oh yea...yes, I am a huge fan of Madrid and that's why we spent so much time there. That's where I lived as a student so it is near and dear to me. Lots of people will tell you that you don't need as much time as we took in Madrid. but not me

Thank you for the newest info...my husband and I are taking tonight to mull over your thoughts and I will add specific questions Friday. We are looking into the regions for what each might offer. My husband really enjoys the Mediterranean even though we live in Los Angeles..20 minutes from the beach. Talk with you tomorrow..Thanks

Tobyo

Your intinerary will never succeed, it is far too reasonable.

Check out some of the paradors and where they are.You can buy their 5 night card and stay fairly reasonably at many of the smaller out of the way ones with no additional supplement.

http://www.paradores.es/es/portal.do

I like this castle website. There are so many interesting almost desolate areas but they have a castle to visit or photograph. Makes touring a lot of fun.

http://www.castillosnet.org/spanishc...mapa_index.php

Think about the wine country and and read up at www.mariblesguides.com

Give yourself plenty of slow time in Andalucia..

The hub around Madrid is full of interesting smaller towns. You can do Madrid even as a day trip from many of them if you are avoiding big cities.

Definitely fly between Barcelona and Granada, Sevilla or Málaga unless you are keen on keeping the car and stopping in Valencia for any reason. Then it would be justified.The coast between Barcelona and Valencia is not fantastic, but Peñiscola is worth a stop.

You may want to leave a lot of this up in the air til you get here and see how much you like where you start out. Maybe finalize the beginning and end days, and leave the middle more spontaneous.

Thank you lincasanova, ribeirasacra, kimhe, and DalaiLlama for the links. We have begun to absorb the distinction between the regions and how we must narrow the scope of out driving to add trains or buses. We have not fallen in love with any area as of yet..too soon and unfamiliar. More reading and questions coming. The idea of the parador hopping is interesting ..are they all so formal? Tonight is region study to sort out a reasonable swath to soak in..Has anyone divided Spain into fourths and done the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, or Northwest to get a feel of the country that way...to return next trip for the other sections?

Have you think about doing a route like Camino Santiago or Ruta la Plata?
If you don´t want to do it walking or biking by car stopping in each small town. It will be a good point to combine the nord Spain and the south and after that move to big cities like Barcelona , Madrid, Toledo.

I always prefer the nord of Spain to travel and Castilla Leon, but I know for foreign people they like so much the south Andalucia because it is more funny people and the though you have about Spain. The nord is more history and cold, but you have good wines and good food.

http://www.rutadelaplata.com/

thanks jaleigui..I am going to share that link with my husband tonight..it is rich with history and seems organized to the hilt and does not seem touristy.

Sorry if I missed it, but I don't think anyone has mentioned that the temps will start to rise in late May--especially the south of Spain, so you may want to begin your loop in Andalucia before moving to another region. This is especially true if I am correct in my assumption that you BEGIN on May 24.
If this were my trip (oh to have a whole month--lucky!), I'd spend two weeks in Andalucia and two weeks in the north of Spain (stopping in between in Madrid). Best of luck with the planning!
I left out Barcelona because you mentioned wanting to explore small villages and countryside, and there is just so much of that to do in the north and south, and BCN is a bit out of the way. You could always return to visit BCN and the French border region on a future trip. I say take full advantage of the luxury of time and go slow!

Aduchamp1, you are funny It DID succeed!! everything went off w/o a hitch and we saw lots of cool stuff and ate lots of GREAT food!!

oh yea, we were in southern Spain the last week of May and it was hot!! high 80s to lower 90s every day. but, we loved it because we ate outside just about all the time. ah.....prolly won't have that luck next March huh?

jaleigui writes "The nord is more history and cold, but you have good wines and good food." correct expect the cold bit. Did you know that the Galician city of Ourense is usually the hottest city in Spain on at least 3 times a year. When it is not at the top of this list it can be found near top. That is why we have a good red wine growing areas in inland Galicia.

I really envy your having a month for this trip.

Let me reemphasize some of the things written above.

The distances in Spain can be fairly vast.

In general, the southern and eastern coasts are pretty horrible. They are grossly overbuilt (Spain was the largest consumer of concrete in Europe for a number of years)and highly touristed.

Spain has a very complex history. It was Islamic almost as long as it has been Christian. Then it ruled the parts of the civilized world that mattered for several centuries. Then the new world powers used it as a battleground for a hundred years. For the fifty years from the mid 1930's to the mid-1980's, Spain was a fascist dictatorship and a haven, after WWII, for all sorts of evil people. It is now a liberal, left-wing democracy in which large numbers of people revere the royal family for shepherding the transition from dictatorship to democracy.

The regions of Spain are much more distinct that regions or states in the US or UK, for that matter.

I think that Madrid and Barcelona are two of the great cities in the world, and you have to spend time in each of them.

Sevilla, Toledo, and Granada are all wonderful. Alas, I have not been to northern Spain. It is a pleasure to which I look forward.

With or arrival and departure being Madrid, would taking a train south, rent a car to village hop and then train to the North get a car again to return full circle to Madrid for 5 days? As you can see..we have NO organized EDUCATED direction..more help please. I would like to include a taste of our past trips to shed light on what we are "like" as travelers. Can do tomorrow..gotta go back to work. Thanks

great thread for my intro to spain! trust no one will mind my little diversion. we are on a cruise that ends in malaga on 5/13/11. we decided to "do" andalusia. we plan to visit seville,cordoba,and granada for a few days each (no rush). if we just do these 3 does it make more sense to use buses rather than rent a car? are we missing-out by not renting a car and also going to ronda,baeza,and ubeda? any reason to linger in malaga for a couple of days?

Tobyo

Do not worry few will emulate your trip. By next week there will be a new poster who will want to visit London, Paris, Madrid, Johannseburg, and the pyramids in a 9 day trip.

If you travel into the white villages of Andalucia, which you must, IMO, check out Al Lago hotel in Zahara. Sounds just like what you want.

checked the Al Lago hotel and it is already booked. We are looking at all the links offered so far to learn availability just in case we pick the location..noting what you have suggested ..we are on the hunt for a path for our month..new, interesting, and challenging. Ah so much to review and research. Order will follow chaos.

curiousaboutit--I think that is a great plan (train to sevilla, rent a car, explore Andalucia, then bead north and repeat).

bodhijack, That is also a great plan, with 9 days, you'll have a great introduction to the major cities of Andalucia, and the bus and train connections are more than adequate. If you decide to get out and about, a day rental would be fine. Malaga is fantastic, but a day or so is plenty as the historic core is so small.

Thanh youYorkshire. I am going to spa d a few hours with the newly arrived Spanish interns at the Spanish tourist office here in Los Angeles. I anticipate I will come way with some footing as to routing and maybe the names of some sweet places to stay. We really would like to stay in one place for several days and roam about. I will post my info and questions later today. Which car rental company do you favor?

You can fly direct from LAX to Malaga (AGP), so consider starting your trip from here.

We have our tickets already..Madrid in and out. We are fortunate to have first class round trip Los Angeles MILES from American Express. First leg we are visiting family in Atlanta then Madrid, on the return we fly into Paris to visit some friends and then Air France non-stop Los Angeles...AHH..rewards. We are celebrating our 35 anniversary and our miles is one of our early gifts...I am off to the tourist office. Bye