18 days in Spain
 

My husband & I have never been to Spain and are planning a trip in May. With that much time we were planning on Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla, Granada, Marakesh (?), Valencia and Barcelona. We plan to most by train & plane. Anything we should add or delete before we make a definate plan? How about Segovia and Salamanca? THANK YOU FOR HELP!

Segovia and Avila,are near Madrid and worthy of a day trip.

Salamanca is also worthy of an overnight stop; it's 2.5 hours from Madrid by bus. An alternate agenda might be to rent a car as you leave Seville and visit some of the picturesque "white hill towns" -- Arcos de la Frontera, Grazelema, Ronda.
Doing all that might mean leaving Barcelona, Valencia, Marrakesh for another trip.

I'm a big fan of Salamanca as well...a completely walkable, lovely city with wonderful aesthetics (all those hidden churches and cathedrals!) and energy due to the university there...I think it is truly a Spanish town without many tourists with plenty to do. I believe it was a Unescfo site a few years back. Anyway, here's a hearty endorsement for it!

I also agree with Salamanca as as destination, and even moreso, Segovia. Both are fantastic, but unfortunately, unless you have a car, you need to go back to Madrid to get from one to the other, but it's not a big deal and is worth it.

I think you might be able to work in Valencia and Barcelona if you don't mind "fast travel" but would suggest Marakesh (sp?) for another trip.

If you do decide to include Valencia and Barcelona, I would highly recommend you get an open-jaw ticket into Madrid and out of Barcelona so that you don't have to backtrack.

18 days is a good number to see quite a bit of Spain at a not-so-feverish pace. Good for you. We see so many people trying to see all the things you hope to see but in only a week. If you'd have only 14 days I'd better recommend spending those 2-weeks in EITHER northern Spain OR southern Spain (Madrid being the dividing line).

Here are my recommended number of days to see each place you have listed (and some others added):

Madrid: 3 days
Toledo: 1 day (daytrip from Madrid)
Segovia: 1 day (daytrip from Madrid)
Salamanca: 1 day (*long* daytrip from Madrid)
Sevilla: 3 days
Granada: 2 days (one for Alhambra)
Cordoba: 2 days
Valencia: 2 days
Barcelona: 3 days
Marrakech: no idea

Of those listed above, I'd possibly delete Marrakech before Córdoba.

You can easily travel between the above Spain-based cities by train or by bus - but typically being cheaper but not nearly as comfortable as train.

Enjoy Spain! We know you will.

Salut, BarcelonaMan
--
Barcelona Spain and MORE @ you-know-where

I have read on one of the Spain forums that there is now direct air service Barcelona-Marrakech and vv. With just 18-days, though, Marrakech would be far down on my 'Visit Spain' list.

The last time we did a loop like that we used a 'Visit Spain' airpass (from Iberia but SpanAir also sells its own version - if you fly TransAtlantic on a 'Star Alliance' carrier).

Segovia is worth a daytrip from Madrid but I wouldn't do the Gastronomic tour: I like Mesón del Duque for Cochinillo asado.

You can book daytrip tours thru your Hotel; some will have Hotel 'pickup;' others will require you to board at c/San Bernardo (just off the Gran Via).

Check out this site for very cheap airfare between cities, http://www.vueling.com.

I think 4-5 days in Barcelona is ideal. We're going to stay there 7 days and take a couple day trips to Girona/Figures and Montserrat. We booked an apt from this website, http://www.vrbo.com/global/siteFrame...turnurl=/49766. Have a wonderful time!