Hez

G'day.

My husband and I will be travelling to Spain in July. We will be flying into Barcelona on the 19th of July and have plans in Barcelona from 29 July until 3 August. Between times we would like to go to the Dali museum in Figueres, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, and spend a few days in San Sebastian (Hotel de Londres). Other than that, we haven’t got a clue.

We will be hiring a car. Would like to see castles and mountains, small villages and the seaside. Both love art, food, wine, architecture and long windy roads (we’re hiring a sportscar).

As an indication of price ranges, Hotel de Londres is at the upper end of our budget for accommodation and Arzak in San Sebastian will be our big night out.

If anyone has any suggestions for itinerary, places to stay, things to see, restaurants to eat at etc. I would be most grateful.

adnil1962

I just returned from a 10 day tour of Spain. My favorite location was a city called Cuenca. The city was very picturesque, the hotel was called Parador (telephone 969 23 23 20, [email protected]). The rooms were 5-star, the food was terrific and the price reasonable (although it is off season).

I picked up a postcard of a seaside village called Miravet (in Catalunya). The tour guide mentioned this as a place to visit if we returned. It looks beautiful.

Tarragona was an interesting stop as well. We stopped at the Amphitheater remains from Roman times which overlooks the Mediterranian (sp?).

I wasn't too crazy about Valencia. The shopping was great if you like malls (El Corte Ingles) and the Mercado Central (indoor farmer's market) was interesting. Although the buildings housing the new aquarium & science museum were impressive, it wasn't worth stopping. The old riverbed which was converted to a park was beautiful in some spots, but there were a few "shady" areas and much of it was under construction.

Not to be missed near Barcelona is Montserrat (45 minute drive). Breath taking views, great museum and a tram that can take you to the top from the lower parking lot. If you hit it right the choir sings a few times a day.

Other Barcelona stops:
I found Parc Guell designed by Gaudi to be a worthwhile stop (not to mention that admission is free). I felt like I was in a huge Dr. Suess park. We had an English tour who did a great job of explaining the history (also gave us a great view of the city).

We also stopped at Casa Batllo - Gaudi's apartment which was pretty cool (although I liked the Parc better if I had to choose).

The temple de la Sagrada Familia was a good picture stop but the tour guide told us not to both going inside as there was major construction going on (expected to last 20 years) and all we'd see was staging.

A stroll down "La Rambla" is not to be missed. It was quaint with lots of great people watching & shops.

Poble Espanyol was also a great stop. It is a "Disney" like village displaying Spain's architecture which was designed for the 1929 World Fair. We also saw a great Flamenco show here.

Hez

That's great info. Thanks for taking the time!

Heather

keldar

Hi Hez:
If you like Dali and you are wanting to see his museum in figueres you could do the rest of the "Dali route" as well.
In July try to be at the museum first thing as it gets very busy. We were there in July for opening time and just walked in, however when we left the queue snaked it's way around the placa outside. After the museum take a lovely drive to Dali's wife's castle in the little village of Pubol. The drive is lovely and will give you some views and experience in the farmland and small villages. You could also take in Cadaques/Port Lligat which are respectively Dali's childhood summer home and adult summer home spots. His house in Port Lligat is fascinating and seeing the views outside the windows reflects many of his pieces.This would fulfill your desire to see the seaside. If you want a great drive along the Med try the coastal road from Tossa de mar to San Feliu de Guixols. It's wonderful and in your sportscar would be even better!
(the visits to all of Dali's spots might be a long day so you could just possibly stay in Cadaques/Port Lligat or the general vicinity. )
The other posters comments about the village of Miravet is spot on. It's very pretty and worth a visit.
I have visited this area many times and you can't obviously do everything. You have chosen a lovely area. My experience of the San Sebastian area is less than Catalunya so I can't even comment on your questions about it. I'm sure you will get lots of answers however from others.
have a great trip. (it's very busy at that time too so you may want to prebook visits to museums and Dali's homes etc if you choose to see these)

fate_golfman

If you're planning to go to SS, I would take the Renfe instead of driving. We took the same route last July (before I ran with the bulls) and had great fun doing it. There is sleeper train leaving Barcelona everynight and you'll be good and ready by the time the train pulls in SS in the morning. Log on to Renfe website to get the schedule. Also when you buy the trail tickets in Barcelona allow at least 2 hours. Have a great time.

ian_c

Spain is truly a great county. I travled through Spain for 10 days two years ago in the summer and Barcelona was my last city before going to Italy. Although I did enjoy the cosmopolitan feeling in Barcelona, it wasn't my favorite city in Spain. I would definitely suggest doing a southern swing through Granada and Seville. The Alhambra in Granada is a must see if you're into castles. Take a day and plan to wait in line to get in. I waited about 2 hours in line to get in, although that was in the height of the tourist season. Well worth the wait. I spent about 6 hours walking through and the tour guides are excellent. Seville is a breathtaking city and if you go to Granada it's probably a three hour drive west (I took the train through Spain so I might be a bit off). Another consideration if you go to Seville is to take a short drive down to Gibralter and then take a ferry over to Marrakesh in Morocco. If you don't like extreme heat, don't go to Southern Spain. It was 40+ degrees Celsius the whole time and plan on eating around 10 PM every night since it really is too hot to eat through the day. I got severly dehydrated in Spain so please drink a LOT of water (3 litres a day or more). I would second the suggection made to see Parc Guell and the Sagrada Familia...both are excellent destinations in Barcelona. The climb to the top of the Familia is worth it if you don't mind cramped stone staircases. One comment about the Ramblas in Barcelona. The closer you get to the water (harbour) the worse the crime is. DO NOT stray off the Ramblas late at night if you're going for a walk. Even when you're on the Ramblas do not let anyone get close to you...the pick-pockets are GOOD (as I found out the hard way).

Hez

Wow! What fantastic information. Many Thanks for all of the replies.

Michael

We did the reverse last summer. It included San Sebastian, Bilbao, Santillana del Mar, Burgos, Tudela and Barcelona. Taüll, a small village in the Pyrenees is worth a visit for its two romanesque churches (the wonderful frescoes are copies, the originals are in Barcelona, in the National Museum). San Juan de la Peña has a wonderful location and cloister (look for an embarrassed Adam). In San sebastian we liked to eat in a place called Tiburcio The front is the tapas bar, in the back there is a restaurant.

tommy

Since you like windy roads, the seaside, and mountains, I would suggest that you drive from San Sebastian to Bilbao via the highway along the coast - I believe it is the BI2238 highway. There is a more direct route along a superhighway, but I took this slower route and it was really spectacular scenery. It passes thorugh the small towns of Ondarroa, Lekeitio, Laida and Guernica. Laida was my favorite - it is located at the point where the Ria Gernika empties into the sea and has a huge sandy beach. At many points there are wonderful sea views, and the road was so winding that we had to stop several times because one of our group was getting carsick.

Enjoy Arzak - it was one of the best meals I ever had. I was so impressed when the head chef came out to our table to translate the entire menu to english for those in our party that didn't speak Spanish.

Michael

If interested, here are my pictures of the same trip you wish to take (but we did not stick close to the Pyrenees):

http://photomail.photoworks.com/sharing/album.asp?Key=1~FQQ4aBru.cIe3q7MlMF4.oNr4KKYyOwQPp zKq0r2ByIlAOBwZIzXL0dpsPRA.Q0A

http://photomail.photoworks.com/shar...mVlnpxf2Qx8sau

tpl

We did the same trip about 18 months ago. I really liked the small town of Siguenza, not far from Madrid -- the Parador there is beautiful; if you stay there, check out the amazing church in town.