sherwoodforest

My wife and I are very excited to be visiting Spain in late April. 15 nights with the following DRAFT itinerary (but plenty of flexibility):
-- 2 nights Madrid
-- Train to Seville
-- 3 nights Seville
-- P/U rental car
-- 3 nights Arcos de la Frontera (home base for day trips)
-- 1 night Granada (Alhambra)
-- Return rental car OR take train from Granada to Barcelona
-- 6 nights Barcelona, including possible day trips to Figueres, Cadaqués, Sitges, and/or Montserrat

Based on experience, we are inclined to slow down and not be overly ambitious. Does this itinerary seem realistic? Also, we like to drive ... would car travel to Barcelona, with maybe an overnight somewhere along the way (where?) be worth the effort vs. taking the train? Would having the car a bit longer come in handy for a day trip or two from Barcelona? Speaking of which, should we spend all our time headquartered in Barcelona or would a couple of nights in a nearby coastal town be worth the effort (and would having a rental car give us added flexibility for seeing the area)?

Thank you!

yk

Have you been to Spain before? If not, it seems like 2 nights in Madrid is very short.

Are you planning to visit Cordoba?

Granada -> Barcelona, I suggest flying. Several budget airlines fly this route for low prices. With your time frame, I'd save the time and fly instead.

sherwoodforest

Forgot to ask about adding a day trip to Tangiers while headquartered in Arcos. Would an overnight stop in Tarifa be necessary or could it be done from Arcos?

sherwoodforest

This is our first trip to Spain. Have been to Europe several times and seen most of the major cities. We love Paris, Rome, etc. but find them exhausting (Rome was especially challenging). We ended up liking Tuscany more, therefore Andalucia has a lot of appeal. Friends have called Madrid yet another big city.

Hadn't thought much about Cordoba, only because we were trying to avoid being overly ambitious and Seville sounds terrific (I'm sure Cordoba is too).

Flying Granada to Barcelona sounds like good advice. Would we need to book in advance? Which airline?

kja

Hi, sherwoodforest -

It depends on what you want to see and experience, but I agree that 2 nights does not sound like much for Madrid. And if you like to take things a bit slow, you might want to consider a 2nd night in Granada - there is much more to see there than "just" the Alhambra. (And do consider visiting the Alhambra during both the day and the night.) The Mezquita in Cordoba is truly unique - you might want to consider skipping one of your other possible day trips in favor of including it.

Hope that helps!

sherwoodforest

Yes, that helps a lot. Thank you! Still a few unanswered questions above so I'll hope others chime in.

yk

Vueling and ClickAir flies BCN-Granada, and one more airline I think.

Christina

I think it looks pretty good but I've only spent time in Andalusia and Madrid, so can't comment on Granada. The part that just seems odd to me is 6 nights in Barcelona but only 2 in Madrid. Yes, Madrid is a big city, but I like cities and consider most big cities pretty different across countries, so it wouldn't occur to me to say it is "just" another big city. Maybe some place that is totally boring and uninteresting I could see saying that (Frankfurt?). However, if you are doing that because you don't like big cities, why the 6 days in Barcelona? Are you aware that is a city of over a million population?

Cordoba is worth seeing, and there are also several good day trips around Madrid (I loved Segovia) to consider.

sf7307

Skip Tangier. As someone in another thread said, "Tangier is to Morocco like Tijuana is to Mexico". Type "Tangier" in the "search this forum" box above, and read the first two threads.

Also, my daughter and I were in Madrid this summer. We had four nights and 3 complete days. We spent some time at the art museums, but aren't really into art, so it was a small part of our itinerary. Anyway, if you're really into art, I think you need three full days in Madrid. Without the art museums, two full days is fine. By the way, we LOVED Madrid. It's a beautiful big city, with great architecture, a fantastic urban park, wonderful eating and shopping, etc. Not as many specific tourist attractions as other big cities, though. My friend and I refer to it as a great place to "be" rather than a sightseeing destination.

annhig

hi sherwood,

IMHO you've got two trips here, ewhich will make you feel very rushed if you try to do it all.

Geven the time of year, I'd spend 4 nights in Madrid, then head south and spend the rest of your time in andalucia, picking up a car when you leave seville, and gradually working your way over to Granada [stay 2 nights] then flying home from ?Madrid.

as well are Cordoba and Ronda, there are lovely national parks in the area, and beautiful beaches east of Malalga.

you could look at the terrific guides produced by another fodorite for further info:

www.maribelsguides.com

Bokhara2

I'm working on a somewhat similar idea, but in late March/April.

I'll be based in Madrid and do 1, 2&3 day trips from there for 10 days or so and then meet a friend to go to Lisbon.

I'm wondering whether it would be prohibitive cost wise to do a one-way car rental Madrid to Lisbon so we could see a bit more of the countryside.

cmeyer54

We did three nights madrid, train to seville, three nights seville, drove to Malaga for 3 nights and flew to Barcelona from there for 29e one way on Iberia; 4 nights barcelona; flew to Madrid on a late flight with an overnight near the airport and early flight home the next morning. We loved Seville and Barcelona; the drive from Seville to Malaga took us through Ronda and Arcos; we arrived late at night, had a day to veg at the resort and took a day trip to Granada and alhambra. personally, I liked alcazar better but that's just me.

Aduchamp1

What do you mean you found Rome challenging? The answer will be helpful in provding an answer.

But generally I would spend more time in Madrid, less time in Seville and skip Tangiers.

Madrid and Barcelona are large cities but extremely rewarding in what they offer. Madrid has exceptional museums and is an excellent base for Toledo, Salamance and Segovia.

Barcelona has unique sense of style.

Aduchamp1

Sorry one more thing. I would not sent a car while in Barcelona or Madrid. And I would use either the buses or trains to visit the nearby towns.

AJMelheim

Just returned from 12 days in Spain and I am in love with this fascinating country. You can't go wrong spending time here.

Two nights in Madrid is not enough to enjoy its museums, parks and plazas. Yes, it is a city, but the main sites are easily walking distance from the center. More time in Madrid will give you time to go to Segovia which was our favorite place! I suggest more than just a day trip to Segovia. You can either relax or spend your time seeing tons of sites. Really, Segovia is the BEST!

Seville is amazing. A great place for paseos (walks) day and night. Rent a bike from the stands around the city. Seville has an extensive system of bike paths. Be sure to attend a flamenco performance.

You'll want more time in Granada. Yes, the Alhambra is terrific, but there is so much more!

We chose to concentrate our time in southern Spain and not do Barcelona. I'm very happy we made that decision. Getting from southern Spain to northern Spain will take at least a day of your time. I say concentrate on one area and savor all of it, taking your time.

If you love to drive, maybe drive from Madrid to Seville, enjoying the La Mancha area on the way. But you absolutely don't want a car in any of the cities.

ENJOY!

cmeyer54

if you're inclined to hire a tour guide in Seville, I can recommend Connie(conception) at sevilla walking tours. She absolutely made our visit!

Sassafrass

My first opinion. I would not go to Madrid without going to either Segovia or Toledo. They are both beautiful and have much history to offer. They are such easy trips. It would be a shame to waste travel time to other places when two of the most incredible are so close to where you will land. I am always expounding on it, but the cathedral in Toledo is magnificent.

Madrid is very easy to get around in, nice to walk, pretty park for walking, cheap taxis.

The Mezquita in Cordoba is worth seeing. However, you can't see everything, and you are going to Granada, so I would skip this, unless you decide to forgo Barcelona this trip and concentrate on the South. If it were a choice between Segovia, Toledo and Cordoba, I would choose Toledo or Segovia.

Granada is an interesting city, with much more to see than just the Alhambra. The gardens in the Alhambra are supposed to be at their peak in Mid-May, but they should already be lovely in April. I've seen them only in the late fall, and they were still beautiful.

It is moving around a good bit, but Barcelona is unique, and with 15 nights, I would do it, but would definitely not drive it - and that is from experience. Fly from Granada to Barcelona.

The section of your trip from Seville to Granada via Ronda/Arcos is lovely to drive. Don't have a car in Madrid or Seville.

Skip Tangier.

So, IMO

3 nts Madrid at a minimum (at least one day for Madrid and one day for a day trip) If you see even just the Prado and the Palace, that takes most of a day.

3 nts Seville

3 nts Arcos (or area)

2 nts Granada, minimum (so you have at least one full day for the Alhambra and one afternoon/two evenings to walk in the city.

4 nts Barcelona

amsdon

I agree with SF7307
"My friend and I refer to it as a great place to "be" rather than a sightseeing destination."
There are great sights too, but fun place to "be" like they said & hang out.

I second Segovia (overnight) & Cordoba (day trip).
I would add them, eliminate Barcelona this time around & spend more time in Madrid.

sherwoodforest

Wow, many differing opinions and the comments about Madrid make me realize it may be worth another day. Also makes me happier than ever we're going to Spain. I should have made it clear we are flying into Madrid and out of Barcelona so we want to spend time in both cities but were hoping to see southern Spain as well, especially the white hill towns of Andalucia. I guess most of questions have been answered so thanks everyone for contributing! (And as for my comments about Rome, absolutely loved the city and wouldn't have missed it for anything ... the challenging part was walking everywhere day and night. It just took a certain toll, especially on my wife's one troubled knee. Glad we did it but the hill towns of Tuscany were amazing and the walking was a bit easier). Again, many thanks!

Cowboy1968

Just a few words re. the Barcelona part of your journey.

If you wish to stay in the city, I would look for apartments which can be much more inexpensive than hotels.
Besides the well known VRBO you could also check websites like oh-barcelona.com

Sitges can be reached by frequent suburban trains (Renfe Cercanias trains, appr. 3 per hour) from downtown BCN (Stations Sants and Pg de Gracia) for very little money (rt appr. €5.30 or so), while parking in Sitges is a major PITA and very expensive. You would also have to pay toll for a certain section of the motorway from BCN to Sitges if you don't know how to avoid it.
The train station in Sitges is a 1min walk from the old town, and 10-15min from the beaches.

Montserrat can be reached easily by train from Pl de Catalunya in BCN. Should be more fun than driving up there.

A car can make sense for exploring the northern part of Costa Brava (Cadaqués, Figueres), or for touring the wine country. If you had more time, I would also suggest a longer day trip down South to Tarragona (also easy by train, by the way), and the delta of River Ebro.

Again, motorway tolls can be quite a factor when driving around especially in Catalunya, or along the Mediterranean Sea. If you use Google maps for planning, you will see which autopistas are tolled (darker in color than free motorway sections). I don't know if all tolls are computed this way, but as a rule of thumb I think one can calculate 10 cents per kilometer.

In Barcelona proper you neither need nor want a car. Public transportation is so widely available and so cheap that a car would be pure nonsense. You will have to find out if special tourist day passes make more sense for you, or the regular 10-ride ticket ("T-10&quot which costs only €7.70 -- which makes every bus or metro ride a matter of only 77 cents. Especially the buses can be a good option if going down/up metro stations is a bit too much for your wife's knees.

Comparing BCN and Madrid, I am always bit biased towards Barcelona - IF you exclude day trips from this assessment. Madrid has a bunch of highly interesting destinations in the vicinity (others mentioned Toledo, I would also add Escorial and Aranjuez) - but if you focus strictly on what the cities themselves have to offer, I find the variety and sheer amount of sights in BCN stunning. Yet, that is more a matter of taste than of scientifically proving that one city is "better" than the other.