Hi from New Zealand
I'm overthinking my UK part of this trip - please help! Flying with Emirates on Thursday 11th September as they do an almost direct flight from Madrid back to Auckland but the choice of arrival airports seems overwhelming. I can fly into Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted or Manchester. Most cheap flights UK to Malaga leave in the early morning which is not a problem but I'd go to an airport hotel the night before. I have been to the UK before but it was in the 1980's and things have changed!
I want 4-5 nights in London and 3 in York and that leaves a bit of flexibility and an airport hotel or two in the 10 nights. I'm 61, travelling alone and I need to watch the budget as our exchange rate is not good. Maybe I'm too focused on it being linear?
1. Fly into Manchester for 2 nights ( see the John Rylands library) train to York for 3 nights then to London for 4-5. Fly to Spain from Gatwick on BA.
2. Fly into Heathrow for a side trip to Windsor Castle (which I missed out on in 1985) then London, York and fly to Spain from Manchester Airport. Need an overnight there but that's fine and the airline is Jet2.
3. Stansted worth considering? Seems a bit more hassle to get there from London or York and the Jet2 fare is no cheaper/better than the Manchester one.
4. Forget London airports altogether and fly in and out of Manchester with London as a 'side trip' - going by train from York and back to Manchester. Or the other way around...
The Spain part of the trip has worked itself out nicely - fly from the UK To Malaga on Monday 22 Sep (cheapest flights on a Monday ) then 5 nights in Malaga. The painting holiday is 27 Sep to 4 Oct 2025 at a finca in Canillas Albaida. Transport is provided for this to and from Malaga Airport and the painting host has recommended a hotel in Malaga. Then I'll have 5 nights in Madrid before flying back to NZ.

You won't be visiting Sevilla, Granada, or Cordoba while in Spain?

Maybe a day trip? There looks enough to do in Malaga to keep me entertained.
Another option - forget Manchester altogether and do York as a short trip (backpack only) and leave my luggage at the London hotel.

IMO, none of the cities I mentioned would make much sense as a day trip from Malaga. They are the gems of Andalusia ... but perhaps too hot in September.

Good to know kja. The painting holiday is in September so I'm stuck with that. Maybe I'll get there another time.

OK -- stop over thinking

IMO it makes no difference if you do York / MAN first followed by London / LGW or LHR . . . OR vice versa. I'd go with whichever gets you the best fare/schedule/FF points/whatever is most important to you. LHR and LGW are equally convenient for London. Since the Elizabeth Line, LHR is slightly more convenient than LGW but not much. And MAN (and I believe Newcastle also has flights to Malaga) is great for York. I'd look into maybe flying from Newcastle to Malaga since Newcastle is an hour shorter train ride from York.

So one possibility would be fly into LHR, visit London > Train to York, visit York/North Yorkshire > Train to Newcastle (or MAN), fly to Malaga.

Windsor is an easy 1/2 or 3/4 day trip from central London, no matter which airport one uses.

the Using a process of elimination, I would forget about Stansted - the location doesn't make sense for you. Manchester has just been voted UK's worst airport in a Which (Consumers association) survey and may be best avoided. That leaves Gatwick and Heathrow both of which are reasonably convenient for central London. Of the two , I prefer LHR mainly because of where we live. Manchester and York are easy train rides from London.

We lived in a small town just north of Malaga for a year and loved the city. Some interesting day trips from there would be Cordoba and Granada, both of which are just over an hour by train (the train service is very good). Granada is further away and really needs an overnight stay.

Haven't been to Madrid for many years but head there next month for a couple of nights en route to Mexico. Initial research showed me that there is a lot to see/do/eat and I wish I had a day or two longer.

On our last trip to New Zealand we flew with Emirates from Heathrow and they were very good. When booking, I would suggest checking the layover times in Dubai carefully. on the way out we ended up with a 7 hour layover which was a real pain. I should have paid more attention when booking!

Instead of flying from Manchester to Malaga, if you're in York then Leeds Bradford Airport - LBA- would make sense. Jet2 fly from there, as well as other airlines to Malaga.

Some tips on Madrid:

Location of hotels and landmarks
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...054047807&z=15

Gourmet bars in Retiro
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...677772375&z=17

Day trip: World Heritage Sites near Madrid
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...7949999987&z=7

I totally forgot about LBA which is much closer to York. NCL will probably have more flight options to Malaga, but either one would be easier than MAN - both re distance from York and just general airport crap. MAN can be a mess

Thanks everyone for the great replies.
I had not considered Leeds or Newcastle airports so will have a look at flights.