heeney

OK, I have already made the reservations and bought tickets for my trip to Spain this May. I'll be in each location (Madrid, Seville, Barcelona) for 4 nights. Below is a basic rundown on how I plan to organize my time in regards to where I visit (like daytrips).
Let me know if this sounds feasible. And any suggestions would be very welcomed (especially how best to personally organize a day-trip to Granada from Seville).

Day 1 - Arrive in Madrid early morning.
Day 2 - Madrid
Day 3 - Daytrip to Toledo
Day 4 - Madrid
Day 5 - AVE to Seville
Day 6 - long daytrip to Granada/Alhambra
Day 7 - Seville
Day 8 - daytrip to Cordoba/Mosque
Day 9 - fly to Barcelona
Day 10 - Barcelona
Day 11 - daytrip to Valencia
Day 12 - Barcelona
Day 13 - Fly home.

Oh, and I wasn't able to get reservations at El Bulli like I had dreamed for (would have planned the entire trip around that if I had to!)
But I heard that Adria is basically the man behind Terraza Del Casino in Madrid. So any comments on that place would be great. I emailed them about reservations...didn't hear back. How far in advance do I need to reserve?

Thanks again!

PalenQ

seems swell to me

yk

Hi heeney-

Looks fine to me. You can take the bus (even book your ticket in advance on line) from Seville to Granada. Like you said, it'll be a very long day trip as the bus takes about 3 hours each way. So one suggestion would be stay overnight in Granada.
Bus ticket at:
http://www2.alsa.es/

If you stick to your itin, you will be better off to tour the Alhambra in the afternoon. You know how to book the Alhambra in advance, right?

One restaurant I really enjoyed is Comerc24 in Barcelona. The chef is Carles Abellan who worked for 10 years at El Bulli with Adria.

I was recently in Spain for 12 days in Feb 2008. You can read my trip report here:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35111933

heeney

Hey yk,

I read your Trip report and it was a lot of help...thanks!!
I had toyed with the idea of staying in Granada but I'm already booked to stay in Seville and fly direct from there to BCN. I'm thinking about actually going to Granada via train. It takes the same time to get there. But I like rail travel more than bus...especially for such a long trip. Last year I took a bus to Siena from Florence and it wasn't very comfortable. I'd imagine 3 hours would be more relaxing on a train.
I was thinking of taking the 7 am train from Seville and getting to Granada at 10. I'd spent 4 hours seeing the city and then go to the Alhambra at 2 for the afternoon session. Then I'd leave Granada at 8:30 and get back to Seville at 11:30. That's a long day. But from what I hear it would be a crime to be in Spain and miss the Alhambra.
Your thoughts?

And yes, I have looked up how to reserve my tickets to the Alhambra. I need to do that in a little while...once I'm sure which day I'm going.

I made a note for Comerc24 from your trip report. I tried to get a res at El Bulli last fall...but failed. Since I really wanted to get a taste of Ferran Adria I was looking at either Comerc24 or Terraza Del Casino since it is "catered" by El Bulli.
Thanks again for the advice!

yk

heeney - you're welcome. The reason I suggest the bus instead of train for Seville -> Granada is the bus runs more frequently. But if you find train times that'll work with you, that's fine too. Just FYI, the bus trip was very comfortable, just not very scenic.

And yes, it'll be a shame not to see the Alhambra.

If you buy the afternoon session for the Alhambra, you can still tour the "free" part of Alhambra before 2pm. But I think 5-6 hours is probably plenty there.

heeney

yk,
How long to you think is good for the Alhambra? I have no idea how long it takes to see the place...on average. My other option I looked at would be to take the early morning entry at 8:30. This means I would be about 2.5 hours late when I get there at around 10:30. And I'd have 3.5 hours to see it before the afternoon session. Maybe that is not enough time. But the upside is that I could get back to seville before 11:30 at night...so it wouldn't be as huge a day.
Honestly, I'll be happy either way. Just wondering about your perspective. I'll also keep the option for taking the bus open. Which one drops you off in a better location in Granada? Bus or Rail?

yk

I'd suggest you book the afternoon session - just in case something happens to the train on the way from Seville to Granada and causes delay.

On my visit, I was there for 5 hours and I thought was enough. However, it was during winter time, so the Generalife garden really wasn't at its best. I bet if there were more flowers blooming I would have spent more time there (I only spent about 1 hour at Generalife).

I never went to the Granada train station, so I can't compare the 2 for you. My understanding is the train station is closer to the old town than the bus station.

Hopefully the real Spain experts here will see this thread and can give you more definitive answers.

yorkshire

Just another point of view: On my trip to Andalucia, I had time constraints and so skipped the Alhambra to spend time elsewhere (travesty, I know). It was the inspiration for my traveling to Spain, but it will always be there--and I will certainly go back. I would make the same decision today. I would not spend all that time on a bus or train when I could spend those precious hours walking the streets of Sevilla and seeing more of its many sights.
ymmv of course!

yorkshire

and if you are still seeking input, you might want to rename this with "Spain" itinerary...etc. in the title. I'm not sure how I ended up in here myself!