mahjarunner

We are interested in spending the Thanksgiving school break in Spain this year. My son, who is 14, will be joining us. We have been to Barcelona (and don't mind going back) but nowhere else. We like history, culture, arts, and food. The kid likes food, swimming, football, and comics but is usually cool with museums and people watching too. Any suggestions on the best place to spend our week are most appreciated.

P.s. We are fine with day trips, but want to stay in the same hotel for the whole week. It seems like good bases might be Sevilla, Barcelona, or Madrid.

Thanks.

nytraveler

Well you can forget about swimming - it will be too cold - unless the hotel has an indoor heated pool (very rare). And only Barcelona is close to a beach anyway.

I would go for Barcelona as having possibly the most to do.

I actually prefer Andalusia - but for that you need to do trips to Granada and Cordoba at least and day trips really aren;t long enough - you need overnights.

kimhe

You could see football matches in the world's best league in these (among other) cities on November 30: Sevilla, Cordoba, Madrid, Malaga and Valencia. The two major matches of the round will be Valencia vs. Barcelona in Valencia, and Malaga vs. Real Madrid in Malaga.

Both Malaga and Valencia will also tick all the other boxes.

Malaga: http://www.andalucia.com/cities/malaga/home.htm
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/20...-breaks-travel

Valencia: http://www.visitvalencia.com/en/home
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de....Valencia.html

annhig

we spent 4 nights in Valencia recently and so long as you are ok making day trips by train, it would make a great centre for a week's stay.

We stayed at the Melia plaza right in the centre of town, and couldn't fault it:

http://www.melia.com/es/hoteles/espa...aza/index.html

it was very convenient both for walking round the old city and for exploring by bus and train.

if you were prepared to move once, then a combination of Granada and Seville would also work well.

I wouldn't dismiss Madrid either - lots to see there and plenty of day trips to keep you busy.

Bedar

A week isn't very long but is perfect for Madrid with day trips to Segovia and To.edo. Enjoy!

bilboburgler

November, I'd go south, I've been in public open air pools in November down there at almost warm enough, check the climate records but Madrid should be cold.

Christina

Just because the kid likes swimming doesn't mean every family vacation has to include that, I would hope. He shouldn't dictate the family's vacation for something trivial like that. He can swim at home.

That isn't very long, not even a week, I guess, so any of those places would be fine (Seville or Madrid). Plenty to do in both. You do not need to stay overnight in Cordoba as a day trip, it can easily be done from either Seville or Malaga, it's not that far by train.

For Madrid, you could do day trips to Toledo, Segovia, and El Escorial (that one doesn't take the whole day). More than enough with Madrid.

To be honest, I think the son might like Barcelona best, but Madrid has a lot to offer in terms of history and great museums and day trips. It isn't really hot in Malaga for beach weather at the end of November (it gets down in the 50s at night, daytime is about 70). Although the sea temperature isn't too bad actually, that might be your best bet on that (the sea is also about 65-70) if you want to plan your vacation around his being able to swim. You could then stay in Malaga for the beach and do day trips to Cordoba and Granada. if you have a full week, you could spend several days in Malaga and several days in Seville, that could be a lot of fun.

mahjarunner

Thanks everyone for the comments. I wasn't thinking we'd have a beach vacation on this trip or that any swimming would need to be outdoors. If no indoor pools are available, that is ok. We will have 8 days in Spain, so while it's not a long trip, I think it's still worth going. He is taking Spanish in school and we are of Spanish descent so I think a shorter trip is probably good for his first visit. I don't mind cooler weather either. I will check into Valencia - thanks much for that suggestion as I'd not even considered it.