I'd love to get some Fodorite input on a 10 day trip to Spain.

I'm planning on going with my Mother in mid October (me, mid-30's, she, late 50's). We do a "big" trip together every couple of years (London, Sicily, Thailand, etc).
She's never been to Spain, but I have, a few times, including living in Madrid in the early 90's.

So, here's the dilemma; how to make the most of the 10 day trip so she can get a great overview of Spain.

We are flying LAX to London on free FF tickets and then have to get to Spain on our own. We arrive in London at 7AM on a Saturday morning. I wanted to fly straight to Sevilla, but there aren't any flights until late afternoon.

So, thinking of doing the following:
Saturday:Arrive LHR 7AM
fly to Barcelona 9:30 AM-arrive 12:30 PM
Monday: Fly Barcelona to Sevilla mid-day
(Pick up rental car for 4 days to explore Andulucia)
Friday: Train to Madrid from?
Monday: fly early AM to London and then home.
I can currently get these three flights, at good times, for about $380.

I think this is good for us, but I'm open to any other ideas. The only restraint is not waiting in LHR all day for a flight to Spain and being able to make our 2PM flight home from London.

Thanks!

Hi Kristina

We really enjoyed our last trip to Spain. We flew into Madrid then connected onto Barcelona. The other couple we traveled with were very clever in planning our actual travel time so we maximized our time there. We spent a few days in Barcelona and took an overnight cruise to Majorca for a day. We rented a car at the dock and cruised around the island and the town of Palma. After getting back to Barcelona, we took an overnight train to Sevilla. We then rented a car and visited the Costa del Sol, Granada, Toledo before heading back to Madrid to fly home. We liked everything about Spain but I think our consensus favorite was Granada.

check out www.whichbudget.com. they will show you all budget airlines to spain from england.

you may be surprised at the possible combinations.
bilbao may be a good entry for a day and half on way to sevilla. worth the stopover.

or then bilbao -barcelona-sevilla.

www.vueling.com has great fares but you can't reserve for october yet.

I think it's great that you have these trips together...my daughter (who is now in Barcelona) and I are planning our first in Sept/Oct.

Have you considered getting an open-jaw ticket into Malaga (close to Seville) and out of Barcelona?

If you can't whichbudget.com will give you more options, but Malaga might make more sense (for Seville) than Madrid.

also check www.iberia.com, and www.spaniar.com for one way tariffs between whichever cities you decide.

i would fly the long trips and train or drive the shorter ones.

how lucky to be doing this with your mom!!

Thanks for the replies everyone. Yes, my Mom and I are lucky to do these trips, and believe me, I appreciate each one (though my husband does get jealous!).

Artlover-if you want to see some of our mother/daughter trips, check out my travelogues at http://www.wired2theworld.com
It's fun to travel together, but it's not always easy.
Malaga would be a good option too, if we could find an early non stop flight, but it doesn't look like it (see below). That is, unless an hour is enough time between flights. But that's risky...

Lincasanova- whichbudget.com is great! Thanks. Unfortunately, they only had BMI flights from LHR and not to where I want to start.

Have any of you seen the flight search function on www.smartertravel.com?
If you select "flight schedules" you can put in two airport codes and see every flight, every airline scheduled for that day for that pair.
This is how I discovered the only non-stop to Sevilla from Heathrow is at 4:40 PM. Everything else flys through Barcelona or Madrid, taking up most of the day. Same issue with Malaga, or Jerez.

Thanks!

I’d spend longer in Barcelona (its one of my favourite cities in the world), fly to Seville and skip Madrid altogether, flying back to London directly from Seville (BA does direct flights to Gatwick, so you would have to get the bus to LHR; Iberia flies to LHR from Seville. Both flights are seasonal, so they may not operate in October) or Malaga (ditto re flights I THINK, but have not checked recently).

Madrid is a great city, with fabulous shopping and incredible art galleries, but if I only had 10 days, I would prefer to spend them in Barcelona and Seville areas. Weather in Madrid is bizarre: I have been many times, at different times of the year, and it seems to be either as hot as Hades or as cold as Hell . I have been to Barcelona about four times and consider it the richest city, in terms of architecture, and I would recommend a side-trip to Girona, if time allows. I drove through the Pyrenees and consider it one of my best trips. Seville is a divine small city and you are guaranteed to be delighted by your drive through Andulusia. Where possible, try to stay at the Paradors; the best value for money I have ever had in my travels to Europe. Check out the wonderful “Maribel Guides” for planning your trip. She is my first and best guide for Spain. http://www.maribelsguides.com/

I find Expedia.com the best way to plan inter-European flights (make sure you chose the option for “flight segments” so you see all the options).

Regards Ger

Ger- My husband agrees with you about skipping Madrid, even though we lived there in 1991. However, since we missed it during our 1999 trip to Spain, I'd like to go back and see how the city has changed. And yes, I've seen Maribel's awesome guides.
Do you have a favorite parador in Adulucia? I'd like to stay in one, put prices in october seem astronomical for the nicest ones.

As for where to go, I think what it comes down to for us is, what's the earliest flight to Spain we can get from LHR without waiting for hours in the airport or taking all day to get to our final destination.

Since you are, I assume, going to make the ongoing flight segment (LHR-Spain) arrangements separately there would be some elements to consider IMO:

Unless the two carriers you use have some sort of luggage agreement then you'll may have to claim and re-check the luggage onward and at Heathrow that can take lots of time.

Have you looked at flight schedules using a variety of "engines" such as mobissimo and itasoftware or just Expedia and Orbitz? I somehow cannot imagine your having to connect through Barcelona unless that is a far cheaper option for you (understandable if it is).

I am sorry but i do not see how anyone could consider that they are providing or receiving a &quot;great overview of Spain&quot; (to use your own words) and then say they are going to <b> skip Madrid </b>! I realize that Seville has attained the &quot;most favored city&quot; status on this board (as the &quot;debate&quot; about which is better, Madrid or Seville? rages on) but to not go to Madrid..well...

I gues you can't go everywhere but you get my drift.

Intrepid-
Answers to your questions:
1.Yes, luggage could be an issue, but we are planning on doing carry-on the whole way. I've done it many times, so it shouldn't be an issue, unless, of course, my mother can't pack light. I plan on weighing her bag before we leave. ;-)

2.I've looked at every possible search engine (I highly recommend the smartertravel one above), and as I've said above, there are no non-stop flights leaving LHR for anywhere we want to go between say, 9 AM and 11 AM, with the exception of Barcelona or Madrid. Granada or Malaga would be good options as well, but the flights leave either too early or too late to work for us.
BTW, we're not planning on connecting through Barcelona same day, rather, we'll stay for a couple of days. I think I'd like to show my Mom the city anyway.

3. I never said I wanted to skip Madrid. That was the recommendation by others. I can't see missing it either. My plan always was to go there (see my post above yours).

Thanks!