eyeball

We are beginning to plan a trip to Spain in march for 8 days over spring break. We will travel with another couple and we each have 2 kids 11 and 13 years old. What would be a good itinerary to get a nice flavor of Spain. We have not been there before and have been told by a friend that we should try and incorporate a side trip to Morroco during the 8 days. Is it worth the trip to Morroco or should we save it until we have more time? We were thinking of starting in Madrid for 3 days and flying out of barcelona after staying there for 2-3 days. Should we rent a car and visit some other towns along the way. The other option is to skip Barcelona and start in Madrid then head south to morroco and visit Sevilla. Our last spring break trip was to Rome with many day trips to other areas and our kids had a great time, although they did get a little tired of the museums after a while. Thanks for your help.

David

NEDSIRELAND

Forget what your 'friend' recommended! With just 8-days I don't think you should even consider a trip to Morocco.

March is early for northern Spain; and you're probably more interested in 'Moorish' Spain anyway, so I think you should make your 'base' in Sevilla (after about 4-days in Madrid), rent a car and drive a loop around Andalucia, visiting Jerez de la frontera, Cadiz, maybe Gibraltar, Ronda and Malaga, maybe Granada (to turn your car in and take a train back to Madrid). There are a lot of very colorful places in Andalucia: you might even drive west to Huelva and Palos de la frontera where Columbus departed on his first voyage of Discovery.

Go to a couple of travel Agencies and pick up some Spain travel brochures. They'll be getting some new ones in for 2006 so they should be generous with the old ones. From them you should be able to pick up some ideas
BTW
During your Madrid stay you can daytrip to Toledo and Segovia. Use Public transportation: it's a lot cheaper for 4-people and more flexible than the Tour buses.

Take AVE Madrid-Sevilla: the kids will love it!

oneillchris

It seems like a lot in a week but I have done with my family from Seville (Cadiz) and Madrid and Valencia and Barcelona. Although I too agree March is a bit early for Spain, even North Africa can be cool in March. In favor of Barcelona for your kids because just south of Barcelona in Tarragona is a great amusement park called Port Aventura, Now the hours in Spring are more restrictive than summer so you must check if its still open.

Another option which my wife and I prefer, but normally when its slightly warmer like may. we go from Cadiz along the coast to Valencia, this is frankly my favorite trips in Spain passing through Malaga, ALicante, Valencia and maybe at the end we will go as far north as sitges, We always skip Madrid,Bilbao,Barcelona,Zaragoza,Pamplona. Big cities are big cities everywhere and although there are some beautiful edifices, how many churches do you really need. IHMO

lincasanova

march.. spain.. valencia??? do not miss the fallas festivities.
hotels for the last two nights get pricey but there is A LOT going on the week before march 19th.. parades, the effigies are up on display.. music, streets full of activities.
really impressive and hard to describe quickly as i am out the door!

i personally enjoy from the 13th til 18th better when you can see a lot more, fewer people, etc.

see if you can work it in.

www.fallas.com

this should not be missed, if possible.

julia_t

Definitely Barcelona for kids, whatever the weather. There's so much more to do and see there. Apart from all else already mentioned there's the cable car, and there might be an international football match at the big stadium. Even youngsters find the Picasso museum interesting, and are impressed by the incredible simplicity of some of his drawings. One of mine was fascinated by his(almost!)endless pictures based on Velasquez's Las Meninas. The Gaudi architecture is fun and fascinating, Parc Guell for fun. There is the funpark at Tibidao, and the Olympic Stadium.

And as for food, in the 3 days we were there (not long enough!) we lived on tapas, tapas and more tapas, always followed by crema catalana (like creme brulee). The children loved all the varieties and the chance to taste all sorts of different and interesting things.

Spend at least a few days in Barcelona, the children will love it. But don't consider skipping Barcelona.

eyeball

Thanks for your replies. I think my friend took a day trip to Morroco on some type of a high speed boat. It sounds like you all think we should save that for another trip.