10 days in spain next spring
 

2 couples never been to spain flying into madrid , renting a car , what to see in that time?

Pam,

My husband and I spent 7 days doing the very same thing last year. We picked up a car in Madrid and covered a lot of ground. We stayed in mostly Paradors and one hotel in the following cities: Bilbao, Leon, Santiago de Compostela, Zamora & Avila. We certainly feel that Paradors are the way to go for historical lodging at a reasonable cost.

We'd been to the south of Spain and spent time in Madrid before so we chose to go north instead. There are a great many beautiful areas to see in the south as well.

The bottom line is: you can see a lot in 10 days.

Feel free to e-mail me if you would like more information. [email protected]

Cindy

I think 3 days in Madrid and a week in Andalucia would be nice. You could visit Granada - the Alhambra is amazing; Seville - a wonderful city; and some of the perched pueblos blancos. We loved Andalucia - it is the essence of Spain.

As I'm Spanish I'm just curious , mamc, why is Andalucia the essence of Spain ? I`ve heard that from a lot of tourists, especially Americans :)I don't think there's any place here that represent that. I mean, it is the very different parts on a relatively small country what makes it special.

I agree with kenderina concerning 'the essence of Spain.' And I think cindymac got closer to the Soul of Spain in the north. But in the Spring you may want to spend more time in Andalucia because of the many fiestas that happen in the south in the Spring: Sevilla's feria de abril, el Puerto de Santa Maria's feria de la Primavera and the feria del Campo (el Rocio) in Huelva on Pentecost weekend.

As a huge Spain lover, I too agree with kenderina. While I love Andalucia, I also love Barcelona, Segovia, Salamanca, and plan to go to "green Spain" and see other areas as well. The variety is fantastic and part of the attraction for me.

pam,
go to you local bookstore and start checking out guidebooks...of course, read trip reports from here, and check out some websites...aboutspain.net, tourspain.es, spainlest.com, red2000.com, okspain.org...to name but a few.

And yes, I think the Paradores are the way to go--check out parador.es.

Happy planning!

I went in the spring last year (early may) to visit my best friend who lives in Madrid. We stayed there a few days and then traveled south. We traveled by train and not car though. We went to Cordoba (must see the Mezquita, Alcazar, Jewish Quarter,), Granada (Allhambra--especially gorgeous in spring with all the flowers blooming, Albayzin), Cadiz (has a gorgeous beach, and I loved the town-this was my favorite place we visited)and Seville (wonderful museums, cathedral, parks, and site seeing, great restaurants too). We were in Spain for a total of 12 days. It was one of the best trips ever! If you want more information on these cities, email me and I can send you more detailed information that I sent to someone else on another message board. Next year when I visit we are going to Greece together, but I'm looking forward to going to Spain again and exploring the north. You will have a great time!

Tell more about yourselves. What do you like to do? Are you foodies? Winies?
On a budget? Live in a city? Like beaches? Been in Europe before?

We're going next week. Our fifth trip there in 7 years.
Spain is an amazing place to spend time. Everyone raves about Italy, which we've been to as many times, but we prefer Spain.

ciaony, help me with my English ! What means "winies" ? :)

I think I may have invented it.
Foodies = food lovers
Winies = wine lovers?

hahahaahha, ok , I see it !!! :)

love small vilages a touch of big cities like to eat and wine would really like 2 bases to stay in and drive from them if thats possible in 10 days been to italy tuscany loved it cant imagine spain any better of course am italian

AAAAAAHHHHH SPAIN
I MISS UUU SSOOOOO MUCH

Having lived in spain for three years I agree with the comment that the south is not necesarily either the soul or heart or whatever. This country has the most unique diversity each province or autonomous community as they call it is vastly different and the mistake many North Americans make is to think only of sunny Spain and Cheap Spanish Wine. The North is of course more industrial and a bit more hardy but few towns are as pretty as San Sebatian and for vineyards Rioja Region Cannot be beat and I too second the parador experience which can be found at www.parador.es As we move east there is Aragon and Navara of course Navara famous for its Pamplona fiesta, not to mention the most delicious vegetable in the world Asparagus Blanco con vinagretta. Then you move onto Barcelona which many have said is a little dirty but a walk down los ramblas is akin to visitting the eiffel tower and also la sagrada famillia, and another amazing beach town called sitges where sangria is more plentifull than water. Furhter south to Valencia the cleanest town in Spain and alicante. The other thing the paradors will do is get you away from the tourist spain and enlighten you to the country side, I would need days to explain why although beutiful southern Spain is beautiful, there is as much beauty North of Spain. Also for the foodies You must try some things you will never get anywhere else, Hamon, Caricoles, navajas, alli oli and for the cheapest and most delicious white wine in Cadiz and Sevilla (Barbadillo)try a bullfight, once you understand a bullfight then youèll know Spain...... Try some orijo and Pacharan and jerez, and oil and vinager from andalucia is the best...AAAAAH SPAIN I MISS UUU SOOOO MUCH

oneillchris, glad to know you love Spain so much :) But really, you don't know anything about Spain in the bullfighting. Actually, it's a pretty minoritary thing. Even there are people here that don't like it, you just have to see an important football match where even the Madrid streets get
empty to see it on TV. Football (or soccer, as you like it :) ) is something that most Spanish people has in common :)

pam16, Spain has not to be any better than Italy, it's just different :) You have to make a decision, travel north from Madrid or travel south :) In both you will find beautiful countryside and lovely places to be. You haven't told us which time of the year you're travelling. If it is summer, then heading north is more pleasant. If it is winter, it's better the south.

would like to travel south from madrid hit key spots to must see in 10 days how many days in each spot?

Ok, south from Madrid :)
Including Madrid...
3 days Madrid
1 day Toledo
3 days Seville
2 days (1 night) Granada (as you travel between the two you can visit Cordoba)
And you have 1 day left to do what you prefer, a visit to El Escorial and Segovia which are very near from Madrid is a good idea.