getting from hotel in Madrid to train, train to Barcelona, station to hotel in Barcelona, so another half day shot. It will take another half day to fly to Seville and get to hotel, and another 1/2 day to travel to another country, so if you want 7 full days in Spain, you need an extra 2 days, so that leaves only 5 for another location.

Also, you are visiting only cities. Rural Spain and smaller cities are really worth seeing. Agree that seeing the Alhambra while you are already in Spain makes the most sense. Granada, Toledo, Cordoba, Segovia and so many more - all beautiful, all interesting, and you are already so close, it seems a shame to rush past them.

If you are absolutely set on including part of another country, I suggest (but would not do it myself because I would stay in Spain), Madrid, Seville, Barcelona, fly to Montpellier, Avignon, or Marseilles, rent a car, and see a bit of Provence. Fly home from Marseilles.

kja

What are your interests?

travelnut265

Hi burberry212
I'm with the others who suggested you see more of Spain.
From Madrid you can do a daytrip to Toledo.
From Seville you can also see Cadiz and Cordoba.
Granada is wonderful and I really enjoyed San Sebastian.
If you really wanted to include another country my choice would be the Southern France area.

burberry212

Thank you everyone for ur responses I am doing to do more research before I finalize my plans

BigRuss

Your itinerary is terrible.

Seville and Barcelona are at near-opposite corners of Spain. Two "days" (how many nights is that? One, two or three? You can structure it any of the three ways I just noted) in either Seville or Barcelona is insufficient.

London is not a country. And it's not Euro. It is European, but the Brits still use the Pound Sterling.

burberry212

@BigRuss- Thank you for your input. London is not a country (I know!!) England is a country
It would be good if you provide valuable feedback on my questions.

Michael

In two weeks you might be able to do the itinerary represented by these pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...75757180/show/

But it would exclude Barcelona.

As recommended by the others, I would stick to Spain.

Christina

I think you should more time in Spain, at least 10 days. If you want another country, you could combine that with a few day stay in a major city for your flight home (like London). In fact, London is the only one that seems that logical as a place to easily get to from some city in Spain, actually.

I know I took a BA flight to Seville from London, assume they go back. And Easyjet has good flights from Madrid or Barcelona. If you end up in Seville, Easyjet flies nonstop to London or Geneva or Basel from there. I don't know of any nonstops from SVQ to Italy.

So in that time frame, Spain plus London for a few days is the only one that makes sense to me.

BigRuss

<i>It would be good if you provide valuable feedback on my questions.</i>

I did. Your itinerary is daft because "Seville and Barcelona are at near-opposite corners of Spain. Two 'days' (how many nights is that? One, two or three? You can structure it any of the three ways I just noted) in either Seville or Barcelona is insufficient."

You are discussing visiting cities the size of Philadelphia (Barcelona) and Boston (Seville) in two days each. Rethink it.

kimhe

The San Isidro festival in Madrid in May celebrates the city's patron saint. Could be great fun. The 2013 programme gives you an idea: http://www.esmadrid.com/sanisidro/index.php/en/
http://www.spain.info/en/reportajes/...en_madrid.html

May is also major festival time in Andalucía. Could be a great opportunity to experience the local culture, food, wine etc. In May, especially Granada and Córdoba celebrate the "Cruces de Mayo"/May Crosses: http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/spani...es-de-mayo.htm

Córdoba in May is something special, the "cruces" celebration is followed by the patio competition leading on to the flamenco inspired Feria by the end of the month.
Córdoba patio exposition and competition: http://www.andalucia.com/cities/cordoba/patios.htm
The Feria in late May: http://www.andalucia.com/festival/co...pring-fair.htm

Córdoba is 1.40 mins from Madrid on the AVE line to Sevilla (2h 30min).

In May there is also the one week Horse Fair in Jeréz, about one hour with bus from Sevilla. http://www.andalucia.com/festival/jerez-horse-fair.htm

Christina

well, the itinerary isn't totally daft, and lots of people would be satisfied with a 2-day stay in either Boston or Philadelphia, actually. Some people just want to spend a couple days in a place, the OP must be one of them or wouldn't have proposed this. I think lots of people are satisfied with a couple days in Madrid, actually (I like it, but some do not). The itinerary could be turned around, actually, such as fly into Seville, go up to Madrid, then go over to Barcelona and fly out of BCN. Then one wouldn't be going out of the way at all. Or one should start in Barcelona, then to Madrid, and then go to Seville. Either makes a bit more sense logistically. Maybe the OP didn't mean in that order or wanted suggestions on that.

I'd either start in Barcelona or Seville and put Madrid in the middle. Otherwise, I'd fly between BCN and SVQ. Budget airlines that do are Ryanair and Vueling. And Iberia of course, you could check their fares.

Sassafrass

The problem, as the itinerary is stated is you want 7 days in Spain, and 7 days in another country. Unless you have days set aside for traveling from place to place and from Spain to another country, not counted as time in country, you simply do not have seven days of sight seeing time in Spain or another country.

Lay your trip out and include travel time and where you will spend the night. Then, tinker with it until you get what you are happy with.

Example:
Day 1 - Arrive Seville, settle into hotel, 1/2 day sightseeing, depending on arrival time, sleep in Seville
Day 2 - Seville, Sleep Seville
Day 3 - Train to Madrid, at least a half day, hotel to hotel, 1/2 day sightseeing, sleep in Madrid
Day 4 - Madrid, sleep Madrid
Day 5 - Madrid, sleep Madrid
Day 6 - Train to Barcelona, 1/2 day hotel to hotel, 1/2 day sightseeing, sleep Barcelona
Day 7 - Barcelona, sleep Barcelona

So, being absolutely realistic, you have only
1&1/2 days in Seville
2&1/2 days in Madrid
1&1/2 days in Barcelonay

That is fine as long as you do not mind spending such a large amount of your time traveling in proportion to the time spent sightseeing.

If you spent another day in Seville, you could do a day trip to Cordoba, only an hour by train. Toledo is only 30 minutes from Madrid, etc. Doing that would increase the proportion of your sightseeing time. Barcelona really needs another full day, minimum. That is why so many posters are suggesting you spend the whole trip in Spain.

If you must fly into Madrid, then it might be best to start there, visit Seville and fly to Barcelona. Another big question - where do you have to fly from home? Hope you do not have to return to Madrid, as that will eat up more time. Posters here who travel a lot to Europe are careful to account for travel time.

bilboburgler

ah the prices are amazing, but the country, nah

burberry212

Here is our first draft of the itinerary

Chicago to Barcelona on Wednesday
Reach Barcelona Thursday early morning –Relax and do couple sight seeing
Friday and Saturday morning – continue sight seeing
Saturday late evening – train to Seville (about 4.5 hrs)
Reach Seville Saturday night
Sunday and Monday- Seville sight seeing
Tuesday evening – train to Madrid (2.5 hrs)
Tuesday night- Reach Madrid
Wednesday and Thursday – Madrid sight seeing
Friday – day trip from Madrid to Segovia
Saturday – leave for home

I need your suggestions/ comments. I know we have minimum time but we are just going to pick the top sights that interest us and check out each city. Will taking the train be more convenient versus flying between cities?
Also, goes Barcelona-Seville-Madrid be logically or any other options?