My wife and I are thinking of taking a ten day trip to Spain in late Sept. We are thinking of spending half the time in Barcelona and the other half in either the Costa del Sol or the Balearic Islands. Since we have not been before we are looking for suggestions. Should we skip the Costa del Sol and do the Islands or vice versa? We were also wondering if we should do an unescorted tour or pull it together ourselves. Any suggestions would be helpful. <BR>

I would definitely see the Alhambra in Granada.

We are thinking of almost the same type of trip, same time -- But going from Madrid via AVE train to Seville, then Costa del Sol. Any suggestions welcome. Does driving rental car paint a target on you (for theft, etc.)? Is street crime a problem in these areas? <BR> <BR>Thanks for any help. <BR>

From what my brother-in-law(he's been to Spain on business dozens of time) says and from everything I have read, parking in the major cities is tough. He also suggests staying paradors--gov't run hotels. I hope that helps. My email is attached so if you hear of anything let me know. It sounds like you live in Ct like us. <BR>

My wife and I spent our honeymoon in Spain during October of 1997. We split it between Barcelona, Menorca (the smaller of the Balearic Islands) and Madrid. We enjoyed Barcelona and Menorca the best. <BR>We stayed 4 nights in Barcelona in the Gothic Quarter and could easily have stayed longer without getting bored. We then took a cheap flight to Mahon, Menorca and stayed at the best hotel in town called Hotel Port Mahon. We got a room with a balcony and a beautiful view of the bay below. There's a great bay-side strip of restaurants/bars right below the hotel, which sits on a hill. The atmosphere was very relaxed and was a very nice change from the bustle of Barcelona. We rented a jeep one day and visited a lot of the numerous prehistoric ruins on the very small island. As it was off-season, much of the island was deserted, and when we drove out of town, we almost felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. In October, it was warm enough to sit by the pool one day and very pleasant the other days. <BR>If you're looking for more of a party atmosphere, you may want to check out Mallorca, but you may also want the more laid back atmosphere of Menorca after Barcelona. <BR> <BR>