Leigh

Hi, this is my first post to the boards here! <BR>My fella and I would like to take a trip to Spain in November or December of this year. We have about 12 days to spend and I've bought a couple of travel guides, but we have so little time to plan and I'm not sure where to start. <BR>Might anyone have recommendations for an itinerary? Any must-sees? Any must-stays? We'd like to see both Barcelona and Madrid and are considering renting a car. <BR>We don't have a lot of money to spend, but I'd like to stay a few nice places. <BR>Any advice would be welcome. If it makes any difference to our plans, I speak (almost)fluent Spanish. <BR>Many thanks! <BR>Leigh

anabela

my home country is Portugal, you have a great advantage in speaking spanish, people are very friendly, they will go out of their way to give you directions, Malaga is beautiful, Cordoba and Seville lot of history, Barcelona is a great choice, also if you try to avoid paying too much for gazoline, take buses intertown! it is worth the effort to check with the Chamber of Commerce in N.Y.Have Fun.Anabela.

Maja

Look at Colleen's 10/23 post, "Got back on 10/19 - Madrid, Sevilla, Ronda, Nerja, Granada, Barcelona - by train and by car." Sounded good to me. Also "Barcelona on Monday". These are at 2nd and 3rd of 50 threads, respectively.

Kristi

Leigh, we spent 12 days in Andalucia alone, lots and lots to see. If you want to combine Barcelona and Madrid, you should probably fly between the two cities. We got a $99 one way fare through www.europebyair.com last year. You can reserve in advance or wing it and reserve at the airport. <BR> <BR>There's no need for a car to get around Barcelona, the subway is great. And from the comments I've seen on this board, there's not much to see between Barcelona and Madrid if you drive it. <BR> <BR>Once in Madrid, you won't need a car there either, Madrid also has an excellent subway. You can get to Toledo and several other close places by bus, Seville by high speed AVE train (about 2 1/2 hours). Seville was one of my favorite cities, try to see it if you can, even if on a day trip from Madrid. We also really enjoyed seeing the Alhambra in Granada, not sure how to get there without a car. <BR> <BR>Lots of places are closed on Mondays, we chose Monday as our travel day between the two cities. <BR> <BR>Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Art

We were in Spain in September with about the same time as you. We hit Madrid for a couple of days(including a day trip to Segovia and Avilla) took the AVE train to Sevilli (fantastic way to travel) picked up a rental car in Sevilli, drove down to Algecera for side trips to Moracco and Gibralter, on to Granada to visit the Alhambra and on to Barcelona. You don't need a car in either Madrid or Barcelona, the public trans system is great. We came nowhere close to seeing everything, of course, but did see a lot. Have a great trip. <BR>