scdreamer

We leave in a month for a four-week adventure in Spain. We are an active couple in our mid to late 60s, live in the US, very well traveled and we prefer to make our own arrangements, rather than being on a tour, although we do enjoy single day walking tours now and then, especially to get an orientation to a new location. This will be my third time to Spain, second for my husband, but first time for us to explore Andalucia and beyond. I speak a moderate amount of conversational Spanish. It's long been on my bucket list to spend Semana Santa in Seville, so that's what this trip was initially planned to do. We'll be in Seville from the Monday before Easter until the Monday following.

We will have a rental car - along with a GPS we are bringing - for a part of this trip, so we can explore some back roads (not always intentionally I must admit), and we will have some flexibility for last-minute adventures. We are at a stage in our travels (and life) that we are fortunate to be able to slow down and stay in one place a few days. This may seem dull to some, but I really like to have the opportunity to get to know a city - and to wash my clothes - and that means we can travel for weeks with just carry-on bags, something I especially appreciate.

Any suggestions for things to do or see, restaurants, activities, walks/hikes, vineyards, day-tours etc for any of the places we will be visiting would be MUCH appreciated. As far as the actual lodging places we will stay - we are for the most part renting independent apartments through airbnb and other vacation rental websites, and these are prepaid, so that part of the itinerary can't be changed easily. We hope to make day trips from various locations, some possibly unrealistic, others could be possibilities we don't know of yet - what are we missing? What should we skip? That's the kind of invaluable info I would much appreciate.

Here's the itinerary I have put together - started working on this about ten months ago, so most of it is fairly well thought through, at least I hope so. Thank you in advance to any experienced travelers here on Fodors - many of whom I have relied upon in the past - for the sharing of ideas!

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Day 1 Arrive MADRID just before midnight - check into Mercure Madrid Central hotel - sleep (hopefully)
Day 2 MADRID Wander about the city, maybe Prado, Plaza Mayor. It's my husband's birthday today - OPEN TO RESTAURANT SUGGESTIONS!
Day 3 MADRID Retiro Park, Puerta del Sol, - OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS
Day 4 SEVILLE Train from Atocha to Seville. Arrive at our apartment in Santa Cruz barrio about 4 p.m.
Day 5 SEVILLE Wander around the old city. Get a schedule and map of the procession routes for the upcoming days. Visit the Alcazar - we don't have advance tickets, so if the lines are long, we can buy tickets for another day this week.
Day 6 SEVILLE Day trip to Cordoba (train)?
Day 7 SEVILLE Watch processions, El Arenal - Museo de Bellas Artes
Day 8 SEVILLE - Good Friday processions - will be up early to see La Madruga.
Day 9 SEVILLE Day trip to Cadiz?
Day 10 SEVILLE Easter Sunday - are there any special events other than the final procession?
Day 11 SEVILLE to MALAGA Pick up rental car in Seville, drive to Malaga. Arrive in the afternoon at our apartment (parking is free and included).
Day 12 MALAGA Explore the old city. Visit the Alcazaba.
Day 13 MALAGA Day trip to Gibraltar in the car (is this worth it?). I'm also toying with probably a very impractical idea of skipping right past Gibraltar, and taking the ferry from Tarifia to Tangier for a few hours - would have to leave Malaga at the crack of dawn and it would be a rushed and long day, but ... Tangier! Any ideas as to whether this is even possible?
Day 14 MALAGA Explore Malaga - depending on previous days' driving schedule, maybe visit Nerja
Day 15 MALAGA Drive along the coast - stop and explore beaches
Day 16 RONDA Drive to Ronda Staying at the Parador
Day 17 RONDA Explore Ronda SUGGESTIONS WELCOME
Day 18 GRANADA Drive to Granada - apartment - explore old town area
Day 19 GRANADA Alhambra (advance tickets and a day tour)
Day 20 GRANADA Cathedral, Albaicin SUGGESTIONS WELCOME
Day 21 UBEDA Drive to Ubeda - staying at Parador - explore village
Day 22 ALARCON Drive to Alarcon - enjoy mountain scenery, don't fall off the road or swear at my husband too much - staying at Parador. Explore village
Day 23 VALENCIA Drive to Valencia, see above instructions - arrive apartment - drop bags and then drop off rental car at AVE station. RESTAURANTS?
Day 24 VALENCIA Explore city - waterfront - find paella
Day 25 VALENCIA Relax and explore city SUGGESTIONS WELCOME
Day 26 BARCELONA Train to Barcelona - apartment
Day 27 BARCELONA Sagrada, explore city, waterfront, tapas >>> SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!
DAY 28 BARCELONA Explore city, Montjuic
Day 29 BARCELONA Day trip north of the city? Girona? Besalu?
Day 30 BARCELONA Last full day in Spain - explore the city and try not to be too sad at leaving tomorrow.
Day 31 CALIFORNIA Fly home

PalenQ

Book the Madrid Atocha to Seville Santa Justa main train station up to two months in advance and early birds get the worm on limited in number deep discounted tickets - Renfe book your own -www.seat61.com has help on doing that as the renfe.com sight is flummoxing on first encounter to many whon post here - general info trains - BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

Jerez de la Frontera is an excellent day trip from nearby Seville - sherry tours and practice sessions of the behemoth Andalusian horse shows in local arena many days. With train could easily include Cadiz - Jerez not much of a town really.

Michael

I would not leave out Cordoba.

kja

I’m sure it will be a great trip!

I suspect I’ve mentioned it already, but I’m very glad that I gave Cordoba 2 full days. I know many people visit it as a day trip, but there really is a lot there.

You’re planning a LOT of time for Malaga and very little time for Madrid and relatively little time for Barcelona. Maybe that’s intentional?

If you don’t already have them, see if you can get an evening ticket for the Alhambra in addition to your day visit. The Nazrid Palace can truly be special when seen in the evening light and with very few other visitors!

It seems you have 4 full days in Barelona, and you are considering spending one of those as a day trip. That could work for you, but I found it difficult to see everything I wanted in that city in just 5 full days, not counting anything outside the city.

I didn’t right a trip report on my time in Madrid or Andalusia, but you can find my experiences in and around Barcelona in this long (but searchable) trip report, restaurants included.
Four Awesome Weeks in the North of Spain and Catalunya

Hope that helps!

maitaitom

Below is a link to our 2015 Spain report. Went to lots of places you are traveling.

Personally, we diid not care for Ronda (so I'd take a night out there .. or both ... but some people love it ... we thought the White Towns to be weakest part of our trip). I'd also take a night off of Sevillle. I'd add a night in Madrid (by the way, the Puerta del Sol will probably take you 15 minutes to see and then you'll want to visit the numerous other things much more interesting). I'd also add a day in Toledo. We spent three days there. For us, it was our favorite town we visited. The report will also give a little insight on what attractions to book online (especially in Barcelona) before you go. Of course, the Alhambra in Granada also needs to be pre-booked....early. Have fun and a SpanishGinTonic or two. Hope this helps.

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/spain-2015/

View of Toledo from tourist train ... try late afternoon for best view

maitaitom

By the way, wouldn't it be easier to drive Seville to Ronda to Malaga to Granada? If you wanted to see a White Town on way from seville to Ronda, you could check out Grazamela.

PalenQ

they have not left our Cordoba but have it as a day trip from Seville - they obviously like to have as few as bases as possible. day trip from Seville was good for me but I walked miles around town - it would be a good 2-day thing - an ABC city - Another B loody Church on every corner and nice ones and monasteries and convents too plus nice ancient area around the cathedral

scdreamer

Thank you! Love the ideas and suggestions. We already have our train tickets from Madrid Atocha to Seville. I probably should have mentioned that I have spent a fair amount of time in Madrid three times previous - mainly we will be there for what is in reality two days to recover from jet lag and to revisit some of our old favorites. I'm a sucker for the Plaza Mayor. I have also been to Toledo - it's gorgeous. You are probably also right (maitaitom) that we will be on a zigzag course, but I'm okay with it. I agree that I certainly might have been able to plan a more direct route!

I think there is a lot of time in Malaga - will have to figure out some day trips.

Would love more ideas for Barcelona. It's funny - Barcelona is a city I have never had much desire to visit, so perhaps I am giving it short shrift. I'm not a fan of Gaudi, and I think that's what I've always associated the city with. Maybe I'll fall in love with Barcelona!

Thank you for the links to previous trips - I hope to see more comments - again, thank you.

kja

I'm a fan of Gaudi, but Barcelona is far more than Gaudi. Are you familiar with Domenich i Montaner? Any interest in Romanesque frescoes? Castellers (if you're lucky)?

whitehall

Many people can enjoy Barcelona in a few days. We have done it many times without regret. Of course, everyone travels at a different pace, with different interests. We love the vibe there, and once found we walked 15 miles in one day. We went there most recently to show the city to our adult daughter, and she had her fill in two full days and we spent our third day by renting a car for the day to Besalu, Girona and Figueres (Dali museum).

We also very much enjoyed a partial day trip the year before to Montserrat, and the cable car ride up to the monastery where we enjoyed a performance by the in-house children’s choir.

Seems like every time we go to Barcelona, there are large protests. Once we had to make a return for a death in the family and all flights were cancelled due to demonstrations. The last time, public transport was shut down, and we had to walk through street full of 750,000 independence seekers.

Photos are street protests; Old Hospital de Sant Peu (a less visited architectural attraction we enjoyed in Barcelona; Montserrat; Besalu; Figueres; and Girona (we found to be a relatively quiet college town) with some great quality quick food options.

vinonobile987

scdreamer

Thank you, vino - yes, I have been to Castilla y Leon - and have spent a couple weeks in Salamanca, one of my favorite cities, when I was taking part in a Spanish language program about ten years ago. And Segovia is another of the places I have enjoyed numerous times - also La Granja at San Ildefonso just a few miles outside Segovia. I will definitely drive to Antequera while we are staying in Malaga - thank you for that idea.

maria_1980

Hello, if you like hikes i totally recommend you to visit Mallorca. All the Sierra Tramuntana its beautiful!

scdreamer

Wish I had time for Mallorca on this trip! Also the ferry to Tangier, which is an idea I have abandoned. So many places, and just not enough time. I'm already thinking about my next trip to Spain, and I haven't even begun this one. Sigh.

Any recommendations for an especially good restaurant in Madrid - we will be there for three nights at the beginning of this trip, and one will be my husband's birthday.

sawadee

If you are going to use the train after Madrid-Sevilla, I suggest that you buy the senior discount cards, Tarjeta Dorada. They are good for one year, cost 6 euros and have discounts up to 40%. They can be purchased at any train station

ekscrunchy

Jerez is long drive from Malaga, and very much out of your way. I would skip it this time.

Agree that you might think about cutting time in Malaga, and in Ronda. If you do spend time, please look into a visit to the cork forests near Jimena. Gorgeous scenery and little mentioned here on this forum:


<<One can also approach along a 45 minute drive from Cortes de la Frontera on a pisto forestal, or forest track, that cuts through primeval cork groves. This is the route we took getting to the restaurant and I highly recommend it, as the scenery in the cork forest was spectacular.


Cortes de la Frontera is a pretty "white town," with a visitor's center housing an interesting museum devoted to local flora and fauna including exhibitions and explanations of the cork which is so integral to the area. I recommend a visit, which will take an hour or less. (Be sure to see the dioramas upstairs detailing the harvesting of the cork from the tree tunks, which takes place for a few weeks annually, during the summer months)

Cork of Andalucía, Southern Spain.

http://www.cortesdelafrontera.es/es/...e_visitantes./>>>


Entire report here:

CULINARY EXPLORING IN MADRID, SEVILLA, GAUCIN AND MALAGA






For Madrid birthday restaurant: What is the general price point??

scdreamer

For Madrid birthday restaurant: What is the general price point??

We can spend up to €200 for dinner and wine - but if there's a nice place for less, so much the better. I looked at LUA (found on your linked post), which has great reviews, but we need this dinner to be on a Sunday, and they're not open. I'm looking at other possibilities, but many are already fully reserved (April 14) - I probably am late to the party on making reservations for this. If you have any suggestions, I will be grateful. We're staying near the Atocha station, but are quite comfortable using the metro to get around. Thanks!

And thank you for the suggestions re Malaga and Ronda - we are prepaid into an apartment in Malaga, so cannot change that, but will consider a day less in Ronda. During our time in Malaga and Ronda, we will have a car, so we can venture out and about from the city.

josele

Day 13, the trip to Gib is crazy....to Tangiers, crazier. Many thigs to do/see in Malaga. Trip to Nerja much better idea, and nearby Frigiliana. And beaches along the way with few bathers. If you decide on that (Nerja, etc) I'll come back with more advice.

scdreamer

Completely agree regarding Tarifa and Tangier - that's crazy and off the table. But still may venture to Gibraltar - could be the only time I will ever be there. We will have a car, can stop at beaches along the way and back.

Nerja - yes, and would love your advice! It's already on the schedule - day 14, but can certainly be expanded or changed.

josele

I've been to Gibraltar and really cannot see the point of visiting, especially when you'll have to drive many miles of highway...the coastal road is very crowded, But it is your choice, of course!