daria

Hello,

I am planning a trip to Spain for June 2018 with my husband and twins (11 years old). It will be our first visit to Spain. We will have 3 weeks. We don't like to rush around, or to move bases too often (especially with the kids), and are therefore resigned to the fact that we can't happily see everything we would like to on this trip.

After a lot of research and thinking, we have decided upon the following locations Barcelona (6 or 7 nights), San Sebastián (3-5 nights), Sitges (4 nights?), Nerja (5-7 nights). We made these choices based on the fact that we will be with the kids, and we can do things that will interest all of us from these locations. My husband and I love museums, we all like the beach and love food, we like hiking/biking/the outdoors, the kids like palaces and aquariums, zoos, amusement parks. I want to visit the Alhambra from Nerja.

My questions are:

-What are our options for flying in and out? And a related question is, what order should we do this in? I would rather end in one of the smaller towns than in Barcelona or San Sebastián. I thought maybe we could fly into San Sebastián, and then go: Barcelona, Sitges, Nerja and fly out of Malaga? Other thoughts? I'd like to have more than one option so I can be flexible and get the best deal on flights.

-What is the best way for us to get around during this trip? We prefer not to rent a car (my daughter gets very car sick) but would do so for any leg of our journey if it was less expensive than 4 train tickets, I guess.

Thank you!

Rubicund

I'm not sure that I'd stay at both Barcelona and Sitges as they are so close together, with an excellent short train ride service that connects them. My choice would be Barcelona and give Sitges a miss as it doesn't have that much to recommend it, but if you must, a day trip is enough.

If you go across to San Sebastian, you go away from the natural line of the east coast and stretch your travelling, so I'd stay in Barcelona, Nerja and you could stop at Valencia which is a lovely city. Fly into Barcelona and out of Malaga as you suggest.

Bedar

Renting a car will always be less expensive tha 4 train tickets ! Sitges is one of the capitals of gay culture. Go to Valencia instead. Fabulous beach. Yes, go to Granada from Nerja. Also try to get to Cordoba.

daria

Thanks. We are pretty set on our itinerary. I've been told more than once that Sitges is a capital of gay culture, and I have read about that, but can't see why that means we shouldn't go there. It looks and sounds lovely.

I forgot to mention that we are motivated to travel around the country in a way that is least expensive, but I am also mindful that we won't really want a car in, say, Barcelona or San Sebastian so I am hesitant to rent a car merely to get between the two. Interested in your opinions.

And, still interested in your opinions about my questions about what order to do all of this in, which cities to fly in and out of, and how to get around. Thanks.

rialtogrl

Sitges is pretty small. There is not a ton to do there, unless you want to go to the beach every day. Especially without a car. It is very close to Barcelona airport though, so you could maybe stay there in the beginning, or at the end, of the trip.

But you can go to the beach in all these other places too.

kja

For your options for getting around, you might consult rome2rio.com -- just be sure to check anything you learn there, as it isn't sensitive to seasonal variation, etc.

nanabee

ttt

sundriedtopepo

Unless you are prepared to pay for some flights I agree that San Sebastian is too far from your southern destinations for a 3 week vacation.

You can fly into San Sebastian but not from LA, and you can fly out of Malaga, but not without a stop somewhere before LA. So you may have to fly to Barcelona, then San Seb, and fly Malaga to Madrid to return home. That might add to your costs more than you anticipated. And driving from Barcelona to San Seb is quite a slog, even train is 6 hours.

WoinParis

Vueling is the Spanish low cost and is quite good.
Pay attention to luggage restriction if any - most low costs have extra fees for luggage.

Sitges is a great seaside town imo. Yes I have heard it is the gay capital of the area. By colleagues when we were in a bar full of gays and I was cracking jokes - some about LGBT - and obviously half plastered so quite loud.

As in all these occasions gays have proven tolerant and quite amused to see/hear that hetero unaware and uncaring of being surrounded by gays.

Gays are quite normal people actually !
Ah. On top if Nice Town nice beaches and good beer the town also has some good restaurants. Forgot which.

ribeirasacra

if you stay in Nerja, how do you propose to get to the Alhambra and Málaga?
Will not you child still have travel sickness when travelling in a bus?
If you do hire a car you will need child seats for them. Do get an IDP too.
The trip between Nerja & Alhambra could be a long day.
Bus time tables for both drips can be found on http://www.alsa.es
and pre-purchasing tickets for the Alhambra here http://www.alhambra-tickets.es/

Southam

Bilbao, south of San Sebastian, is much more a regional centre with a bigger international airport. It's also worth a day or two with things kids might enjoy. Flying from there to Barcelona can be very cheap if bought well in advance. Check the airport website:
http://www.aena.es/en/bilbao-airport...tinations.html
I have no clue where you are coming from but if it involves a long flight the standard advice is to fly into one airport and out of another, using a multi-destination search function: ex London-Bilbao-Barcelona-London

Christina

I don't understand what you mean about where can you fly into? Just check some air website. The major airports are Madrid and Barcelona, Malaga is also more popular than Seville, in my experience (more flights). You can't fly into many places nonstop, from LA or anywhere else, so you will likely have a transfer no matter what you do. I live in Wash DC and cannot flight nonstop to any Spanish city, not even Madrid.

I don't quite understand the reference to flights from LA, the OPs profile says they live in Northern California. I would bet there is no whwere in Spain one can fly to nonstop from LA or SFO.

Malaga has a busy airport, you can easily fly home from there, you will likely transfer in MAD or London or wherever in Europe your airline has a hub, or perhaps JFK. Same for BCN, actually. AF/Delta will go through CDG, Aer Lingus through Dublin.

quiltingmamma

It's a very interesting choice of destinations, for sure. With only 4 cities, I would have thought cities closer together would still have covered your interests, but since you have stated these are THE choices, then you just have to determine transport.
I use Rome2Rio to see what options there may be for the grand scheme of things, and then verify - as previously mentioned.
I also use AirMatrix (by Google) to try to find some international flight options. Using this, I found that I could fly to Granada from Canada with a code share for only a small increase in cost compared to flying to Madrid or Barcelona and then trying to fly in country to Granada. It saved travel time and the cost of a Vueling flight - also allowed me to create a more favourable itinerary.
AirMatrix picks up air carriers that may not be on Expedia or Travelocity. It also doesn't sell tickets, so it is an impartial search engine.
Once you have figured out your arrival city in Spain, then check whether Vueling flies between your places of choice....this might be what determines your itinerary.

daria

Thank you all.

@ sundriedtopeto, we won't be flying from LA. Most likely, it will be from SFO.

Regarding San Sebastain's distance from our other bases, I did a search and found a flight for $59 from San Sebastian to Barcelona that only takes an hour. If we can get a great deal like that, I would go for it. I understand the train takes about 6 hours, and that is ok too. We are fine with a travel day. We all really want to see San Sebastian and it is a good combo for our family since we love food, my kids love the beach, we can visit Bilbao from there, it has an aquarium (kids will love) and a funicular (again, kids will love).

@ WoinParis, thank you for the tip about Vueling and the tip about luggage. We travel very light, but still have one carry-on each, so I get your point and will be aware of that.

@ ribeirasacra, I am not sure about how we will get to the Alhambra yet. I thought we could either rent a car for the day or take a bus. Neither option is great, because I understand the bus takes 2.5 hours (although, no, my daughter doesn't get sick on buses). Another fodorite told me that the road to Granada from Nerja is a fairly straight, 4 lane highway. That would help because she mainly gets sick on windy roads. But, I do realize it would be a long day and am not committed to doing it. I would just love to see it, and the only way that is going to happen is as a day trip because we don't want to move again (see below). Also, we don't need car seats. My kids are 10, and will be 11 when we go.

As for Malaga, I am not sure how we would get there either, which is one reason I was asking where we should fly in and out of, Christina. Any suggestions as to the best way to get there, or better ideas as to where to fly out of, would be appreciated. Thank you ribeirasacra for the bus time tables and link for purchasing tickets!

@ Southam, thank you for the Bilbao suggestion. I will think about that as we want to visit Bilbao anyway and were planning to do so from San Sebastian. It is very appealing. But, I want to avoid too many bases because we had an experience last summer where we traveled to Italy and France and ended up moving too many times for the kids. We learned that staying anywhere for only 2 nights was not enough, and that staying places for a week was really better. We had the experience where we traveled from Tuscany to the French Riviera. Rather than visit Nice from Antibes (our one week base), we decided to stay in Nice for 2 nights before heading to Antibes for a week. We ended up realizing that it would've been better to do Nice as a day trip from Antibes rather than having the kids move their luggage in and out of another hotel. SO, that is how we ended up with an itinerary with so few bases for this trip.

@ quiltingmamma, thank you for those sites!

sundriedtopepo

If you can get cheap flights into and out of San Sebastián, I'm with you, I loved San Seb and think your kids will love love it too.

You might find more flights into Bilbao btw and apparently there is a bus from the airport to San Seb I seem to remember, which is only about an hour away.

I also remember kimhe I think giving some great suggestions for a family on what to do in the area.

Maybe I can find the link if I get some time.

I hope you get to the Alhambra, one of the most beautiful places I have seen.

Bedar

Daria - Your trip isn't till June 2018, so you have plenty of time to plan. The one place you should be committed to visiting is Granada and the Alhambra, however you get there. You should try to figure out how you'll be getting from Barcelona to Nerja. It's a long way, and there is no airport in Nerja. From Nerja you would take the bus to Malaga.

daria

Ok, thanks Bedar. It looks like the best time to buy airlines tickets from the states to Spain for this trip is July 2017 - November 2017 (according to cheapair). So, that is why I am trying to figure out, now, where we will fly in and out. I want to be ready to start monitoring airfare prices in a few months. And, I would rather know what all of our bases are going to be too. Although we are pretty set on that itinerary, I appreciate your suggestion that I figure out how to get to Nerja from Barcelona. If it is too difficult to hit the locations I have named, I want to know that before I buy the airlines tickets. I will look into that. Thanks!

Bedar

You could fly Barcelona to Granada, see the Alhambra, and then take the bus to Nerja. Just an idea.

ribeirasacra

You children do need car seats. They have to be used up to 12 years of age in Spain.
Just one on the many articles to be found on line.
https://en.aurigacrown.com/blog/car-seats-spain/

KarenWoo

Daria, just curious - how do you know that July through November is the best time to buy airline tickets from the U.S. to Spain for June 2018?
Thank you.