bubblywine

Me: 30yo female solo traveler heading out for a 10 week adventure. I’m planning on 3 ½ weeks in Spain (between Portugal and Italy). Budget is $1,000USD/week and I always opt to spend more on food than on lodging (most of which is booked). I will be traveling in Spain from Jan 29-Feb 20 before heading to either France or Italy. I will happily spend 6+ hours walking, enjoy fine art museums, am not terribly interested in ruins, drink a healthy amount of wine, am obsessed with food, and will go to any UNESCO site within a reasonable distance. I’m not renting a car during this portion of the trip.

What I need from my Fodors friends: suggestions on interesting things to do and see, great restaurants that are under $25 for lunch/$35 for dinner (including wine!), perfect spots for sipping wine and watching locals do their thing, fascinating walking tours of the cities I’m visiting, and hidden gems you stumbled upon on past trips. Did I mention wine?

Itinerary:
Seville – 5 nights (renting apt)
Malaga – 3 nights
Granada – 2 nights
Cordoba – 1 night
Toledo – 2 nights
Madrid – 3 nights
Barcelona – 7 nights (renting apt)

Is this the right amount of time for each place? Any that I should shorten or lengthen?

danon

I would cut a night from Toledo and a extend the stay in Madrid.
If you are not interested in museums in Madrid, there are several day trips you can make including the beautiful Segovia.
Sevilla is rather small.... 5 nights with no day trips would be too long for me.

CathyM

With the cities you've outlined you may want to drop the 1-nighter in Cordoba and visit as a daytrip from Sevilla. It's a great place for an overnight but I personally hate 1-nighters. Another option would be to take a night from Barcelona and have a couple of nights in Cordoba. Carnival in Cadiz is huge and runs in 2013 from Feb 7-17. You may want to take a couple of nights and stay in Cadiz during this time - but you'll need to book accomodation soon and except premium prices. As an alternative you could visit as a daytrip from Sevilla where you'll likely be surrounded by fellow partygoers heading to Carnival. You're a little short on nights in Madrid but since you're overnighting in Toledo it may be OK. I'd daytrip to Segovia.

The current outline gives you an overview in 23 days of 3 areas of Spain. You're not seeing all of them in depth but it's a well paced overview. It's a good itinerary for someone without a car.

It's interesting that you mention your love of food and wine but you're leaving out the Basque Country and La Rioja. It's off season for this area but I'd especially try to find 5 days or so for San Sebastian. This would give you time to visit San Sebastian and do some daytrips. La Rioja is a little more difficult without a car but you could spend a couple of nights in Haro and visit a few bodegas also grab a bus to Briones and visit the wine museum and bodegas there. I'd add these days in I wouldn't take it out of the days you have outlined as you have a good pace in the cities above. I'd try to find somewhere else in your overall trip where you could cut back.

danon

SS is worth visiting but 5 days in a rainy season would not be my choice.
One can easily fly Vueling to SS or Bilbao from Barcelona for a shortEr visit.

Golemtoo

Three days in Malaga is too much. You could rent a car and visit the many worthwhile towns near Madrid besides Toledo including Salamanca, Avila, and Segovia.

danon

PS
Often overlooked Valencia is a fantastic city.

danon

the OP does not wish to rent a car!
Malaga is small and lovely...perhaps two nights would be enough.

Bedar

And, seven nights in Barcelona is too many.

ribeirasacra

Is this on top of or including your trip to Portugal?
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...n-portugal.cfm

CathyM

Personally I don't think 3 nights in Malaga is too much if the OP is planning on doing daytrips, which I assumed was the case from many of the cities. From Malaga you can daytrip easily to Antequera, Nerja, Almunecar, etc....a 1-2days in Malaga itself and 1-2 daytrips would work well.

Salamanca would be a good overnight for a couple of nights but it's a very long daytrip from Madrid at nearly 3 hours each way by train.

BigRuss

Would dump the night in Cordoba (Seville is an hour away by train). Would forego Segovia and add a night to Madrid so you can daytrip to Salamanca or take a night from Toledo so you can overnight there (the preferable alternative). Salamanca > Toledo > Segovia. Segovia is really not impressive after seeing Toledo or Salamanca.

Does that 1k/week budget include the lodging or is that already a sunk cost? If it's meant to include lodging, you're going to have to scrimp a bit and the wine will have to be really cheap.

Go to the articketbcn.org website for a 7-museum pass that will save you money if you visit three of the sites.

If you're going to visit Montserrat and Girona, 7 nights in BCN won't be too many.

kja

Given the interests you list, you might consider cutting 1 night from Seville (so you have 3 days there), adding a night to Cordoba (I loved my 2 full days and nights there), adding at least night to Madrid (so you have at least 3 full days there), and cutting a bit from Barcelona.

Sounds like you are going to have a wonderful trip!

Egbert

Looks pretty good. 7 nights in Barcelona is a lot for me. 5 would be better. 4 nights is better for Madrid. I would take Cathy's advice.

Taltul

If you stay 7 nights in Barcelona, you can do 2-3 easy and worthwhile day trips (Girona, Montserrat, Figueres etc...) Here's a link:
http://gospain.about.com/od/barcelon...rcelonadts.htm
There's also plenty to do in Barcelona.

bubblywine

This is all great - and yes it's in addition to the 2.5 weeks in Portugal and will be followed by a few more weeks in Italy.

@CathyM I would love to fit in San Sebastian – is 3 nights there enough? Does it make sense to put it between Madrid and Barcelona?

@BigRus yes, the budget includes lodging and for the most part I’m doing hostels to keep the cost low so I can spend more on food and wine. Thanks for the tip about the museum pass.

Given the number of UNESCO sites around Madrid I’m beginning to wonder if I should spend more time there and cut out Barcelona altogether.

How's this revision:
Seville – 5 nights (I’ll get in late my first day, and do a day trip to Cordoba)
Malaga – 3 nights (day trip to Antequera)
Granada – 2 nights
Madrid – 4 nights (day trip to Toledo)
Salamanca – 2 nights
San Sebastian: 3 nights
Barcelona – 4 nights (at least one day trip)

Is this the right order for things? From Spain I’ll be heading to Italy (either Florence or Naples).

tower

Bubbly...you again? Just left you in Portugal, now here you're talking Spain. What an excciting trip you're about to take! Here are a few familiarization pix to prep you for Barcelona and Seville (we were once there for Holy Week)' Hope the Portugal pics were a little illuminating for you, too.
Stu

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...villaHolyWeek#

tower

Bubbly...and here is Barcelona. With day trips to Girona, Figueres (Dali Museum).... 7 nights would be just right for Barcelona. It's an electrifying city. (I only have very old, not yet scanned pics of Madrid and Granada.)
stu

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...rcelonaScenes#

CathyM

The updated itinerary is good - it's a little moving around but you don't have any 1-nighters and the 2 nighters are wedged between 3 and 4 nighters and not together. You're also still young so can travel a little quicker. I've also found it's easier to travel solo (pace wise) then with a larger party.

I must say that so many people plan trips trying to cram way too much into a trip. But both of your itineraries are a good pace.

Regarding San Sebastian: 3 nights would be enough to just visit San Sebastian in the off season. The challenge will be the travel day from Salamanca to San Sebastian will be quite long. It will be a 6 hour trip with a transfer by train Vallodolid or Palencia. So 3 nights in San Sebastian will really be just 2 days. It's such a beautiful area that it seems a shame to visit for just this short time. You won't have time for daytrips or visits to the countryside. Are there a few days you could carve out of Portugal or Italy to add time to this area? Admittedly I'm quite biased towards this area but it is quite different and exceptional. If you only have 3 days I may be tempted to skip the Basque Country(this trip) and add the days back to Madrid & Barcelona since you'd already be in these areas. Or even spend a couple of nights in Cadiz, Toledo, Cordoba or Girona - not such large cities.

The quandry is 3.5 weeks seems a long time but Spain is a large and diverse country with so many wonderful places to visit!

kja

Salamanca is wonderful and well worth 2 full days.

I would have found a day trip to Toledo very frustrating - there's too much there that I wanted to see to have fit into that time frame, and Toledo is one of those places that is magical in the evening after day trippers have left. But to each his/her own!

As CathyM says, there's just too much to see in Spain to fit into 3.5 weeks, so difficult choices are necessary. (I ended up skipping Barcelona and San Sebastian so I could focus on central and southern Spain. I'm looking forward to a trip that includes those cities and other parts of Spain.) At least you'll see some wonderful things no matter what you decide!

bubblywine

You're all right - there is SO MUCH to see and do in Spain and it's a huge country. I'm going to skip Salamanca this trip and do Toledo instead. That way the travel is shortened for getting to SS and if I fly I can do both SS and Barcelona.