Lori

We have 12 days for our October trip to Spain <BR> <BR>Here's our current itinerary: <BR>Madrid 2 Nights <BR>Cordoba 1 Night <BR>Seville 3 Nights <BR>1 Night Ronda or Marabella <BR>Granada 2 nights <BR>Barcelona 3 nights <BR> <BR>I am wondering whether to stay in Ronda or Marabella and whether or not to take a night from either Seville or Granada (but we're flying from Granada to Barcelona so thinking we need to extra night for travel). <BR> <BR>Please let me know your thoughts on this itinerary as well as any recomendations on where to stay in Cordoba. <BR> <BR>Thanks, <BR>Lori

Rosenatti

I'd vote for beautiful Ronda with its dizzying gorge over Marbella -- but it's a matter of preference, I suppose. Do you want sea or mountains? <BR> <BR>I don't know that you'd want to subtract a night from Granada -- the Alhambra alone is a full day's sightseeing -- and *definitely* not from Seville, which deserves all the time you can give it.

Myriam

For spending the night I would vote for Marbella, for cocktails and dinner at the marina of Puerto Banus or for strolling around in the old Marbella centre. Ronda is great too but very small and probably empty at night.

Bill Fleites

Hi Lori, I spent a week this past spring in Andalusia and drove from Sevilla-Tarifa-Ronda-Granada-Cordoba-Toldeo-Madrid. Rosenatti is correct, Sevilla is wonderful and definetly worth the 3 nights, and Granada is also worth 2 nights (one day for the Alhambra, and the other day for the cathedral and the rest of the city). <BR>Although I liked Ronda and had a great room at the Parador, other than the amazing site of the gorge and the bridge, for me there was really not much more to do there. So Marabella may be a more interesting place. As for the Cordoba hotel, I stayed at the Sol Inn Gallos (34-957-23-55-00) which had a clean large bedroom with a good modern bathroom, however it is a large hotel with not a lot of character. I've heard good things about the Hotel Amistad (http://www.nh-hoteles.es/en/hoteles/oro/amistad.htm) and it is a bit closer to the Mesquita, and Alcazar than the Sol Inn Gallos. <BR>Have a fun time in Spain.

Mariarosa

Hi Lori! In my opinion, your itinerary looks good, and I vote for Ronda (100% - it's a great town). Ronda is very cute and charming and you can see it in in 1 day. Besides the gorge, the city has many historical sites with a great muslim influence. You can visit a few churches (including the Iglesia Espiritu Santo), walk around the OLD city walls, visit the City museum, visit the intriguing Casa del Rey Moro (with its water mine), the Arab Baths, the Mondragon Palace, Santa Maria la Mayor, etc.

Lori

Saw some posts about just "stopping" in Cordoba, vs. staying the night. What do you think about taking the night from Cordoba and adding to the one night in Ronda or Marbella?

Denise

I'm jealous! So, I just told my husband we're going to Spain! He said okey, so I think I'll just take some notes from you wonderful people. We haven't been to Spain since 1996. We are long overdue. I'm craving the vibrant, rich culture of the spaniards. This time around, I think I'll even be brave enough to attempt a flamenco lesson!

Mariarosa

Hi Lori! In my opinion, Cordoba merits staying for the night. Besides the mezquita/catedral, there's an Alcazar (smaller than the one in Seville), and there's the very charming jewish quarter(with an old synagogue). I actually really liked Cordoba, because to me it embodied so well the mixture of cultures. We had a fantastic dinner at a restaurant called El Caballo Rojo, which is (I think) in all the guide books. I'm always a biit leery of places recommended by guide books, but this place was great. <BR> <BR>Now, something that I should have mentioned, is why are you considering going to Marbella? Are you interested in spending the night at a "sresort" town? If so, Marbella fits the bill, but if you are looking for history and sites, you won't find them in Marbella.

mary lewis

I also would recommend keeping in your night in Cordoba - we found it to be an absolutely enchanting place - especially at night in the Jewish Quarter. For your one night question - I would pick Ronda - it is a very nice little town with some great "relaxing" and historical potential. If you have to chop a night anywhere - for me it would be in Granada - we did it in about a day and a half - the Alhambra was great but we didn't find much else that interesting to do.

Rosenatti

Hi, Lori. A few more thoughts. <BR> <BR>Whether you stay in Marbella or Ronda, try to take the coastal highway route toward Granada and see the Nerja caves along the way, time permitting. They're amazing. <BR> <BR>I did Cordoba in a day trip because it was booked up for its April Feria, but I agree with other posters that it's worth an overnight stay. Try the Hotel Albucasis (on the lower end of the price range, charming but with few amenities) or the Hotel Amistad (upper range, all amenities).

lisa

hi lori, <BR>haven't been to marbella, but ronda was wonderful. we had only planned on staying one night, but loved it so much, we ended up staying an extra night. our itinerary was very similar to yours--we started in madrid and ended in barcelona. ronda was the perfect midpoint rest. it's not a flashy city, but it's definitely lively even at night. actually, it's quite nice at night because all the daytripper tourists are gone and the city has a life of it's own. at night, we spent time in the town square just people watching and relaxing. one of our favorite little inns is in ronda: the hotel san gabriel. it's family-owned and operated. they're so sweet and the inn is unforgettably charming. <BR>as for granada, we stayed 2 full days and one night. we chose to drive from ronda to granada on a more direct route than most people recommend. we missed the coast, but got to granada in less than 2 hours. using that route, the granada airport was on the way, so we dropped off our rental car before entering the city of granada. the airport is super-tiny and easy to manage. we were glad we did, because granada is huge, and from what i've heard, it can be a nightmare driving to. then, we took a taxi from the airport directly to our hotel. (when we checked out, we took a taxi back to the airport [to fly to barcelona]--definitely worth the convenience.) <BR>well, i can go on and on... spain was truly wonderful. if you have anymore questions, just go ahead and post them and i'll try to answer as many as possible. i can also list all the hotels we stayed in, and explain how we got from city-to-city. i don't get to check this board very often lately, but i'll try to make a point to do so in the next few days. either way, hope you have a great trip (and have fun planning)!! <BR>lisa

jparis

Message for Lisa: <BR>I would also like to know how you got from city to city and how many days it took you to go from Madrid to Barcelona in total. <BR>

lisa

jparis and others: <BR> <BR>our 2 weeks in spain went something like this: <BR> <BR>day 1 flew british airways from states, thru london, onto madrid (evening arrival); stayed in hotel suecia. <BR> <BR>day 2 madrid museums <BR> <BR>day 3 daytrip toledo via train <BR> <BR>day 4 took afternoon ave train from madrid to sevilla <BR> <BR>day 5-7 sevilla; lots of stuff to do and see; stayed at las casas de la juderia <BR> <BR>day 8 picked up rental car through europcar (reserved through autoeurope car rental broker while in the states) at sevilla train station; drove through countryside through arcos and lunched in zahara; arrived in ronda; stayed at hotel san gabriel <BR> <BR>day 9 hiked ronda gorge <BR> <BR>day 10 drove from ronda to granada (less than 2 hours); stayed at hotel alhambra palace <BR> <BR>day 11 alhambra tour; explored city <BR> <BR>day 12 flew iberia airlines fr: granada to barcelona; stayed at hotel alexander (our only negative experience in all our travels within europe) <BR> <BR>day 13-15 barcelona sightseeing <BR> <BR>day 16 iberia airlines fr: bcn onto our next destination. <BR> <BR>yes, action-packed, but we're both on-the-move type of travelers. although, we did make an effort to pace ourselves so we wouldn't get pooped out early on. for us, have a "rest" day every third or fourth day helped us slow down and smell the flowers and jamon. <BR> <BR>happy travels!

Lori

Lisa- <BR>Sounds like you had a great trip! Besides Hotel Alexandra in Barcelona, is there anything else you would have changed about your trip? Your itinerary looks great, but you have a few more days than we do. Would you have switched anything differently? Did you have enough time in Barcelona?Did you like your hotel in Seville and Granada? <BR> <BR>Thanks for all your help. <BR> <BR>Lori