For Madrid did you consider the Hotel Plaza Mayor? Singles (with bath) are around 65 euros - a little more than your budget but nice clean rooms and a good location.

I'll go through my notes on Malaga and see if I can hunt down any budget accomodations. I stayed at the Hotel Don Curro http://www.hoteldoncurro.com/pages/home but I believe this may be out of your price range. The location was excellent and the newly refurbished rooms were large. My room was around 75 euros each night.

You have plenty of time to research and make a decision. You're going to get many differing views on this forum

lifetime,
Malaga should be less than Madrid. Look around, I know my kids found a hostel in Nerja(near the Balcony) with private baths for 40E. Nerja is much nicer than Malaga..imo of course

Here is an apartment I've been checking out:

Plaza Arriola, nº 10, 3 º C, Malaga

http://tinyurl.com/8yfbgt

I can't remember the price but it has to be pretty darn cheap before I make a note of it!

Looks like I can get a great deal at the Hotel Don Curro - 250 euro plus the VAT for all 5 nights.

I'm leaning even more heavily toward Malaga now, and thinking I'll do one day trip - probably to either Ronda or Cordoba.

Has anyone stayed at this hotel? Again - it's got great reviews, but if anyone has any experience with the hotel I'd love to hear it.

Here's a good site for Madrid.


http://www.madridman.com/

Personally, I would chose for Madrid over Malaga. I lived at a beach in Cadiz region, so I wasn't too happy about this city.

For just walking around and taking photos, Madrid is great. You can go one direction for a specific neighborhood and fill up your memory card. Then, the next day passing in another neighborhood. It will be completely.

If your vacation is in the summer, there's lovely bars all along the Passeo Castillana (sp?) on each side of the bvd. Each is different and worth stopping.

I walked all over Madrid the first time I was working there. When I got back to the hotel in the end of the day, I left to visit another section of the city. This is the way to really see the city.

I would consider myself as a being a City Person. Some others feel them as Beach People. Neither are wrong and both have fun.

Good luck on your vacation. And remember, send photos afterwards for the report.

Blackduff

Wow - I've been poring over so much info online the last couple days I forgot that I'd originally heard about Hotel Don Curro in this thread. Sorry about that CathyM! I appreciate the recommendation.

I decided to go with Malaga. Thanks to all for your arguments for/against Madrid and Malaga.

I booked my flights, and actually found a slightly better deal from Gatwick to Malaga on Aer Lingus. There's been some kind of glitch though on my booking for Halifax to Gatwick with Air Transat. The screen was chugging through the various stages of processing, and showed that they were processing my credit card, then it showed the process was successful, but then an error message came up asking me to try again, which then resulted in an invalid card number error. It did actually process on my credit card (I called Visa to confirm), but I didn't receive my booking confirmation, and the website isn't showing the purchase under "my account". Yikes. And of course the call centre closed exactly one minute before I called.

So we'll see what happens tomorrow! Fingers crossed.

I was going to suggest the Don Curro too, and the fare you get is very good. The location is perfect. The apartment at Plaza de Arriola, by the market: Besides being a noisy spot, the market is now under renovation, lots of noise; and if it were finished when you come, you'd get all the market noises (and smells) from dawn on, it is a busy living market.

Just wanted to add an update to my flight debacle. Apparently Air Transat's website had been experiencing technical difficulties all day yesterday. I called this morning, and they show a credit on my account for the amount of the booking, but the booking itself was not made. They placed my booking for me over the phone, applied the credit and I'm good to go. I now have both flights and Hotel Don Curro booked. All that's left is to book accommodations for an overnight layover at Gatwick on my return.

I'm sure I'll be back closer to departure for some added info on Malaga. Thinking a day trip by bus to Ronda may be ideal for me, rather than Cordoba by train. But I have lots of time to figure these things out. I'm just so addicted to this board and the fun of planning trips. Half the fun and excitement of a trip happens before I even get there!

Thanks to all for your help - very much appreciated.

You have to put things into context , it is like asking what do you prefer New York, or Fort Lauderlade...?
Does it make sense? Not to me.

exactly!

Antequera would make a nice daytrip from Sevilla. I spent a full day there last spring and enjoyed this relatively tourist-free city. The cave paintings and dolmans just outside of the town are fascinating.

lifeofmytime, congratulations for your choice. Besides posting here, do not hesitate to e-mail me for detailed info.