jmq0821

My husband and I are traveling to Spain in May (15-25). We would like to run our TENTATIVE itinerary by those of you who are experienced Spain travelers or natives and get your feedback.<BR><BR>May 15 - Arrive in Madrid (mid afternoon) Spend the night there.<BR>May 16 - Tour Madrid. Spend the night there.<BR>May 17 - Tour Madrid. Spend the night there<BR>May 18 - visit nearby Town #1 (choices: Avila, Toledo or Segovia?)<BR>May 19 - visit nearby Town #2 (Choices: Avila, Toledo or Segovia?)<BR>May 20 (afternoon) - Take train to Valencia. Spend night in Valencia<BR>May 21 - Tour Valencia during the day. Take train to Barcelona in the evening and spend night in Barcelona<BR>May 22 - Tour Barcelona and/or nearby areas<BR>May 23 - Tour Barcelona and/or nearby areas<BR>May 25 (mid-day) - Leave to London<BR> <BR>We are both Spanish speakers (originally from Puerto Rico) and are quite adventurous. So, here are the questions we have:<BR><BR>- How does the itinerary look? Is it doable and reasonable?<BR><BR>- Which 2 towns near Madrid would be the best to visit. Looking at the map, it looks like Avila, Toledo, Segovia are possibilities. Are these worth visiting?<BR><BR>- Should we rent a car to travel to visit the towns outside Madrid or are there better transportation options?<BR><BR>- Is it a good idea go to Barcelona via Valencia or would Zaragoza be a better option?<BR><BR>- Would it be better to rent a car and drive ourselves from place to place or is train transportation better?<BR><BR>- What are the &quot;MUST SEE&quot; or &quot;MUST DO&quot; things in Valencia?<BR><BR>- We would like to stay in a Monestary somewhere while we are visiting Spain - even if it's just for one night? Which Monestary would be a good option given our tentative itinerary?<BR><BR>I will greatly appretiate your feedback!<BR><BR>Gracias...<BR><BR>-- Jeannette<BR>Austin, Texas, USA<BR>

jmq0821

SUBJECT CORRECTION!!!!<BR><BR>Sorry, the subject of the message should have been <BR><BR>&quot;Traveling from Madrid to Barcelona&quot;<BR> <BR>It was a typo as I do know Madrid is in Spain ;-)<BR><BR>

William

I would choose Segovia &amp; Toledo over Avila. I've visited all three and Segovia is my favorite. Although, I did enjoyed Toledo for all the El Greco art! You might tack a few hour excursion to El Escorial onto your itinerary. I believe this can be done on the way to or from Segovia. <BR><BR>There was a recent post about a couple's travelogues on their personal website. I'll top it for you, if I can find it. It'd be a great read in preperation for your trip to Spain. <BR><BR>Also search for any posts by Maribel - she's the board's resident expert on Spain!<BR><BR>Que tengas buen viaje!

gdemirciler

Actually I was wondering the exact same thing so any suggestions would be appreciated by me too. Thanks jmq0821!

Riffic

Jeanette, <BR><BR>here's another vote for Segovia and Toledo, as day trips for Madrid.<BR><BR>I remember taking a motorcoach to Toledo as a day trip (from one of the bus stations in Madrid), which was very easy. I cannot recall how bus connections are to Segovia, so someone elese will have to answer that one.<BR><BR>Valencia is a fun town (I used to live there). Top areas to hit are the new Science Museum, Palau de Musica (if you'd like to hear a musical concert), Plaza de la Reina, the cathedral and Miguelete tower, Torres Serrano. There also are some nice botanical gardens that time of year just NW of calle Peris y Valero.<BR><BR>If you're into nature, there is a great nature reserve just south of the city.<BR><BR>And, you must eat TRADITIONAL Valencian Paella (that means only meat --rabbit and chicken--not seafood)!<BR><BR>The night life rocks in Valencia. El Barrio Carmen was my favorite area. The traditional drink is Agua de Valencia (alcohol &amp; OJ, of course!).<BR><BR>have fun

Maira

Jeannette, your itinerary sounds very good. As far as suggestions for sightseeing, I would take a half-day guided tour of Toledo, stay and return on you own by train later that day. Toledo can be overwhelming for a first time visitor. A guided tour will give you the highlights, which you can then explore on your own. The next day you may want to do the same with Segovia-Avila combo guided tour. This i an all day tour, but I thought it was really good for the traveler like yourself, on a schedule, but wanting to maximize the sightseeing. Your hotel can help you with tour companies. By the way, you are going to be in Madrid during the festivities of San Isidro, Patron Saint of Bullfighting. GREAT, GREAT party every night at Plaza Mayor. Do Not Miss!! Take your earplugs, San Isidro is one non-ending party. On a side note, I grew up in La Parguera (Lajas). Que gozes mucho de tu viaje! Cuentanos como te fue cuando regreses!!!

resipsaloquitur

<BR>Jeanette -<BR>The Feast of San Isidro may be GREAT, GREAT, GREAT but the hotels in Madrid will be PACKED, PACKED, PACKED during the period of a week before and at least a week after the saint's feast day (May 15). It's not just the feast, it's that the bull-fighting season in Madrid also starts around this time. Make your hotel reservations for Madrid NOW in order to avoid disappointment. Also realize that many Madrid hotels charge inflated &quot;holiday rates&quot; during this period, so you may end paying more than you would at other times.

Maira

Jeannette, I forgot to mention one thing!.... regarding monastery stays in Spain, the question has been asked before and Maribel (superb Spain contributor as William pointed out), posted great suggestions. Seek out her posts on the subject.

angeleno

I'm not sure Valencia is worth sacrificing a day from Madrid or Barcelona, although the Cathedral purports to hold the Holy Grail. I think your day would be better spent in Madrid - where the museums and monuments and parks cannot be beat by any other city in the world.<BR> <BR>I second the vote for a day trip to El Escorial from Madrid, and also think Toledo is worth its own overnight trip. Trains for these day trips are cheap and efficient and your guidebook will tell you which train station to use.

Cassandra

Our trip 2 yrs. ago sounds very similar to yours at almost the same time of year, with a few slight differences -- e.g., we took the AVE high-speed train to Sevilla for a day-trip -- amazing to be able to go that far south and still make it back to Madrid for a late dinner (and in Spain, late means LATE -- 10 pm). It was great to see the gardens of the Alcazar in full bloom -- loved the palace and poking around the town. The train ride was spectacular, too. <BR><BR>The train ride to Barcelona was less so, but the last hour or so is nice as you work up the coast. Can't comment on Zaragoza vs. Valencia since we wanted to get to Barcelona a.s.a.p. because there is SO MUCH there to do.<BR><BR>We loved Toledo and Los Caidos, but let me give you a great big warning (and sorry to disagree with you, Maira) about organized bus-tours out that way. You are rushed through just a very limited tour of the town and then herded and hustled and funneled into their preferred gew-gaw shops -- and it didn't seem to matter which tour company you used, they all ended up in the same places. I think we calculated that for a 5-6 hr. tour, we actually had about 2 hrs. seeing the sights. If you have any way of doing it yourselves, by train or public bus, I would strongly recommend that. It was by far the most negative part of an otherwise fantastic trip.<BR><BR>Because I weary of unpacking and packing and losing time checking in and out of hotels, my personal preference is to limit the number of times I move. I also like the idea of having a little more leisurely pace to really get to know a couple of cities instead of fly-by touch-and-go in a lot of them. Madrid and Barcelona are two of the richest cities (from the point of view of things to see/do) I've ever visited, and -- again, it's a personal thing -- I particularly love Barcelona for the many, many histories and cultures and eras that meld there. And it is such a beautiful location, right on the Mediterranean. <BR><BR>(Have fun comparing Catalan to the Spanish you grew up speaking!)<BR><BR><BR>

Maira

Cassandra, great advice. Just let me clarify on my suggestion of organized tours. Toledo can be overwhelming to first-timers and a guided tour off the bat upon arrival still the best way to get your bearings in Toledo. I've visited Toledo three times; the first time on my own. Upon return I was so sorry to learned all the things I had missed. I returned and took a guided tour with a local guide and it was an amazing how much more of Toledo I was able to appreciate. The third was with an organized half-day tour from Madrid. No parking hassles, no waiting in line. I skipped the stores/restaurant and was fine on my own. Same experience with Avila and Segovia, cities that I have visited a number of times, both independently and on guided visits.<BR><BR>Again, I have never even used a travel agent, independent travel all the way, but for a traveler in Jeannette's itinerary, I would consider a guided visit.

julies

Comments on Toledo--<BR>We were in Toledo 2 days ago. Got in at 2:00 pm on a Friday and had to leave for the madrid airport at 8:00 the next morning. We wished we'd had about 4 more hours in Toledo. A couple comments. The town absolutely rolls up the sidewalks after the day tour buses have left. We assumed that we could visit the sites while they were open and then spend some time browsing the shops. Wrong assumption; the shops usually closed around 6 or 7 as did many of the tourist area bars. Although Toledo was intersting to walk around at night, we were suprised to find that even the major stores were closed by 8 when in other large cities in Spain they were open until at least 9. As to the tour versus self-guided visit, I'd vote in favor of the self-guided. One example: when we were in the Cathedral numerous tour groups came through quite quickly. Members of their groups were shown only the most famous highlights (and then rather briefly) and did not have time to visit some areas of the Cathedral that we found most interesting.

Maira

Welcome back Julies! <BR><BR>Let me mentioned this again (third time?)..... the idea of a guided tour in Toledo is so you can GO BACK and explore on your own with a better idea as to what are you looking at. There is no way I would had know/noted all the amazing details and fascinating history on the painting &quot;El Entierro del Conde Orgaz&quot; the guide painstakingly and in great detail explained. Same with so many architectural details, little known streets, sections of the perimeter wall, details of the surrounding water collection cisterns, etc., etc... I THOUGHT my first self-guided visit to Toledo was good, but I had not even touched the surface. One of the few (very few) cities I strongly recommend a guided visit for fist-timers.

Cassandra

Maira, your clarification makes a lot of sense. Can you tell Jeanette (and us) how you found a local guide once in Toledo?

jmq0821

Thank you everyone for your useful suggestions. We'll probably opt for the tour given the limited time in Toledo and probably Segovia as well. As Cassandra said, if anyone has recommendations for good tours or tour companies, please let us know.<BR><BR>Now, to my next question. I am having trouble picking a parador to say at during our trip. They all look wonderful. Based on what I have read in this forum, my first choice was the parador in Alarcon but I found out it is closed until May 31 which is after our trip. So, what do you think about staying in the Cardona parador in Barcelona? If we pick that one, should we do that before or after visiting Barcelona?<BR> <BR>Other possibilities on the way to Barcelona are Siguenza or Cuenca. What do you think about those? <BR>Others like Jaen, Ubeda Carmona are too far south, right? <BR>We would like a parador that has cultural character like an old castle, palace, convent, fort-type structure. Should we stay in a parador before we tour Barcelona or after?<BR>Any suggestions?<BR><BR>

Maira

I first posted this info on April 21, 2001. I believed the phone numbers are still good:<BR><BR>Suggestions for guided visits to Toledo: The Office of Tourism by the Bisagra Gate (if you were standing on the outside of the walls looking on the Bisagra Gate direction, the Office of Tourism (one of them) is about 50 meters from the Gate to the right) has guides on their staff that you can hire for a guided visit. They could also provide you with a list of hotels that have guides on their staff, which you could hire for an hour of two. The Tourism Office itself oftentimes put together walking tours departing from their office (at least one of them) just outside the Bisagra Gate. If you feel like making the arrangements from the U.S., you may want to call the Patronato Municipal de Turismo at 011-34-92-525-4030 (most staff members speak several languages, including English). Hope this helps. <BR><BR>If departing from Madrid, Julia Tours is well known and recognized. Maupintor is another one. Most hotels sell tour tickets and their staff will make the arrangements for you. Tours typically depart from Gran Via or they'll pick you at the hotel.