lizzyp

We are landing in Madrid. As it stands now we will do day trips there for two days than take the train to Seville with a stop in cordoba. We plan to rent a car in Seville to Cadiz to Malaga to Rhonda to Nerja to Granada. So far so good? We plan to head est after to start up the coast. Any more suggestions where to stay or visit?

Viajero2

What time of the year? How many days in Madrid? Taking into consideration that you have listed 9 cities for 17 days, I think you are all set so that you can actually get out of the car. Three home bases max; Madrid, Seville, Malaga. If this is a summer trip, then minimize time down south.

CathyM

Agree - need to know more about the time of year and travel party.

2 days in Madrid will barely give you enough time to recover from jetlag (assuming you're flying from US/Australia, etc...) and definately not enough time for daytrips. Where do you plan to drive east up the coast after Andalucia.

If you want to visit Madrid, Andalucia and Barcelona in 17 days it will be hit the "biggies" (Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada, Cordoba) but you won't have a great deal of time for in depth exploring by car.

lizzyp

We are trying to add two more days to make 19 total. We will be in Spain starting June 16. How about 3 days in Madrid, a train to Seville with a stop in Cordoba. Two nights in Seville pick up car and head for Cadiz to Malaga, Rhonda and stay two or three days in Nerja than drive to Grenada and Valencia for three days and dropping off the car. We than plan to either take a train or fly to Barcelona for the remainder of our trip, flying out of Barcelona .

CathyM

2 nights in Sevilla is not enough time IMHO - especially since you'd be arriving late in the day after a stop in Cordoba. So this would essentially mean 1 day for Sevilla itself. I'd budget 4 nights for Sevilla since you're doing a daytrip to Cordoba.

You'll also need to consider it may be very hot in mid/late June in Andalucia. So your mid-day sightseeing may be limited.

Three days in Madrid would be enough to recover from jetlag and see Madrid but not enough time for daytrips (ie. Toledo & Segovia are both gems). With 19 days and now adding in Valencia you're still tight on time if you want a reasonable pace just to see these cities.

Madrid (4) - w/daytrips to Toledo and Segovia
Sevilla (4) - w/daytrip to Cordoba
Granada (2)
Valencia (2)
Barcelona (4)

I put my personal recommended minimums in parenthesis. Using the minimums you really only have 3 days to play with. And you could easily add days to Sevilla and Barcelona for daytrips.

emily71

I would drop Nerja and stick with the big cities as your base. Late June will be hot in Madrid and Andulucia but following the siesta and resting during the hottest hours will help. You may be surprised how much there is to see in Madrid- I enjoyed it as the city felt more Spanish than international. To get a good overview of the city, I strongly recommend a city walk from the tourism office located on Plaza Mayor.

To cool off, go to the Retiro Park.

lizzyp

Added 3 more days to our trip so... 4 days in Madrid, any recommendations on where to stay
4 days in Seville with day trip to Cadiz, need hotel or B&B suggestions, restaurants etc.
Leaving Seville by car to Malaga , Rhonda (2 nights) Nerja onto Grenada (2 nights) before we head to east coast (2nights). From there we will either drop the car off and take train to Barcelona for 6 or 7 nights. Heard that the beaches south of Valencia are beautiful any B&B suggested.

Finally where to stay in Barcelona? Should we rent an apartment?

amer_can

Best Western Carlos V was just fine for us. Good breakfast and right off Puerto del Sol. clean and nice front rooms have a small balcony but the bathrooms are small. Back rooms have larger b'rooms. This is a very convenient hotel, reasonable and they have a shuttle but it costs 10E.

kja

Please see your other post. You might consider adding a post to each of your threads indicating which one we should view as offering your current thinking.

missnomad

Hi there I recently did a fourteen day trip in spain. Just to give you a rough idea:

1. Two nights in seville (too much time there imo, one night would have been suffixient. Seville is pretty but it doesnt blow your mind away. Being the city with one of the highest unemployment rate, public parks and roads were.mudy.and dusty and it was not that pleasing to the eye)
2. Two nights in cordoba, with day trip to Granada to see the Alhambra (Cordoba was ome of my favorite and apart from the Alhambra, there is nothing much in Granada. Cordoba is very romantic and nice to stoll about.
3. Four nights in Madrid ( One day trip to Toledo. Very neautiful
3. Four nights in Madrid, with day trip to Toledo which was a forty minute bus ride

BarbaraMH

We spent a week in Nerja, used that as our base ... Cute little town. Stayed in an apartment there about 10 mins walk from beach called Casa Charlotte. Would recommend. Also rented an apartment in Barcelona. Would highly recommend over a hotel. We used Oh-Barcelona. No problems at all, lovely apartment, great location.

missnomad

Hi there I recently did a fourteen day trip in spain. Just to give you a rough idea on my trip and feedback:

1. Spent two nights in seville (too much time there imo, one night would have been suffixient. Seville is pretty but it doesnt blow your mind away. Being the city with one of the highest unemployment rate, public parks and roads were muddy and dusty and it was not that pleasing to the eye)

2. Spent two nights in cordoba, with day trip to Granada to see the Alhambra (Cordoba was one of my favorite and apart from the Alhambra, there is nothing much in Granada. Cordoba is very romantic and nice to stoll about. You can walk around the whole old town in a day with time for coffee breaks.You wont miss much if you skip Granada)

3. Four nights in Madrid, with day trip to Toledo which was a forty minute bus ride. Three nights would be sufficient I will say as three hours is enough to cover Toledo. You will still have two days or so to see Madrid.I suggest choosing either Segovia or Toledo.

4. One night in Zaragoza. Just another Spanish city which I regreted visitng. I would have made a detour to Valencia instead. Nothing much there.

5. Four nights in Barcelona and I felt like I DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME! Highlight of my trip for sure.

I would say, spend three nights in Madrid and just make a day trip to Toledo. Then head South to Cordoba for two nights, one in Seville. Pick up your car there and head to
Cadiv and drive along the coast to Malaga and other coastal towns up north along the coast till u reach Valencia. I dont think you need to visit that many as based on my experience, the architecure starts to look the same. Most places are centered around a square wirh the cathedral and some sort of bridhe. Honestly I got quite bored after my first week in Spain. Assuming you will spend three nights around the coastal towns and if there is too much driving just take the renfe (fast train) to Valencia. Spend one night in Valencia. Board a ferry to Ibiza and soak up some sun for two/ three nights maybe. Then from Ibiza (or any other Balearic island of your choice fly to Barcelona).

I would have definitely addded valencia and ibiza to my trip and personally will just visit Madrid (modern city), Toledo (town to just wonder about), Cordoba (for the quaintness and charm of an Islamic influenced town), Valencia (for the history and seaside) and Barcelona. Iwill.definitely make a trip to the Balearic I islands

lizzyp

We were eliminating Valencia . And spending more time in the south. Really 4 days in Seville is too long? How about the suggestion of fast train into Malaga from Madrid, drive to Ronda for one night and into Nerja for four. Than fly to Bilbao and San Sebastián for two nights and Barcelona for three?

CathyM

Everyone has their own opinions. IMHO Sevilla is worth alot more than 2 days and 4 is not long at all especially if you are planning to do a daytrip or arrive late on day 1. I've visited Sevilla every year since 2001 and instead of spending less time every year I spend more

I also believe Granada should be a must for anyone visiting Andalucia for the first time. There's alot more than just the Alhambra.

I wouldn't fly all the way to Bilbao and San Sebastian for just 2 nights. It will equate to only one full day and you're then shortchanging Barcelona. You really have enough on your wish list for 2 trips! I'd save the Basque Country for another time - unless you want to cut Barcelona....which I wouldn't suggest for a first intro to Spain.