This is my dilema. I am looking for advice from anyone who has traveled to these areas (ideally both). WARNING: this is not a short posting.<BR>I am traveling to Barcelona later this month for a meeting. To meet my obligations for the meeting, I will have to be in Barcelona from October 31st to the morning of November 3rd (sunday). I am not leaving for home until the 6th and was hoping to see some other area(s).<BR>In an ideal world, we thought flying from Barcelona to Seville and staying at the Parador in Granada while we explored Seville and Grenada would be ideal.<BR>As many a good plan, this one had some snares-<BR>The flight from Barcelona to Seville (mostly due to the fact that we must travel from Sunday to Tuesday and are not staying over a Saturday night) is $350 +. Furthermore the Parador in Granada was booked and the reservationist basically said (with a well-disguised laugh) that one must book that particular location a year in advance. We were able to get a reservation at a Parador near Seville in Carmona.<BR>An alternative plan is to go from Barcelona to Madrid (airfare only ~$150 RT pp) and then spend one night in a parador in Avila (that was a 16th century castle) and one night in a restored monastery in Toledo. With this itinerary, we planned to visit Toledo and Segovia as well as Avilla.<BR>We have heard from others that Grandada is beautiful and not to be missed but thought we would check with others to get your opinion. Is the first itinerary worth the added cost ?<BR>Any other alternatives that come to mind (short of driving from Barcelona to Seville which we feel we do not have the time to do).<BR>Please help with this quandary,<BR>Michelle

Michelle,<BR><BR>If your looking for a cheap flight go to europebyair.com. Flights per segment are $99 each way. I'm not sure if they have a direct flight, but believe they do, so your flight would be $99. Otherwise you can take the train from Barcelona to Madrid, and then the high speed AVE from Madrid to Seville which takes 2 1/2 hours.<BR><BR>Good Luck<BR><BR>Dave

Thanks for the advice David.<BR>Unfortunately, there is no flight pass between Barcelona and Sevilla and the cheapest fare from Europe by air that leaves in the am is about $360. We could do a Spanair flight for $239 but we wouldn't be able to leave until &10 pm so that forces us to lose the whole day outside of Barcelona.<BR>We are willing to spend the extra money to fly into Sevilla (instead of the alternate trip to Avila/Segovia/Toledo) but wanted to know if it was worth the difference.<BR>

Michelle-<BR>I wouldn't want to base myself in Granada while I explored Sevilla. I spent 3 nights in Sevilla and easily could have spent a week. It was just so beautiful. Granada is good for 2 nights, in my opinion, if you want to really see the Alhambra without being rushed in addition to the cathedral and albacin.<BR><BR>However, I'm going to suggest something that is a total alternative to both cities. With the situation on airfare to Sevilla and the transportation issues, I'd save both of these cities for a future trip and I'd spend 3 more nights in Catalonia.<BR><BR>I just returned from a trip to this area and it is well worth the time. Girona is only an hour away from Barcelona by train which run hourly. The town is a hidden medieval treasure with the best preserved Jewish quarter in spain. You could easily spend 2 nights in Girona. Cadaques is a beautiful, secluded beach town on the Costa Brava that is accessable by bus from Girona or Barcelona. (I'm not sure if you'll rent a car). I'm not sure about the weather in November but it is picture perfect. We spent one night in Cadaques and it was sufficient. Also, there's Tarragona just about one hour south of Barcelona with frequent train connections. I wanted to visit, but unfortunately did not get a chance. It is supposed to have a beautiful setting on the sea and is famous for it's Roman ruins. <BR><BR>I'd really consider staying in Catalonia since it's only for 3 nights and the travel time and cost to go to Sevilla and/or Granada doesn't warrant leaving Catalonia. <BR><BR>Let us know what you decide!

Michelle<BR>When I was last in Seville, we got the bus to Carmona, which is about 30km away (perhaps 20 miles, roughly). The Parador was being reconstructed, but it's location was just fabulous.<BR>Whileyou can get to Granada by train, it's not easy. There are plenty of hotels though, if you can't get into the Parador - although that's my long term aim.<BR>Paradores are expensive for what you get (or they are in Aussie dollars) - we stayed at Arcos de la Frontera, and it was OK, good views, space, etc. The next night we walked down the street 100 yards, and stayed at a smaller hotel, slightly smaller room, but otherwise similar, and more personal service, exactly the same view, for half the price.

hi michelle, <BR>we returned from spain just 2 weeks ago. i would suggest doing your madrid segment. we took the train from barcelona to madrid and it took EIGHT hours! although the countryside was lovely to look at, that was a waste of valuable time. we did a day trip to toledo and wished we had spent more time there. so i think your madrid/todelo/ segovia plan would be fine, esp if you fly to madrid.<BR><BR>we took the train (again!) to grenada and then, 2 days later, rented a car and drove to seville. and while i think the madrid trip is do-able, i don't think the grenada/seville is. you will want more time; save that for another trip. i agree with the above poster about not basing in seville and doing a day trip to grenada. there's lots to see in grenada besides the alhambra and it has fun shoppping and good restaurants. it warrants 2 days at the minimum, as does seville. have fun!

i would stay within a few driving hours of barcelona.. beautiful parador at VIC.. or go down the coast to pe&ntilde;iscola.<BR>or take the high speed train to madrid. and back, or rent a car adn go up to carcassone france.. walled midevil city as lovely as avila.<BR><BR>many options but you certainly do not want to try to see too much too horribly far away unless you can get there quickly.. the small historic towns everywhere are really unique also.. and the costa brava, if the weather is nice, is similar to the carmel, california area in parts.<BR><BR>check out iberia.com and "ENTRANDO en pista".. there are many pre-dated flights for the coming week for 90 Euros return. you can only buy them on internet.. you could do that here in spain from an internet caf&eacute; and then you pick them up at a travel agent, iberia office or airport.<BR>they have deals everywhere last minute.. last week but fixed dates to go and come back.<BR><BR>might have barcelona -sevilla, and definitely wil have some options for madrid.<BR><BR>also.. check out some of the other paradors in catalu&ntilde;a area.<BR>

Many thanks to all who have so generously taken the time to reply including Maribel and Graciela who graciously replied to personal emails I sent.<BR>It seems that the concensus is to avoid the more costly trip to Sevilla and stick to either Castilla or the area around Barcelona (which I hadn't even considered !).<BR>Will research these two options a little more and let all who are interested know our final itinerary once decided.<BR>Thank you again to everyone !