HELP WITH TRIP TO SPAIN
 

We (2 adult couples) are planning a three week driving trip in Spain & Portugal in May of 2002. We are flying into Madrid. Using Madrid as a starting point and and ending point, we need recommendations as to where to go, where to stay and what to see. We are interested in museums, art and history. We prefer to stay in hotels that have at least a 3* rating (spoiled Americans). <BR>Please advise. <BR> <BR>Thank you

Your are wise in planning ahead of time. If you'd never been to Spain, May is a wonderful month to visit Andalucia, specifically Seville, Cordova, Granada, Marbella, White Towns, etc. Just a idea, why not fly into Lisbon, and out of Madrid? Spend a week in Portugal (Lisbon, Algarve, etc.), then train to Seville, spend at least three days, rent a car, head out to Cordova, Granada, use Marbella as home base to explore. Drop the car in Malaga, take the train to Madrid, spend some time visiting their museums, day trips to Toledo and Segovia. This rough itinerary is definitely going to fill three weeks pretty nicely :-). <BR> <BR>For hotels, there has been so much already recommended, it would be definitely worth your while to allocate some time to browse thru this forum and take some notes. I just came back from Madrid, and while there, took notes for future hotels (I like to try new places). I made notes of Hotel Liabeney, Hotel Carlton, and Hotel Europa. I liked their location, they had very nice facilities, and the staff was very courteous when inquired. <BR> <BR>In Seville the hotel La Casa de la Juderia get rave reviews consistently. <BR> <BR>Any specific thoughts about preffered mode of transportation?

Hi Lee, <BR>We were in Portugal and Spain last year but only had 10 days. <BR>Have you thought about an open jaw ticket i.e. flying into Portugal and out of Barcelona. With 3 weeks you can cover a lot of the country, but you probably would not want to backtrack to much. There is an overnight train from Lisbon to Madrid. You will want to check re renting in one of the countries and dropping in the other. There may be quite a drop off fee. Madrid, of course, has the Prado, which is great. In Madrid we stayed at the Mora hotel which was very clean and quiet. It was also not very expensive and is across the street from the Prado Museum. A warning, nothing in the Prado is in English and you will be approached by people to act as guides. Can be a little expensive but worth it for the explanations. Try the hop-on/hop-off bus tours around the city to get your bearings. <BR>Day trips would include Toledo, Avilla and Segovia and El Escoral, all worth seeing. You could hold off on the car until Seville and take the bullet train from Madrid to Seville, its a great experience if you've not done it. It also only takes 2 1/2 hours instead of a 6 hour drive. You might want to stop in Cordoba on the way or even spend the night. We also drove to the Spanish side of Gibraltar, parked and walked in for 1/2 day. You do NOT want to drive in as it may take hours to pass through customer. We really splurged in Seville and stayed at the Hotel Colon. We drove down to the Costa Del Sol area stopping at Tariffa for lunch and on to Algecera for 2 nights. We took a day tour over to Morocco for a day, very worth while to see. From there we drove on to Granada to visit the Alhambra. Do not drive downtown, it is very confusing and weird street layouts. We somehow ended up on a couple of streets where we had to pull the side mirrors in to make it through. The Alhambra is certainly worth a visit, especially the gardens. You could then drive back down to the southern coast and slowly work your way over to Barcelona which IMO is a terrific city. We visited the Picaso Museum in Barcelona which IMO was great. It gave me a much different perspective of Picaso. The Familiea Segrada is also magnificent to see. <BR> <BR>Regards, <BR>Art <BR>

it might not be a bad idea to fly into Portugal and depart from Madrid or Barcelona in order to cover more. Here's one possibility for instance, fly into Lisbon, drive up to Coimbra & Oporto, go across into Spain to Salamanca and take the road down thru Estremadura & towns like Cacares & Trujillo and on to Merida... thru these last places in this area you will get spanish history, art & architecture from roman (actually earlier, but let's say roman) to Conquistador Spain. Estremadura is a harsh region and when you drive thru it you see lots of storks, hawks and eagles flying by... very intense & beautiful. Then from Merida down to Sevilla, you can choose the coast near Cadiz should you wish to try a beach area, or choose Marbella in the Costa del Sol (which since you're opting for 3-stars it sounds like you might prefer) BUT you can actually skip the beach in this area (or completely) since you don't really list this as a preference and head to Cordoba and then Granada then way on up to Madrid (covering of course Toledo & Segovia). Then you have another choice... Barcelona, and perhaps the greek ruins of Empuries near the coast there & maybe a Tossa del Mar if you wish to fit in beach here.... or your other choice COULD be (if you are really really art lovers) Bilbao for the Guggenheim & San Sebastian for a lovely, more sophisticated Spanish resort and back down to Madrid. <BR> <BR>Note one thing on the beach scene, I personally don't care about baking on the beach so it's really not important to me whether the coast has IDEAL beach conditions, I love being on the coast for its beauty & power. That said, in May, you're best option for more ideal beach is the Costa del Sol, Costa Brava next and San Sebastian last. <BR> <BR>If you really MUST do Madrid in/out... then After madrid sites, head to Salamanca, over to Portugal: Oporto, Coimbra, Lisbon, you can still hit Merida, then on down to Sevilla, etc., but chances are it might be harder to fit in Barcelona should you not wish to be on the road ALL the time. No matter what though, 3 weeks is at least a good amount of time and remember, the countryside you're driving thru is actually part of the thrill as well. It's amazing.

Lee, why didn't you search for your origional post instead of repeating your question slightly different wording. It was only on the 2nd page. You could also search on country assuming that you selected the country when you created your origional post. You already have several answers here.

There are two people out there with the name Lee. I am one of them. The other Lee did not ask the same question that I did. Thanks. I prefer to be Lee #1, he, he.

Lee -- we took a trip to Southern Spain (Andalucia) in Sept. 2000. While I can't speak to the other areas of Spain, we thoroughly enjoyed Ronda, Granada and Seville. There are not so many museums (although we toured the bullfighting museum in Ronda), but the sights are phenomenal. The Alhambra is something you will never forget. We also loved the tapas bars, especially in Granada. We enjoyed Cordoba a little less so (although it does have the fabulous Mosque).

Sorry -- I guess I could have been more specific in my recommendations.<BR><BR>We took a day trip to Ronda from our resort in Costa del Sol. Therefore, I can't really recommend any hotels there, although the new parador overlooking the gorge looked very nice.<BR><BR>In Costa del Sol, we stayed at Las Dunas. It is definitely a 4* resort, with a beautiful pool area and cabana service, full spa, two full-service restaurants, etc. I highly recommend it.<BR><BR>I can't recall where we stayed in Granada, but it was a serviceable hotel in the middle of the city. Many will recommend the parador at the Alhambra and it was lovely. However, I was glad we didn't stay there as it is a good walk to town and I wouldn't want to do it at night. Granada was our favorite city (again, others will disagree). We loved the Alhambra, the Albacin, the Cathedral, the statue to Isabella commissioning Columbus, etc. It was the city that had the most "city energy" to us -- people were on the streets at all hours of day and night, the tapas bars were lively, we happened upon a festival day for a local saint and also a lovely wedding. It was magical to us.<BR><BR>In Cordoba, we stayed at the Melia hotel. I don't recommend it as it is mostly a business-travelers hotel, is situated outside the Jewish Quarter (which is a little creepy at night -- and we're from NYC), and has a lot of tour bus traffic. Try the Amistad inside the Jewish quarter.<BR><BR>In Seville, we stayed at Casa Imperial. It is near Pilate's house, so a little outside the Santa Cruz area. It is built in the hacienda style and each room is different. It has lovely gardens and fountains and a beautiful indoor/outdoor bar area where breakfast is served in the am. The staff was gracious and helpful.<BR><BR>Hope this helps!

Lee #1, you do realize you answered a comment made a year ago, right?

Hi Lee, I consider myself an spoiled AMerican too but let me tell you some thing about hotels, paradores and hostels in Spain.<BR><BR>1) The Paradores Nacionales are a great choice, you probably heard about them, they are very nice, many in old historical buildings the range from 5 to 3 stars, and they are all great. Also they offer a number of promotions , being the most useful the 5 Coupons and if you are a Senior, the Anos Dorados.<BR>Both great bargains. Even without a promotion they are ver good deals.<BR>www.parador.es<BR>2) Do not disregard all together the two stars hotels and hostels , some can be better than many three stars in other countries///<BR><BR>3) I found that in general four stars hotels in Spain are a lot better than four stars in other places.A four star in Spain is a very good hotel.<BR><BR>Sometimes a small hostal even a two star can be charming and spic and spam clean and have a lot of wonderful things to it.<BR><BR>There are tons of information in previous postings if you read them and read a good travel book you could plan something for yourself and then it will be easier to give you different ideas to improve your original plan.<BR> I agree with previous suggestions regarding open jaw tickets.. Good luck<BR><BR>

PS a good book to star with might be Karen Brown 's: Spain Charming Inns and Itineraries.