Barcelona to Malaga

Old Dec 10th, 2017, 05:34 PM
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Barcelona to Malaga

Hi

We are planning a trip from Barcelona to Malaga, (Sevilla) We are a family of 4, with children aged 14 and 12. We want to enjoy the city and also beach. What cities, towns and beach area would you recommend for a 2 week stay.

We have no preference to begin or end our trip from barcelona.

Thank you
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Old Dec 10th, 2017, 05:48 PM
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When is this trip ?
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Old Dec 10th, 2017, 09:12 PM
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Are you from Barcelona? If so, it seems a strange request.
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Old Dec 11th, 2017, 02:37 AM
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Do you want to go to a city (Malaga, Sevilla) or to a Andalous beach resort?
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Old Dec 11th, 2017, 07:41 AM
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Driving? If so I'd stay car-less in Barcelona and take high-speed train via Madrid (stop for few days?) to Malaga area then rent a car -trains are great- www.renfe.com is Spanish Railways web site - other info rail sights -www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.
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Old Dec 11th, 2017, 09:38 AM
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I'm actually confused. Are you going to Malaga or Seville? They are very different places and not that close to each other. It's not as if you can stay at one and take a day-trip. It's over 2 hours by train.

If you want to spend time at the beach, I think Marbella or Torremolinos may be a better choice, but I really love Malaga, and there are beaches right in town, though they are man-made I believe. Marbella is about 20 miles but takes an hour on the bus; Torremolinos is closer at about 30 minutes on the bus.

But I'd recommend a car rental if you plan on seeing more of the region.
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Old Dec 11th, 2017, 10:41 AM
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I'm really confused also as to whether you are going to Malaga or Seville. They aren't even that close to each other. Of course, Seville has no beaches, so not sure if this is asking which one you should go to or what.

I am thinking the OP just wants to visit Barcelona, also, and combine with some place in the south. I think which one you do first depends on your flight options. And that depends where you need to go. I cannot go nonstop to any of them, but found better connections to/from Barcelona and Malaga than Seville recently. Not sure why, it used to be better. But I think I did find a KLM flight from the US to Seville, changing in AMS. So that wasn't too bad.

I dont' know beaches, but if you absolutely must have a beach, I agree the area around Malaga is better. Seville isn't even on the coast.
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Old Dec 11th, 2017, 11:56 AM
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2 weeks

Barcelona 4 nights
Train or fly to Malaga
Malaga 3 nights - beach
Train to Granada - 2 nights -fabulous Alhambra
Train to Cordoba (put bags in station left-luggage and see famous cathedral that once was a mosque) and onto Seville -3-4 nights

fly out of Seville and into Barcelona

Barcelona now also has a beach and places like Sitges -primo seaside resort only short train trip away.
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Old Dec 11th, 2017, 12:48 PM
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Cadiz just an hour or so from Seville is a seaside town with superb beaches - nice to visit that historic old city and also do some beaching.
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Old Dec 11th, 2017, 02:12 PM
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If taking trains Barcelona-Andalusia and around check on Spain Eurailpass - kids that age I believe get a free pass and you can chose which trains to take once there. Compare vs discounted ticket prices and if close go for pass and not have to lock yourself into a specific train on a specific date months early like needed to guarantee discounted tickets. With pass still must make mandatory reservation fees at about $15 per train on high-speed trains.
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Old Dec 12th, 2017, 01:22 PM
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We did Spain this last July-August, starting in Madrid and ending in Barcelona and stopped in many cities along the way. My daughter is 17 and has been traveling with me since she was 4 months old. We took trains and busses along the way - no rental cars - and it worked out great! We went from Gibraltar to Malaga via bus and spent 2 days exploring Malaga. Picasso was born there, we saw his house and the Picasso museum and lots of other art displays. The old town city center is bustling late through the night. We got used to eating dinner around 9:30-10:00 pm walking into cafes and open terrace restaurants and not returning to our hotel until well after midnight. It was great fun and the Malaga people are so friendly. From Malaga, we took a train up to Barcelona.
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Old Dec 12th, 2017, 03:09 PM
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Oysters: How did you like Gibraltar - I seem to be the only one ever on Fodors who liked it - most others pan it as a waste of time. So curious as to how you found it and what did you do?

Cheers!
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Old Dec 13th, 2017, 08:34 AM
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This is my dream vacation, so I would love to see a trip report afterwards. My personal destination to add is Marbella.
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Old Dec 13th, 2017, 12:34 PM
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Marbella is a favorite with Brits who flock there-kind of neat IMO.
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Old Dec 14th, 2017, 01:56 AM
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Marbella - Fuengirola:
all kinds of rich expats from all over the world;
elderly married couples from Northern Europe who spend there 1-2 weeks of holiday;
a lot of hustle and bustle in high season.
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Old Dec 14th, 2017, 07:05 AM
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Yes those are prime seaside resorts attracting many foreigners and are blah modern in many ways IME -Malaga is a historic city with character - base there for old-world feel and flavor and a real Spanish city thru and thru. Nice beach too but can take commuter train to those other resorts for day too.
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Old Dec 14th, 2017, 11:02 AM
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Hi PalenQ: I liked Gibraltar and am glad we went there. I have always wanted to see the Rock and made a point of including it in our Spain itinerary. What surprised me was such a separation from Spain and Gibraltar. Our Spanish bus stopped at La Linea de la Conception bus stop on the Spain side. We then had to disembark and walk across the border, go through Passport controls, then board another bus to get into Gibraltar. It was a strange experience for us after being engrossed in the Spanish scene and culture for 10 days prior, to suddenly find this little spot of Britain in Spain. As an historian, I am personally disappointed that the British never ceded the territory and Rock back to the Spanish. There is really no modern necessity for their controlling this area of the world and it would behoove them to return the land back to the Spanish (the rightful owners, IMO) as they did with Hong Kong to the Chinese. As you'd imagine, it is still a bone of contention amongst the Spanish - our friends in Sevilla were surprised we wanted to stop in Gibraltar where "those English were". But it is what it is.

Overall, we liked the quaintness of Gibraltar, the cute shops and pub restaurants along Main Street. Everything closed extremely early (shops before 8 pm, restaurants by 9), with the exception of a few pub-type places. This was in sharp contrast to our previous days in Spain and their night-life. The Rock was amazing, with great views over the Straits, Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans. We took numerous photos and watched the monkeys' brazen antics. We walked to the other side of the rock through some trails and "gardens" for different vantage points. The Rock was the main reason we went to Gibraltar, so I'm glad we did it! We also visited the casino, which people recommended, but frankly, was rather underwhelming (compared to the Monte Carlo casino and others).
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Old Dec 14th, 2017, 11:23 AM
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Thanks Oysters - my experience was like yours - loved it and can't see why so many here totally dismiss and diss it. I think Brits don't care if Rock remains British but I think locals want to remain so and that is part of the problem. Hong Kong was only handed over after British lease or agreement term expired. Not sure there is one for Gibraltar but by any objective look it was stolen from Spanish by force and should be returned IMO.

You were lucky as there was a bus on Gibraltar side - when I went long ago we had to walk(!) across the airport runway to get to town.

Again thanks for your take.
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Old Dec 14th, 2017, 12:14 PM
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PalenQ, I agree with you completely. It's too bad that the Brits never signed an agreement with the Spanish re: the Rock and Gibraltar area to be returned to them after X number of years. But all in all, Gibraltar gives the Brits a nice warm spot for them to vacation at during the year! I had anticipated a walk across the border but wasn't sure how it would go. From the Spanish bus station, there were virtually no directional signs. We just followed some people walking towards the Rock. Fortunately, there was a queue of buses lined up outside passport control, as I did not want to walk the distance into the center of town with suitcases. Another surprise is that the GBP note and coinage from the UK is accepted there, but any Gibraltar pound notes or coins are not accepted in the UK. (We made sure we tipped off the taxi driver when we left Gibraltar to finish off our Gib money).

I need to do my Spain / Africa / Italy trip report from our summer travels! In contrast to the more "austereness" of Gibraltar, we personally liked Tarifa further south better. It was an authentic Spanish coastal town with a great vibe - not pretentious or touristy. We used Tarifa as our base to go to Morocco, as the boat ride was a mere 45 mins away from Africa. Traveling is the essence of life! We're off again next week for England and France over the Christmas break Happy Holidays to you!
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Old Dec 14th, 2017, 12:19 PM
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To you too!

But all in all, Gibraltar gives the Brits a nice warm spot for them to vacation at during the year!>

Brits however vacation all over the Costa de Sol with some towns like Benidorm being more British than Spanish.
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