kimhe

A couple of cities in Andalucia, Madrid, Bilbao/San Sebastian and Barcelona is perfectly doable in 22 days. Will give you a higlight taste of four fabulous and very diverse parts of Spain.

Some great video intros to these regions:
Andalucia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyfGdpF55Uk
Madrid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBNApw42JYU
Basque Country: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwmBAvqa_0U
Barcelona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymBYJEC9XU

kja

Some people like quick "highlights" tours; others (including me), do not. No right or wrong answers to that one! But it does mean that only the OP can decide, based on what s/he most wants to see.

With 22 days and the OP's stated interests, I'd limit myself to Andalusia and Madrid and surrounds, or perhaps find a way to fit Barcelona in (skipping San Sebastian and Valencia either way), but other choices are certainly possible and would also make for great trips.

FWIW, I didn't find it difficult to get to and from Salamanca -- I went from Segovia via Avila to Salamanca by bus and by train from Salamanca to Madrid; maybe the routes have changed since I was there. I thought Salamanca a gem, and well worth the travel time. JMO.

kimhe

22 days for say Cordoba, Sevilla, Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian and Barcelona would be no quick "highlights" tour, just a plain fabulous tour of diverse Spain, at least if you do some planning in advance.

Bedar

Right, Kimhe, but let's put Granada in there, too.

sadclown

Thank you so much everyone for your amazing replies. I am continuously logging on to this thread, tremendously excited at the prospect of a new reply every time.

My itinerary currently looks like this. I definitely need help with the best route to take. I would be open to taking a flight here or there if y'all think it's worth it. I am also considering (almost definite) adding some more time to my trip, so no worries about the amount of time spent in each city - I promise I'll add more if necessary.

(Fly to Granada)
Granada
- Train to Seville
Seville
-Day trip to Jerez de la Frontera and Cadiz
- Train to Cordoba
Cordoba
- Train to Madrid
Madrid
-Day trip to Toledo
-Day trip to Segovia
-Day trip to Avila and El Escorial
-Day trip to Leon (is this feasible)?
**What do y'all think about Aranjuez or Alcala de Henares? I've seen/heard good things**
- Train to Salamanca
Salamanca
- Train to Madrid (is there a better way to do this? Instead of having to come back to Madrid? I liked the idea of Avila to Salamanca but don't want to cart my bags around everywhere!)
Madrid
- Train to Cuenca - day trip
- Train to Valencia - on the same day
Valencia
- Train from Valencia to Barcelona
Barcelona
- Train/Plane (which one?) from Barcelona to San Sebastian
San Sebastian
-Day trip to Bilbao

Let me know what you think!

maitaitom

Here's the trip we took in May/June with photos...might give you some ideas. We visited Barcelona, Granada, Ronda, Zahara de la Sierra, Sevilla, Cordoba, Toledo and Madrid during our three weeks. Toledo was our favorite stop.

<B>http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/spain-2015/</B>

kja

"I am also considering (almost definite) adding some more time to my trip, so no worries about the amount of time spent in each city - I promise I'll add more if necessary. "

Again, it really depends on what, exactly, you want to see and experience. To see what I wanted to see and experience in these cities, at a very hard pace, took a total of about 37 days -- and that ignores the time you are spending with what looks to be inefficient routing. Maybe this trip would work for you, maybe not. For certain, you would spend a lot of time in transit. Have you made sure that you can visit the things you would want to see while in these places? Many things (not all) in Spain are closed on Mondays, for at least part (if not all) of Sundays, and for a very long mid-day lunch break.

As noted above, I think you would be wise to lay out your itinerary on a calendar to determine whether it could meet your needs. And lay it out on a map, too.

BTW, some train and bus stations may have luggage storage lockers. The Rough Guide and Lonely Planet typically provide good information about those options.

sadclown

Maitaitom - I just read through your entire blog. Thank you so much for the link. I really enjoyed it! It seemed like it was extremely hot in some of the areas you visited - may I ask how early in May you went?

Kja - Thanks again for your advice. I will definitely look on the calendar to make sure the sights I want to see are open. I took a long trip to Europe in May this year and that was definitely a consideration. In regards to routing, do you have any suggestions for more efficient travel? I would really appreciate your thoughts.

danon

Both Aranjuez and Alcala de Henares are worth a visit, but only if you have extra time.

Madrid is a big city with world class museums, beautiful parks, interesting barrios and
a grate vibe. Not sure how much time you plan on spending there between all the hopping to nearby towns.
From Barcelona you can fly Vueling to Bilbao ,see it, Take the bus to SS.
From SS direct flights to Barcelona( or the other way around)

maitaitom

"It seemed like it was extremely hot in some of the areas you visited - may I ask how early in May you went?"

Last couple of weeks in May and first week of June. We were told that it was unseasonably hot. I believe warm weather is why the GinTonic was invented

kja

"In regards to routing, do you have any suggestions for more efficient travel? I would really appreciate your thoughts. ... I will definitely look on the calendar to make sure the sights I want to see are open."

It depends on what YOU want to see and when those things are open. Only you can figure that out. If something you want to see is closed on the day(s) you will be there, you need to plan around it or decide to skip it.

Simply checking opening days is NOT what I am suggesting! You need to decide what time YOU need in the places you want to visit. For example, you say you enjoy museums; I do, too. But what does that mean? Do you want to spend a full day at El Prado, or a 1-hour visit meet your needs? Do you want to visit all of the major art museums in Madrid, or just a few? Simply determining whether something is open does NOT tell you whether you will have time to visit it in the way you want to. Again, there is no right or wrong answer -- just a need to think through what YOU want to do in advance and then plan accordingly.

Since you took a trip this past May, you must realize that changing hotels takes time -- you need to check in / out, pack / unpack, get to / from your transportation, get oriented to a new location, etc. Some of us manage that rather quickly, for others, it takes hours. I can't tell you what it will take you -- it depends on how much luggage your carry and how much of it you pack / unpack, how far you stay from transportation, how busy the desks are at the places you select, etc. But no matter whether a little or a lot, it is something you need to consider. So I, personally, try to put all of my time in one place together in one chunk whenever possible. I would prefer a long day in transit; other people disagree.

Many people enjoy day trips. I don't, because I must then use my very limited time to backtrack, and I prefer to move forward whenever I can. Whether day trips make sense for you will depend on how much luggage you carry, how long it will take you to get to a train or bus station, and so forth. It is one more thing that ONLY you can decide.

When planning transportation options, consider the location of the transit points and the timing of the actual departures and arrivals. Airports are sometimes far enough from city centers that it is actually more time-efficient to go by train or bus, but not always. And taking longer to get somewhere can work quite well if it means that you are in transit at a time that you can't be visiting things you want to visit. I would rather take a longer route the suits my interests better than a shorter route that puts me in places when I can't do things I want to do. Again, you need to decide what YOU want to see / do and plot it out to figure these things out.

annhig

My itinerary currently looks like this. I definitely need help with the best route to take. I would be open to taking a flight here or there if y'all think it's worth it. I am also considering (almost definite) adding some more time to my trip, so no worries about the amount of time spent in each city - I promise I'll add more if necessary. >>

sorry sad clown, but you'd need to add to the time substantially to cram in all the places you have named. At the moment you have 22 days, and about 14 places. Even if you added in another week or so, you're still going to be racing around at a rate of one place per 2 days, which will reduce to about 1 ½ days once you factor in the travelling. And to those who say that they see the travel as part of the trip, so do I, but moving every other day or so gets very wearing after a while. It's also expensive - as well as the sheer cost of trains etc it takes time to suss out the cheapest/best bars, cafes and restaurants in a place, to learn your way round the transport system, and to get the most out of being there. You will not have time to do that.

I've been to most of the places you list as stopovers, spent at least 3-4 nights in each, and left still wanting more. IME the art to a good trip is deciding what yo leave out. once you have really accepted that you can't go everywhere and see everything, it gets easier. pick a few bases which are easy to get between and then plan at least one day trip [possibly more from Madrid where you don't have any time to actually see the city] from each in case you run out of things to do.

kimhe

<- Train/Plane (which one?) from Barcelona to San Sebastian
San Sebastian -Day trip to Bilbao>

Two daily low cost flights between Barcelona and San Sebastian in the beginning of May, takes only 70 mins and prices are now starting at some 50€. Or you can take one of the 12 daily flights from Barcelona to the much larger Bilbao airport. Vueling and Iberia operate these routes.

Frequent buses from Bilbao airport (every hour) or Bilbao city center (every 30 mins) to San Sebastian. Take 75 mins and 70 mins respectively (PESA bus).

sadclown

Thanks everyone for your advice! Time is definitely a strong factor. Since I would rather take a longer trip and see as much as possible, I have decided to add in 2 more weeks for a total of 35 days. I believe this should be enough time for my itinerary.

With this being said, I know I have to take into consideration what days museums/churches are open, etc., but is the route I have listed above the most efficient it can be? Copied below for your convenience:

(Fly to Granada)
Granada
- Train to Seville
Seville
-Trip to Jerez de la Frontera and Cadiz
- Train to Cordoba
Cordoba
- Train to Madrid
Madrid
-Trip to Toledo
-Trip to Segovia
-Trip to Avila and El Escorial
-Trip to Leon (is this feasible)?
**What do y'all think about Aranjuez or Alcala de Henares? I've seen/heard good things**
- Train to Salamanca
Salamanca
- Train to Madrid (is there a better way to do this? Instead of having to come back to Madrid? I liked the idea of Avila to Salamanca but don't want to cart my bags around everywhere!)
Madrid
- Train to Cuenca
- Train to Valencia - on the same day
Valencia
- Train from Valencia to Barcelona
Barcelona
- Train/Plane (seems like plane is the better option, thanks kimhe!) from Barcelona to San Sebastian
San Sebastian
-Trip to Bilbao

Thanks again!!

sadclown

Do y'all feel 35 days is enough for my itinerary?

kja

35 days is certainly better than 22! But I bet you can guess what I'm going to say: It depends! You need to plot it out to decide based on YOUR interests. You need to plot out your time and you need to plot out your transportation options.

For a trip of a month or more, many people will suggest that you'll need a few "down" days in the middle. I've never traveled for more than a month at a time, and so can't say for certain, but I personally would want to plan on some down time, as a month of hard travel -- and what you are describing is a LOT -- completely wears me out.

"Trip to Leon (is this feasible)"

I'm not sure. I could easily be wrong, but I think it would be 7 or 8 hours round trip, with much or most of your time in Leon during the time when pretty much everything there is closed. You would do well to do some serious homework on these decisions.

thursdaysd

I already checked the Leon trains, because I, too, thought it wasn't feasible. However, there is now a fast train and I think it was under five hours round trip. Opening hours can be a real problem, but don't seem to be too bad in Leon. The cathedral will be closed for at least two hours in the afternoon. San Isadoro's hours depend on the time of year, and it's open all day in the summer.

The OP should be using the links I already posted for train and bus schedules.

sadclown

For those who have been to both Leon and Zaragoza, can you tell me more about your experiences? If you could only choose one, which would you choose?

A day trip from Barcelona to Zaragoza is more feasible due to the shorter train time (1.5 hours) than Madrid to Leon (2 hr 15 minutes). But I'm still unsure about which city fits better into my trip. Since I'm visiting much of Andalusia, I was unsure if Zaragoza would offer very different sights (since it also has a strong Muslim influence).

What do y'all think?

tobyo

" I like architecture, tourist/historical destinations, museums, and good food."

You've got lots of great advice already. I like your idea of starting in the south and working north. When we went in May 5 years ago (the last two weeks of May) we started in Barcelona and went south. Of course you can never tell with the weather, especially with the globe heating up but....I will say that the week in southern Spain (end of May) was HOT, HOT, HOT!! So, your plan should work well if you experience the weather that we did that May.

Also, all of Spain has interesting/fabulous architecture, museums and GREAT food!! My favorites for architecture (not in any order): Sevilla, Toledo, Cordoba, Granada (for the Alhambra), Barcelona (Gaudi!!).

I'm sure you will have a fabulous trip!!

annhig

30 odd years ago we went to Leon specifically to stay at the Parador and though it was a huge splurge for us at the time we loved it. Also the Cathedral and all the bathroom shops, which answered the question as to why the bathrooms in Spain were so much better than those in France at the time.

so if you want a bit of pampering, [real linen sheets, for a start!] and a look at its magnificent cathedral, it's a good place for a night's stay.