How to plan Three weeks in Spain
 

We plan to go to Spain at very end of April for 3 weeks. Flying from US.
These are the cities we want to go to, but we are quite confused. We will be travelling alone two seniors just celebrated our 50th. We want to do this as economically as possible. So we want to know best travel ideas for these cities i.e. from city to city and order you sugget.
Also any fabulous center city hotels that have private bath and no steps. We can use vueling or ave train if we buy discount on line:
We are also thinking of going to Malaga and from there to Gibralter and Morocco for a few days. Would this be too much?
Ok: Not necessarily in this order
Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Grenada, Sevilla, and then maybe malaga, a night on costa del sol? gibralter...morocco. We can leave malaga costa and gibr. and morcco out.
With 3 nights in Barc. 2 in Bilb, 4 in Mad (include day trip to Toldedo) 2 each in Cord.grenada, and Sevill...On these three should we take hotel for 5-6 nights and do a day trip or two to the others. Maybe one of the three should be our central location. so not so much packing/unpacking. This is a total of 16 nights so we have some leeway.
Interested in culture, art, and judaica. Have already downloaded museums etc.
We want to be in Seville for the Feria..when is it this year i.e. 2011.
Any help will be appreciated. You can email:[email protected]
Thank you.

We just celebrated our 50th. You have a great trip planned. Here is a little information on the cities you will be visiting. Richard www.maribelsguides.com

Thank you. I will download some of the info later. I did once go over Maribel's site. It was very worthwhile. But I need more help with inter city transportation ideas and amount of time for each city. We are fairly experienced travellers and have no fear of getting around on our own. Again. thank you.

I would skip the 2 nights in Cordoba and add them to Sevilla. You can do Cordoba as a day trip from there( around 30 mins on AVE train). I like Bilbao but would probably leave it for another ocassion, I think it will complicate your logistics. You could add the 2 nights to Madrid and that would allow to do a couple of other day trips from there ( you could chose from Segovia, Toledo, El Escorial, Avila). Fly into Madrid and out of Barcelona (or viceversa)

With the cities you want to visit, there is a good amount of hours on the train, but with three weeks that's acceptable. What I would do if this was my trip is to fly into Barcelonia [4 days] as there are some great day trips. Train to Bilbao [2 days]. Have not been there. Train to Madrid [5 days] Great day trips, both north and south of Madrid. Train to Seville [5 days] Visit Cordoba and white towns as a day trip. Train to Grenada [2 days] Fot the last few days, consider taking a train to Valencia and flying home from that city.

From purely logistical reasons start with your flight planning. Most non-stops from the USA go to Madrid some to Barcelona. If possible try to fly into Madrid and out of Barcelona if not then Madrid to Madrid. Within Spain plane tickets are reasonably cheap as long as they are purchased in advance. Try Spanair http://www.spanair.com, Iberia, AirEuropa http://www.aireuropa.com. Buy online is perfectly safe. Same true for train (Renfe). Personally I would fly from Andalusia (Sevilla/Malaga/Granada) to Barcelona. Most flights within Spain are 1 to 1.5 hrs. Train from Madrid to Sevilla or Barcelona is high speed.

If you make it to Bilbao I suggest also visiting San Sebastian. Sevilla/Cordoba/Granada are close to each other (in that sequence). Granada is 2hr bus ride from Malaga. I am not a big fan of Gibraltar but if if you are in Malaga you can take a day tour there or bus to LaLinea and just walk across the border. While in Madrid Segovia is also a easy day trip (1.5 hrs on the bus from Principe Pio/Florida station)

Can you fly open jaw? lend in Madrid ( or Barcelona) and fly out from another city.
3 nights in Barcelona is 2 days....way too little for a big , beautiful city.
You can take a day trip to Cordoba from Seville.
Start in Barcelona, Vueling to Bilbao from Barcelona, and To Seville from Bilbao.
From Seville , visit Cordoba, take bus or train to Granada and end end the trip in Madrid ( train or fly from Granada to Madrid)
4 night Barcelona(jet-lag!)
2 Bilbao
4 Seville (Cordoba)
2 Granada
4 Madrid (Toledo)

P.S. Look for the thread 'Happy Holidays in Valencia' and ask lin what they think of Valencia.

That's a lot of exhausting travel any way you do it. The AVE train is great but expensive unless you book ahead of time. Vueling is inexpensive but flying is way more stressful than the train. Barcelona deserves 3-4 nights. From there I would go to San Sebastian for 3-4 nights. Bilbao is a nice city but San Sebastian is the most beautiful city in Europe in my opinion, a work of art in itself. From there I would head to Madrid (or do this at the end of the trip and fly out.) In Madrid I would spend 4 nights with a daytrip to Toledo. From there to Seville. this might be your favorite part of the trip and I would not hesitate to spend 5 or 6 nights there and really enjoy it, with a daytrip to Cordoba. Next is Granada which deserves 2 nights, stay near the alhambra to avoid having to walk up the long hill. end up with a night or two in Malaga and you have a fantastic trip, albeit one with a lot of tiring travel. For me I would not miss San Sebastian, Seville and Granada.

I forgot, you can skip the Costa del Sol (except Malaga), Gibraltar and especially Morroco.

<i>But I need more help with inter city transportation ideas and amount of time for each city. We are fairly experienced travellers and have no fear of getting around on our own.</i>

Yes, but from your original post "Also any fabulous center city hotels that have private bath and no steps" I would guess that you are slowing down. 7 cities ("Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Grenada, Sevilla") seems a bit much. I would leave out the first two and perhaps add a day trip from Madrid to Segovia.

All of you have been more than helpful. This way I will definitely be able to plan better. We are "slowing down" but far from slow. By no steps..I meant hotel sans elevators. Do not want us or anyone else dragging luggage up a flight. We are not fussy about hotels, but they must be in good area, very central and suitable to a walk at night. I do know to watch our money etc. We just climbed 300 steps to see a waterfall in SA...As my son says: we take pills and get going. :-)Anyhow, please keep any suggestions coming. I will make plans in mid Jan. I am very internet savvy so can book 60-62 days before for AVE train on renfe. We may be able to use mileage with Iberia or Vueling..need to see about that.
Based on answers will probably leave out Gib. and Morocc. Would like to see Malaga if we can and beach if we can. But not crowd trip. We do about walking 10 miles each day for sure sightseeing. Getting tired will help me lose weight!!
Would appreciate some info on hotels. Also if any of you know private non government guides (their prices are ridiculous) who really know English and can do a good guiding job, would appreciate your input. This site is the best response I have gotten. Congratulations to Fodor's. thanks> Evelyn and Marty [email protected]

You could consider this for your longer stays. Usually requires at least a three night stay. www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/europe/spain or for hotels www.booking.com/spain or www.hotels.com/co197/hotels-spain

I think you're trying to cover way to much geography in 3 weeks, basically 4 regions: the Basque country (Bilbao is on your list but I'd also want to visit San Sebastian and the fishing villages so this could easily be at least a week), Barcelona, Madrid & surroundings (Toledo & Segovia), & Andalucia (Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, Malaga). Unless you have time for more than a daytrip to Tangiers I'd skip Morocco. With only 3 weeks I'd probably save the Basque country for a future trip. I'd probably time the cities like this:

*Barcelona-5-6 nights (1 day to get over jetlag); if you want to do any daytrips I'd stay 6 nights
*Malaga - 2 nights; fly from Barcelona
*Granada - 2 nights; bus from Malaga
*Sevilla - 5 nights; bus or train from Granada; daytrip to Cordoba; if you want to do additional daytrips (there are many great trips) add additional nights
*Madrid - 5 nights w/daytrips to Toledo & Segovia

This is 20 nights already and the pace is moderate. You may have to change this up a bit to time for the Sevilla feria. If you have a night or 2 extra I'd probably visit the White villages, Gibralter (not my favorite but it's on your list), spend additional time in Malaga, visit Cadiz, or spend a night in Cordoba (if it's during the Patio festival).

I think the most important thing to do first is get the itinerary ironed out and then focus on the hotels once you know the exact cities and # of days you'll be in each one.

What is your budget for hotels?

You may also want to download Maribel's guides - they're awesome:
maribelsguides.com