My girlfriend and I have decided to go to Spain in 2003 for 2-3 weeks (16 to 23 days). This will be the first trip for me with a traveling companion in 3 years. I'm not worried about us being compatible, as we spent 16 days traveling together in France, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. <BR><BR>Can't go this year as I am off to Budapest in March and Germany in September-October, and my girlfriend is going to Morocco in September.<BR> <BR>So, here are the questions, is there a low season in Spain? When would be the best time weather-wise to go to Spain? We're thinking of the months of April, September or October. Being that we're fairly cost-conscious, which would also be the best months economically to get the best bang for our buck? And, which months would have fewer crowds? We don't mind wearing jackets, and would prefer temperatures in the 60s-70s. <BR><BR>If anyone wants to give me a proposed itinerary, I would appreciate it. Must see cities are Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo, Granada and Seville. We're also open to other suggestions. <BR><BR>Also, what is Spain's train system like? Will we need to rent a car or can we go from city to city by train? We would prefer not to rent a car, or only rent a car where necessary. Also, excluding airfare to Spain, can we get away with a joint budget of $200 per day which would include hotel, meals, entrance fees and transportation?<BR><BR>I'm just starting to do my research, I bought the "Insight Guide to Spain" today, and will contact the Department of Tourism tomorrow for brochures. This trip materialized while we were in Barnes & Noble today, while my girlfriend was buying a tour guide for Morocco, while we were killing time waiting to see the movie "A Beautiful Mind" -- great movie if you haven't seen it yet.<BR><BR>Thanks for all of your suggestions.<BR><BR>Leslie

I was lucky and visited Spain in the fall of '99. Specifically it was the last week of Sept. and the first week of Oct. The weather was unbelievable perfection. Mid 70's as a high, down into the 60's at night.<BR><BR>Found out I was really lucky. There is some kind of joke in Spain out winter and summer with a few weeks of good weather beween. The joke is a play on words with winter and summer starting with the same letters and meaning inferno and freezing inferno.<BR><BR>I was in Madrid for half of the two week trip with the rest in Barcelona. It was beautiful at that time of year. Not crowded and reasonably priced.<BR><BR>Fodor's warned me that the main Madrid train station was a hub of no-activity. It was dead-on. Ended up taking a bus tour to Toledo, mistake. I'd know a local source for train tickets, or have them purchased in advance.

One more thing I would like to add, we would like to fly from Boston in and out of the same airport unless an open-jaw ticket is very affordable.<BR><BR>Since I just looked at a map, would it make sense to go from Madrid to Toledo to Seville to Malaga to Granada to Cartagena to Valencia to Barcelona to Madrid? Also, besides trains, are there cheap flights between these cities? Right now, it looks like this trip will have to be at least 3 weeks.

We've been to Spain in early September and late May, both excellent for travel to Spain. It's before/after the summer months so the crowds are lower but everything is open, the weather is still very nice and it's technically off season for airfares.<BR><BR>You might consider day tripping some of your locations. Some people may disagree but I prefer to pack and unpack as little as possible. Every time you check in and out that's time spent not sightseeing. From Madrid you can visit Toledo (and Segovia, etc.). from Seville you can visit Cordoba. And on the Costa del Sol you can pick a central location and still visit Granada, Ronda, Gibraltar, etc.<BR><BR>The trains between Madrid and Seville (2 1/2 hours) and Cordoba (1/2 hour from Seville) are high speed AVE trains and a great way to travel. Between Seville and Malaga, I think they are slower trains (not AVE) but it still didn't seem like that long of a trip. We rented a car on the Costa del Sol and it was easy to get around. There are probably also public transportation options and there are definitely organized excursions.<BR><BR>You will probably want to fly between Madrid and Barcelona.<BR><BR>You should be able to find reasonable hotels in Southern Spain. Barcelona was a bit more expensive but there were some under $100 per night. Reserve well in advance, we couldn't book the hotels we wanted on either trip because of conventions.

You mentioned traveling with your girlfriend. Bareclona is a romantic city for lovers. Sit at cafe drinking vino while watching people go past. Request a double bed when reserving since many hotels have twin beds. Enjoy!

The girlfriend I mention is just my girlfriend, not my significant other. If it matters to anyone, my significant other is my boyfriend. I didn't realize that I needed to be clear, there will be 2 beds used in the hotel rooms we rent.<BR>

An open jaw ticket (Boston-Madrid, Barcelona-Boston) should cost you either the same for a roundtrip Boston to Madrid ticket, or no more than $50 more than the cost of the roundtrip ticket to Madrid. You won't save any money flying from Barcelona to Madrid to Boston for your return.

If you find any flights from Boston to ANYWHERE in Spain, let me know. There appear to me to be none. (Although Iceland Air may have some high season flights that stop in Iceland from Boston to Madrid). I wrote to Logan Airport management because I couldn't believe there were no airlines and no flights Boston/Madrid (or Malaga or Barcelona, etc.) and rec'd confirmation this is correct!<BR>My experience (admittedly only 3 trips to Spain) is that late March in southern Spain is like springtime in Boston. You'd better find out when Easter is in 2003 because it's a BIG holiday there, rates double, flights & hotel rooms are booked. Just before and just after Easter are usually still low-season rates. And the temps are what you described as your preference.<BR>If you take the trains (it's worth extra cost to get one of the fast ones), try to get seats on a car at the front of the train. Even if a car is non-smoking, they smoke on the platform between cars and if you're toward the back, the doors open and shut constantly and very slowly, sucking all the cigarette smoke into the car. The farther back you are, the more traffic going through (maybe toward the dining car?).<BR>Spain's wonderful, have a blast.

Leslie -<BR>I was just in Spain early-mid January. That is a great time to go because there are far less tourists there, and it is low season, which means hotels will be cheaper. Every place we went to, including Madrid, we never needed more than a cozy sweater or a fleece - but I can't comment on anything farther north than Madrid. Seeing as you're from Boston, you'd probably find the weather at that time rather comfortable, as we did (DC area) - the lowest temp during the day was 45F. As for the trains, we took them most every trip between cities. The high speed AVE train was fabulous, but they do have "peak" and "off peak" hours, and the fares vary accordingly. The most we paid for a ticket was around $50 for the trip from Madrid to Sevilla. The Talgo 200 was also very nice, but it did take a little longer than the AVE. You should check out these sites for more info:<BR>www.renfe.es (for the train - they have an english version)<BR>www.sol.com <BR>www.red2000.com<BR>www.okspain.com <BR><BR>One last note - if you don't speak Spanish, try to brush up on some phrases before you go. I took 6 years of Spanish, and while it was rather rusty, I did find that it was extremely helpful - a lot of people don't speak any English at all, even in restaurants/hotels. <BR>Hope that helps - if you need more advice, you can email me and I'll tell you whatever I can!<BR><BR>