vrabelbf

Yeah this trip is a little ridiculous but I could use a bit of advice. A friend and I have an 8 day layover in Spain on the way to a friend's wedding in Greece and are planning to fly into barcelona, then rent a car and drive down the eastern coast south, eventually ending up in Sevilla where we will drop the car off and take the train back to Barcelona and catch our flight out.

Here's the deal, we don't really care much for sights and tourist traps. We want small towns, good drinks, good food, and good scenery on the drive down. The short amount of time we have in Spain limits our choices as well as our time spent at various locations. Think of this as a whirlwind tour.

Does anyone have some advice for must see towns/places, especially for good drinks and nightlife, between Barcelona and Sevilla?

We don't really like to plan ahead or create itineraries - but suggestions and recommendations would help a lot.

You can also tell us if you think we're stupid. Thanks!

bobthenavigator

Barcelona does not fit with Spain--it fits with the south of France. Look at Cadeques, Roses, Cassis and end up in Nice and fly to Greece from there.

If you insist on the coast drive to Andalusia, then look at Peniscola and Nerja. Have fun !

lincasanova

get car. drive to sitges.
eat/ drink/stay??
or eat and move on.

peñiscola. (great advice already given)

then go inland to Morella.

back to highway. down to valencia.

denia/javea nice attractive beach stop .
lots of tourists but because it is so pleasant.

altea. guadalest,alicante,mojacar

cabo de gata near almeria.
guadix granada
sevilla

don't know when this is.. but in summer avoid certain driving times.. people going to beach.. to lunch.. home in evening.. rush hours are very intense and will make you lose a lot of time.

train back to barcelona??? no way. no time.
fly with iberia or vueling.
www.iberia.com
www.vueling.com
www.rumbo.es

NEDSIRELAND

8-days? It depends heavily on when you plan to make that trip; but yes, my first blush conclusion is that you may be stupid, or not very bright if you prefer.

If you drive the coastal route, Denia, Benidorm and Aicante are nice (not in August, which is 'peak' season). For small towns and good food I would recommend an inland route (Zaragoza, Madrid and environs and maybe Cordoba). In peak season along the Mediterranean coast it's hard to find good Spanish food and wines. In Benidorm one year we had to settle for Weinersnichel at a German family restaurant.

Many of the Mediterranean coastal resorts have some nightlife for the tourists.

laclaire

Frankly, if someone gave me a car and said "you have 8 days to get from Barcelona to Sevilla and back" I would tell them to do it themselves. But, since you are the one into this, I would do 2 days in Barcelona, then drive down to Alicante (take the coastal highway and eat at Domenech, a sandwich place just in Alberique off the highway. . . I dream of those sandwiches. . . orgasmic). There is fabulous nightlife there, and the food is really good.

Go from there to Granada where you should see the Alhambra and eat and drink yourself silly. The continue on through the white villages, ending in Sevilla.

Do yourself a favor and catch a plane back to BCN (vueling.com is a great site).

vrabelbf

Yeah honestly, I think we're pretty stupid but my buddy seems to be dead set on this. The flight is a good idea. How long is the train trip from Sevilla to Barcelona anyway??

Also, to those who were asking, our trip in next week so probably much earlier than you may have expected.

And I know this is a crime, but we are literally spending just a few hours in Barcelona. It's a city that deserves more than just a day or two and I'll definitely be making a return trip.

Thanks to those who said we are stupid. I like the straight shooters

Intrepid1

It will take you 2.5 hours Seville-Madrid and then another 5 hours give or take Madrid to Barcelona by rail..and i LOVE ridning the rails but fly back to BCN which will take about an hour. You could also fly Granada-BCn in a little over an hour..don't even ASK about the rail trip from Granada to BCN.

And don;t give BCN the short shrift..you guys sound like the type who would LOVE that city whether it "fit in" (sorry, Bob) or not!

pavfec

It's a bit crazy and whirlwind-ish, but doable. My hubby and I did that very drive last year on our honeymoon. Here is our itinerary:

Barcelona to Morella, spent 2 nights
Morella to Baeza (6 hour drive), spent 1 night
Baeza to Granada, spent 2 nights
Granada to Jerez, spent 2 nights
Jerez to Seville, spent 2 nights

I would recommend seeing Morella, it's a beautiful town. You could probably do Barcelona, Morella, Jaen, then head to Seville. I would either do Granada or Seville, given the limited amount of time you have.

A word of warning: to make things as easy as possible, try and determine your itinerary and book rooms before leaving. Signs directing you to hotels seem to disappear once you get into a Spanish city centre, and it's a real pain trying to find something. I can recommend a hotels in Morella and Seville if you like.

vrabelbf

Well, at least it's encouraging to hear that somebody's done this before. Thanks for the advice, from all of you. Honestly, we don't know what the hell we're doing.

I think our general plan is to pick a few mandatory destinations then fill in the blanks.

Any cheap hotel recomendations, preferably near a good bar, would be helpful. And any other helpful advice you can think of dealing with the expansive information we lack going into this would be particularly important as well.

laclaire

vrabelbf- it would be easier to give you hotel and bar recommendations if we know which cities you guys are thinking about stopping in. For example, if you are going to go coastal, I can tell you a lot about Alicante, but if you prefer to go inland (perhaps going through Zaragoza, down to Madrid, then Toledo, etc), I will tel you places for there.

A ridiculous trip, indeed, but I think it is fun that you are getting into it.

Per the 2 hours in Barcelona. . . bad call, but I am a forgiving soul.

vrabelbf

dear laclaire,

I wish to god I knew where the hell we're going! We're just figuring it out on the fly so I suppose it's a bit ambitious to ask for hotel advice, you're right.

We really don't have anything planned but our flight in and our flight out, which is stupid yet liberating all at the same time.

I think one thing we've decided is that we are going to fly from Sevilla to Barcelona in the evening, putting our bags in lockers, then hitting the town for a little taste of night life. (all before catching flight to Greece via Milan at 5:30 am). Stupid?? Yes.

owlwoman

We did this drive in 8 days too, it's not ridiculous, left Barcelona AM, drove to Valencia, 2 nights at the Hotel Ad Hoc in the old section, very cool hotel, then drove to Granda, 2 nights there saw the Alahambra, then 1 night in Malaga (beautiful), then drove to Seville via Ronda and spent 1 night in Arcos (very cool white village), then 3 nights in Seville. I highly recommend staying in Arcos in the old section, there were a lot of fun bars within walking distance of the Parador, where we stayed with lots of fun young people. The driving was easy with the exception of finding the hotels when you got into town, as "pavfec" noted, but we managed and had a great time.

lincasanova

you won't have any trouble finding a bar everywhere you are.
but as far as ambience... that's another story.

but if you are looking for CHEAP drinks??? stay in pueblos, and go where the locals hang out.
but those are not good places to "meet" any opposite sex.. if that is important.