Feedback on 3-Week Spain Itinerary
 

Hello everyone,

My partner and I are travelling to Spain for 3 weeks (21 nights) late September-mid October. It is our honeymoon. I have the LP and RG books but would like some personal experience on what I have researched.

About us: We would like a combination of romance and true exploration. We enjoy food/wine and want to ensure we have some downtime but also really want to explore the history, architecture and art. My partner is an amateur photographer. We have tried to narrow down to 3 'areas' with about a week in each.

I'm looking for advice on the following:

-is the suggested itinerary below too ambitious/busy?

-If yes, what would you skip?

-Any replacement town suggestions?

-Do we really need to book hotels in advance in most places or can we wing it so we have more flexibility to stay or leave somewhere based on experience? Are there any places you recommend we certainly try to book ahead?

Madrid & Surrounds (7 nights)

-Fly into Madrid

-3.5 full days in Madrid

-Day trip to toledo (or take time madrid and spend a night here?)

-Day trip to Segovia

-1 overnight (2 days) in Salamanca

Andalusia (7 nights)

-3 days Seville

-2 days Cordoba

-2 days Granada

Rioja/Navarra, Basque, San Sebastian (we are wine lovers) (6 nights)

(Rent a Car)

-3 nights Pamplona (home base for touring and one full day in Pamplona itself)

-2 days exploring Haro, Lograno by car

-3 nights San Sebastian

-day trip to Bilbao (or spend a night?)

Travel back to Madrid for one night to fly out early morning.

(any benefit to doing Andalucia last?)

thank you so much in advance for your help.

Jessica

I should add that we decided to leave Barcelona off this time and come back again for a few days to see it specifically. We chose Madrid this time for the museums even though we have generally heard Barcelona is a nicer city overall.

The benefit to going south last, is that the weather can still be hot at that time of year and lessens the chances by a few weeks.

Rough Guide and Lonely Planet are not very good on hotels and restaurants, but are good on small towns and an over view of history and culture. Michelin Green is best for sights.

Since you are younger, take a look at Time Out Madrid, on line. The paper version looks like it is 4 years out of date.

For me, you are moving around too much. Three nights in Pamplona is way too much.

Looks pretty good to me. I know I could have spent three weeks just in Andalucia or the Basque region, but this seems nicely balanced.

From Madrid to Cordoba/Sevilla is very easy, but how will you get from Andalucia to Pamplona? It may be as simple as a flight, just checking.

Thanks to you both. I do know that many people spend much longer in a region. We want to make the most of seeing places without being totally exhausted...but we are both very fit and energetic so on that front, the travel would be fine. On the other hand, if it is acceptable to find hotels while there, we will just stay in a place we love and not move on if that's how the breeze takes us.

thanks for the advice on Pamplona - we did intend to take day trips through Rioja from there, though, not to actually spend 3 days in pamplona. Would that work or would you suggest a better home base?

Yorkshire - we would either take a train back through madrid up to Pamplona or fly...if we take the train it will eat up the better part of a day, I know, so will have to build that in too...good point.

I think the booking accommodations thing is just a personal preference (I am far too picky, haha). Booking.com is great, and almost always has free cancellations as well.
I showed up in Cordoba many years ago and thought we could find a room on the spot, and it was dicey--but that was before smart phones and instant booking on apps, so probably moot. I do know that in small towns a festival or something like that can fill up rooms, so I would check to see if any events are happening in certain places during your time period. For example, San Sebastian has a film festival in late September.
You are so lucky to have three weeks--now just practice your Spanish, and you will be all set!

Thanks! I've started to learn with an app already!
My partner is a little more 'free' and is a more experienced international traveller than I am..I would personally like to book every night ahead of time, with freedom in terms of how we spend our days. We are trying to find compromise! We will book our nights in Madrid at least...but I wondered if there was anywhere that was truly a must to book ahead. Sounds like we may be ok as long as we are willing to compromise the quality potentially.

We have used Booking.com in about 10 countries now including Spain. It is a good source for reviews as one must use the system in order to submit a revie. And we have had only place that did not meet expectations. But after choosing a place, we always go directly to the site of the hotel and compare prices.

Also check Vueling and Easyjet which are cheap but relaible air carriers for intra-Spain flights. They do have rules which may add costs regarding luggage. And look carefully at the airports as some times they use alternatives.

And if you do rent a car, you will need an International Driver's Permit (IDP). They can be obtained at the AAA.

We will be Spain and Morocco for over three weeks later this year but we are older and have spent considerable time in Spain, so our agenda is different. But we plan on making day trips from Madrid to both Toledo and Segovia by taking the high speed AVE. Toledo is about 30 minutes each way and Segovia is about one hour. But each is quite pretty at night.

Sounds like a wonderful honeymoon!

We've been to Barcelona, Basque Country (basing ourselves in San Sebastian), Madrid, Toledo, Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Nerja and Ronda. I'm enthralled with Basque Country; Seville comes in second. We visited Cordoba as a day trip from Seville, and that was enough. I would spend at least one night in Toledo - it's magical.

Is it possible for you to fly into Bilbao and out of Madrid? It would save some back-tracking and moving north to south at that time of year seems to make sense.

Should be great no matter what you choose! Just a few comments:

For my tastes, this trip would be a bit too rushed -- I would actually skip one entire area to allow more room for the other two. (I think 10 days about perfect for each of the three, so IMO your timing would be great for any two of your three regions.) And since you plan to visit Barcelona on a future trip, the area I would skip this time is San Sebastian / Rioja / Haro. JMO!

FWIW (and I suspect that's very little!), I wanted two FULL days in Toledo and in Salamanca and in Bilbao. But what really matters is whether the timing would work for YOU, and the only way that I know to decide on that it to plot things out on a calendar: Identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Block out time for the relaxin moments you seek. And do note that many things in Spain are closed on Monday, and often for all or part of Sundays too; and many things in Spain will also be closed daily for a very long mid-day break.

Do you need to book in advance? Probably not. But if you don't, be prepared to spend (precious) time finding suitable locations and -- possibly -- finding that you are unable to find something that suits both your needs and your budget.

Are you already committed to flying into and out of Madrid? If not, be sure you consider suitable "open jaw" options to avoid backtracking. If you are already committed to those flights, consider moving on from Madrid ASAP upon arrival so you don't have to stay there at both the beginning and end of your trip. (I'm assuming you would want to be in your departure city the night in advance, just in case....)

And yes, I would put Andalusia as late in your itinerary as you can.

Hope that helps!

Toledo is magical in the evenings after the day trippers leave. I spent 4 nights there making a few day trips to the countryside. Heaven!

Perhaps a little too much moving around, but generally sounds like a good plan.

You should know that the greatest flamenco festival in the world, the Bienal de Flamenco, goes on in Sevilla from September 8 to October 2. World class artists on stages all around town every night. A night at the Bienal could be a grat intro to this powerful and beautiful art so important for Sevilla and the region and a highlight of your honeymoon. Tickets are selling out now: http://www.labienal.com/programa/

The two last days, dance genious Rocio Molina and close to legendary Jose Merce are on:
Rocio Molina: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQpoEFuEQb0
http://www.rociomolina.net/
Jose Merce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzxyefhCQXg
http://josemerce.es/home/

Thanks for all of this great feedback. It seems the consensus is generally that this is too much, even for active people like us, if we really want to enjoy and immerse more into culture as opposed to constantly moving. The issue is that Basque/SS/Rioja part of the trip is one that we are most excited about. It's so much harder to cut than to add, isn't it....

Thank you so much for the information about the flamenco festival.

We have booked flights and unfortunately flying into Bilbao would cost us double, which would eat up too much of our budget. I will look into other options and change fees as well as local flights.

<Basque/SS/Rioja part of the trip is one that we are most excited about> And you should, this is a fabulous part of Spain. If you are planning for some of the most outstanding restaurants, you should make reservations very soon.

Azurmendi: https://www.azurmendi.biz/en
Akelarre: http://www.akelarre.net/es
Arzak: https://www.arzak.info/index.php
Martin Berasategui: https://www.martinberasategui.com/es/inicio
Mugaritz: http://www.mugaritzak.com/

Hi again everyone,
We have talked and researched some more and are thinking of renting a car for 2/3 of the trip so as to avoid being on a train schedule and losing time waiting/transferring...as well as being flexible with bags and such if we are on the road. With this and rearranging the order of travel we seem to have more time to spend - any thoughts on the revised itinerary below?


Rent a car upon early morning arrival in Madrid
-Drive straight to Salamanca and spend the night. (~ 2 hours)
-Explore that afternoon and part of the next day and depart for San Sebastian. (~ 4 hours)
-Spend 6 nights in San Sebastian and explore Basque/Rioja from here (potentially spend a night or two in Haro)

-Spend a day driving to Seville (~ 8 hours)
-4 nights in Seville
-1 night in Cordoba (or a day trip?)
-3 nights in Granada

Drive to Toledo (~ 4 hours)
-1-2 nights in Toledo
-drive to Madrid (~ 1 hour)
-4-5 nights in Madrid
-day trip to Segovia and others if desired.

Do consider taking easy and convenient public transportation (high speed train, bus, whatever!) from Madrid to Salamanca and wait to pick up your rental car until you leave that magnificent city. Many people don't realize that driving with jet lag is as dangerous -- to yourselves and others -- as driving drunk. Even a day or two of rest can make a HUGE difference.

You might want to consider adding some time to Salamanca -- it truly is a gem, IMO.

I think you may be underestimating how much time it would take to drive from San Sebastian to Sevilla. viamichelin.com -- which I have found to be extremely accurate -- estimates 10 hours, and that doesn't include breaks.

Many people visit Cordoba as a day trip. I was glad to spend 2 full nights and 2 full days there. Your call.

Book your tickets for the Alhambra -- day and evening -- as soon as you can.

Consider returning your car no later than Toledo. You really don't need it after that. (Actually, I don't think you need it for Andalusia, either. JMO.)

Hope that helps!