Advice on Itinerary (Southern Spain and France)
 

Hi
I am planning to go Spain and France this coming November for our honeymoon trip. We are thinking of flying to Barcelona and will go south of Spain and from there go north ,to Madrid. After Madrid, we are thinking of flying into Toulouse and perhaps drive to Provence.
I would like to ask Fodorites here the best way to travel from Provence to Barcelona (assuming that we have to board the return leg from Barcelona).
And also, based on my above itinerary, do you think there will be enough time to do all these in 4 weeks? Thanks

I think there is a flight from Barcelonna airport to one of the Nice/Toulouse/etc airports. Train is good too while a car would allow you to visit nice little places along the way. I think givne the time and the honeymoon I might take the car. Note that Madrid will be coolish in November

If I were you I would try to avoid backtracking and fly into Malaga or Seville, then train up to Madrid, fly to Barcelona, fly to Nice/Toulouse. Depart from Nice. Four weeks is plenty time to do it, you have picked great November locations.

A great resource for finding flight options throughout Spain and France is www.harefares.com. It is a cheap airline indexing site that lets you choose your route, and then shows all the airlines that fly between that origin and destination.

Hi

Some confusion here ?

Some interesting local flight routes :

To From Carrier

Madrid - Girona Ryanair

Madrid - Marseille Ryanair

Madrid - Toulouse Easyjet

Malaga - Marseille Ryanair

There also cheap flights with Air Berlin, Clickair and Air Berlin which may be useful.


Cheap flight routings updated here :
http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/to...ourism-air.htm

Peter

Hi Fodorites,
Thanks for advice that have been given to me so far. I found them very helpful indeed. I have decided NOT to go France anymore. We will do it on a separate trip in future.Below is my new itinerary . I would appreciate it greatly if I could have some feedback. We are still in the planning stage

Madrid - 4 nights
Sevilla - 3 nights
Granada - 1 night
Barcelona - 5 nights
Rome - 6 nights

We have a total of 26 days of vacation. But now we are undecided whether we should go to the Dolomites or Tuscany before hitting Rome. Ideally, we would like to spend 2 nights in Venice.
Do you think there is too much of dotting around?
Thank you

I like it. I would not add another
location - you can do a day trips from Rome : Orvieto , or even Florence ( if you leave Rome early in the day).

Hi
But I have another 7 more days which I am still uncertain where to go.Should it be Dolomites or Tuscany , perhaps the countryside?

Catherine,

I love the Dolomites, but would hesitate to travel there in November. The chance of unpleasant weather, including freezing rain and low cloud obscuring the roads(to say nothing of the views) are too great.

While rain is equally likely in Tuscany, the temperatures should be warm enough that you will have less difficulty in driving. I think there are more indoor activities available in Tuscany than in the region of the Dolomites.

Thanks for the advice. I think perhaps you are right. I went to the Dolomites 7 years ago and was completely mesmerised by the breathtaking scenery and that's why I thought of going again. As for Tuscany, which region will you suggest?

Hi, catherine_teh -

I think your trip sounds great! One small suggestion: It might be worth adding one night to Granada. But it depends on what you want to see and experience.

Hope that helps!

Catherine,

If it were me, and I wish it were, I would spend November in the Val d'Orcia. (I suspect you can find as many opinions on this isuue as there are Fodorites.) Because you will be well behind the harvest, you should be able to find very nice lodging in Montalcino at reasonable prices. That would allow you easy day trips to Siena if the weather makes sightseeing in a city.

Your advice has been most helpful to me and definitely has triggered my enthusiasm in visiting Montalcino and perhaps Montepulciano. We are thinking of going to Florence and Venice before hitting Rome. So for us to go Montalcino, where should go from? Airport in Venice? I will be flying in from Barcelona
Thanks in advance

I know there is at least one non-stop from Barcelona to Pisa on Iberia. I expect you can fly to Venice from Barcelona as well. Driving from Venice into Tuscany is an all day affair, once you pick up a car at the Piazzele Roma. From Florence, most of the car rental companies have offices near the main train station and you can be south of Siena in 90 minutes if you avoid rush hour.

I think it is best to arrange car rental before you leave the states. Generally the rates are much lower, and they will be quoted in dollars. Even for short term rentals, I have found the best prices are from Kemwel and Sixt.

Hi catherine,

what a great trip.

i agree largely with the advice you've had so far.

However, as this is a honeymoon i would suggest starting off in Venice. IMHO it is THE most romantic place in the world, and a great place to recoever from jetlag, acclimatise to our quaint little european ways, etc.


from there, I would hire car and tour [no need to book in /november] gently down to Rome.

return car, fly to barcelona, then train/fly to malaga and tour andalucia.

I wouldn't try to see Rome AND Madrid this trip - Madrid will be a big disappointment. personaly I'd omit barcelona too, and concentrate on andalucia, especially in November, but that's just me.

have a great trip,

regards, ann

Hi Ann
I am locked into flying into Madrid and out of Rome. And I have also booked a 4-days accommodation in Madrid. I don't think I am going to Malaga as I am living in Singapore and we are not looking for the sea and sand for this holiday. However, thanks for the advice given.I would like to check how long is the drive from Pisa to Montalcino and would it be a difficult drive?

ok catherine, obviously I hadn't read the thread carefuly enough.

you are flying into Madrid [with 4 nights booked] and out of rome and 26 more days to fill.

Assuming 5 nights in Rome [any less and you'll just be frustrated], that brings us down to 21.

for any driving times and distances, you need viamichelin.com. I found a largely motorway route would take about 2 1/2 hours from PISA to Montalcino, but it will give you more scenic routes too.

trying to work both Pisa and Montalcino into your trip, and remembering that every time you move, you "lose" at least half a day, i end up with somthing like this:

Day 1-5 [4 nights]- Madrid.
Day 5-8 [3 nights]- train to Seville,
Day 8 - pick up car, tour andalucia including Granada, [days 8-14, 6 nights] ending up in Malaga [nice spot for one day - picasso museum, bars etc. - no need to go anywhere near the beach!]for flight to Venice.
Day 14 -17 [3 nights] - Venice
Day 17 - pick up car, drive to tuscany, tour for 7 nights.
Day 24 - drop car in ? assisi/orvieto and train to Rome. spend last 6 days/5 nights.

you could drop Venice and add Barcelona, in which case a flight from Barcelona to Nice might be good, except that if you picked up the car in Nice, you'd have very nasty drop-off charges in Rome.

hoe this helps - remember, you'll want to come back!

regards, ann

Hi Ann
You have planned an interesting itinerary for me and it got me really excited about my trip. I have decided to drop Barcelona and fly to Venice from Malaga. However, I realised that there are no direct flights to Venice. What do you think if I take a train down to Malaga from Madrid and drive "upwards" to Seville(With 12/2 nights stay at Granada) and take a plane from Seville to Venice?
BTW, we are going in late november.Do you think we need to make prior booking ?
Thanks

hi catherine,

glad you liked my ideas. when planning I try to get a good mix of types of places - some city, some relaxing, some activity - that last one is difficult in november, I know.

obviously it needs some tweeking -such as no direct flights from Malaga to Venice. as my only reason for sending you to Malaga was this imaginary flight, you could train to granada, stay 2-3 nights [you should do both day and night-time visits to teh alhambra IMO] then pick up car, and tour andalucia, ending in Seville where you return the car.

as you know more of less when you want to travel, I would do all booking now. even in November, the alhambra tickets especially day-time ones, may sell out. [they did 3 years ago when we were there in November, though we were able to turn up on spec for the night-time ones].

Maribel has some great suggestions for charming places to stay in GRanada if you search this forum for maribel & Granada. alternatively, we stayed at the hotel guadelupe right opposite the alhambra, and got a huge room with bath for €60 per night. there is a bus that takes you down to the town and [more importantly] back up again.

regards, ann