Philbill

We can fly into wither one of these airports.
Any suggestions?
Also, is there much to see in either palce?
We have 10 days in March. Hopefully it won't be too cold.
We are planning to divide our time up and fly back from Seville.
Don't know whether to use the buses or rent a car. The trains seem very expensive, or maybe I haven't looked at the right site.
Any suggestions are welcome!!
Thanks a lot.

Philbill

PS
By divide our time up I meant see Grenada, Cordoba, white towns, Nerja, ?Frigiliana, Arcos, Ronda. I have heard mixed reviews on Jerez. Of course about 3 days in Seville.
I would prefer to stay in 3 max. 4 places in the 10 day period.
Thanks again.

lincasanova

malaga would seem the logical choice of arrival given your other intentions. alicante is quite far from granada. a car would be totally necessary to get around in order to see a lot of villages in a short time.

from malaga you may be able to do public transport easier, and you will find english more widely spoken than in alicante.

Philbill

Thanks for the advice. I was leaning towards Malaga. Is it possible to take luggage (ie suitcases) on buses? I know that seems like a weird question, but we have been in countries where that is not possible.

artlover

Yes, Malaga would be your best place to fly into. And yes, you can bring luggage on buses in Spain--they have special compartments "in the belly" of the bus or if you pack light enough, you might be able to bring it with you in the passenger section.

Philbill

Is Buzz Car Hire reliable out of Malaga Airport?
They seem to have a great selection of cars.
However, we have always gone with Hertz or Avis when we have been in Europe before.

lincasanova

for all car rentals check out the fine print.. coverage, deductible, etc.

many people recommend autoeurope.com.

sounds like you are planning a very nice trip. enjoy spain.

NEDSIRELAND

San José is 19 March. It's a big deal in Valencia (las Fallas) but it now seems to be celebrated throughout the Comunitat de Valencia (includes as far south as Benidorm & Alicante). That's about the only feria that goes on during Lent. That could also influence your decision as to whether to fly into Alicante or Malaga (i.e., you may want to see what the Fallas de San José in Valencia are all about). http://www.Renfe.es is Renfe's website and yes, train travel is much more expensive than Bus. Driving can also be expensive on toll roads.

The fact that many people on the Costa del Sol (Malaga) speak English is one of the things that turns me off about those places. Torremolinos & Marbella are fine; but they make you feel like you are at Brighton or someplace like that. I prefer Cadiz or el Puerto de Santa Maria or the coastal towns near Jerez de la frontera (Costa de la Luz)

fuzzylogic

Neddy - spot on - but then nothing to stop you flying into Malaga and getting the H*** out as fast as possible.

Philbill

fuzzylogic, lincasanova, artlover, nedsireland (et al)!! Thank you so much for the replies.
We do plan to get out of Malaga as soon as we arrive. I know there is the Picasso Museum, but we have been to Barcelona three times. Is Nerja as touristy as Malaga? I read on this site that it is lovely, but who knows who may be biased??
We keep adding a day on as there is so much to see!!
Would you go on this route: Malaga, Nerja, Granada, Jaen, Cordoba, Ronda, Cadiz, Sevilla?
Is it worth going to Gibraltar?
Is Tangier a waste of time?
We have checked Auto Europe and it is expensive.
I read about ? Novacar from Fodors, and they are reasonable. They even replied to my emailed questions.
Any sugestions about hotels would be great. I'm starting to think that we may be better travelling more in this "S" shaped route and that three centres are not logical, seeing that we have to end up in Sevilla.
Our plane leaves Heathrow at 4pm and there is one flight out of Sevilla which gets in about 10am (either Iberia or BA..will have to check).
I plan to go Sevilla/LHR the same day as my international flight.
Thanks and Happy New Year's Eve!!

lincasanova

you can skip gibralter and tangiers IMHO. plenty to see on the peninsula.

with a car you will be able to enjoy the out of way villages, their plazas, stop for a fino, (maybe see a sherry bodega in jerez, and the andalusian horse exhibit?).

check out www.bancotel.com for excellent discounted 3-4 star hotel rooms across spaina nd rest of world.

also, i like www.gtahotels.com as they usually include breakfast and all taxes for not much more than bancotel some times.
www.solmelia.com is also reliable.

boutique hotels: www.rusticae.com

www.toprural.com for rural farm type or country homes as b+b, etc.

carmona, cordoba, are worth a stop to see parador, plaza and mosque, respectively.

do leave plenty of time between flights at lhr in case you have a delay in spain. you certainly wouldn't want to miss your conection. (if your flights are all on same ticketing, they will take care of you.. otherwise.. you may be looking at a problem for rebooking that could/couldn't mean re-booking fees).

NEDSIRELAND

Philbill writes: << ... I know there is the Picasso Museum, but we have been to Barcelona three times. >>

The so called Picasso "Museum" in Barcelona leaves a lot to be desired. I haven't been to the Picasso Museum in Malaga, so I can't really comment one way or the other. The Centro de Arte de la Reina Sofia in Madrid has Picasso's Guernika; I don't think there's a very large collection of Picasso's works in one place, anywhere (other than Sotheby's for example)

<< ... Would you go on this route: Malaga, Nerja, Granada, Jaen, Cordoba, Ronda, Cadiz, Sevilla? >>

You would be backtracking from Cordoba back to Ronda.

<< Is it worth going to Gibraltar?>>

Not unless you have a particular interest in Ravens & Barbary Apes.

<< Is Tangier a waste of time? >>

For a short visit I would say, "Yes!"

<<... Our plane leaves Heathrow at 4pm and there is one flight out of Sevilla which gets in about 10am (either Iberia or BA..will have to check).
I plan to go Sevilla/LHR the same day as my international flight ...>>

That may be playing it a little 'tight.' Just be sure your Sevilla-London flight goes to Heathrow and not Gatwick, Luton or Stanstead.

Have a 'Plan B' in place: Ryanair has service from Jerez de la frontera to ondon Stanstead.

Philbill

nedsireland,
i realize e would be backtracking, but to end up in sevilla what route would you suggest?
forgive the typing...i fell and sprained my left hand last night.
lin... thanks for the hotel recs..

DKay

Malaga is fine to fly into. I rented a car at the airport for 100.00 USD per week. You must see the Costa del Sol area and Marbella,not far from Malaga, if you continue on down the coast you will find Gibralta. The Hiways were great and driving was not difficult at all. Smaller cars than we are use too, but if you are going you are better off renting a car and seeing the area. Go through a European Car company they are very good and cheaper, by a little extra insurance. I suggest Europa Car they were great!

NEDSIRELAND

Philbill: sorry to read that you fell & sprained your wrist: Too much merrymaking??
I would put Ronda in the Malaga-Nerja loop. I haven't driven in those areas for years, and my Spain roadmap is out of date so I'm not fully knowledgeable about the highway system. My suggestion may not be practical ...

Philbill

Wrist much better!!!!! I have found a great website for route planning so that is helping.
About half of the trip is falling into place (get the pun.....ahhhhhhh).
I am getting stuck as I originally thought of going to Cadiz. (We are now up to 13 days including flying out from England and back. The extra days are coming off time allotted for visiting family in England so that is the max!! I will be there next week, however, and back again in March.)
Back to Cadiz. Not sure whether it is going to be too much of a tourist trap. We don't need beaches and concrete hotels so what do y'all think?
Is there a "must see" in that area of Andalucia? How is Jerez? I read Antequera was lovely, but that location is not going to work out too easily unless Fodorites rave about it. As I said, I have to end up in Seville, so I am searching the map in that area.
All replies are appreciated.

lincasanova

a few quick suggestions, as it is a very straight logical route.
sevilla-jerez de la frontera ( bodega and spanish horses). could overnight here. nice town.

then on to arcos de la frontera (could overnight here instead).

then to grazalema on way to ronda.
(some people like this small town better than ronda).

have a nice trip.

www.bancotel.com will be able to give you some nice rooms probably depending on exact dates.
also look into the paradors.they are lovely.

another section of spain i like a lot is caceres, trujillo and merida. you will not be disappointed.

just need more time!!

Philbill

lincasanova!!
I have used the gta web site and it was great. I think I have used 4 different booking sites to get the hotels and the cheapest prices.
Some sites stated no rooms available for a certain hotel, but I was able to get it from another site!!
The most interesting thing was that the hotel websites were always more expensive than gta, hotels.com or whatever.
I will post my final itinerary. It is wtill changing.
I will note your final paragraph.
Re: Banchotels...absolutely great for the ?xiii hotel in Seville (E150 as opposed to close to $400) but only the Friday night available on the site. We don't want to change hotels, so will stay at the Melia Colon (GTA) and hopefully eat at the ?xiii hotel! I think more advanxce notice would have been great for Banchotel booking.
Back to planning. Perusing a day in Tangier (don't mock me all of you Fodorites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). My husband thinks I am nuts, but it is 35 minutes from Tarifa so is still under consideration. Thisis so much fun (planning) but alas I am turning into a planning widow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).
Take care!!

lincasanova

you are really planning a fun trip. hope you find everything you need.
www.solmelia.com is a good site, too.

remember, the hotel websites usually have best price guarantee, so a neat thing can happen: you reserve on hotel website ,and then request the double discount when you have seen it cheaper somewhere else. turns out really amazing sometimes.

happened to me accidentally once.. but i imagine people could use this to their advantage with some astute planning!

Not sure alfonso XIII is the best option for dinner, but definitely hang around for afternoon tea or drink in bar/lobby.

Philbill

Thanks for the Alfonso xiii advice!
Any recommendations for food in Seville? Or anywhere else come to think of it. Can hardly wait!!