Need help selecting Spain itinerary for 2 weeks
 

Hello to all!!! I'm new to this forum and so far I've found lots of useful information. I have an overload of info after reading a lot of the posts so I might need any help designing a trip to Spain of approximately 15 days.

I was thinking:
1- Barcelona
2- Madrid (with sidetrip to Toledo)
3- Sevilla (daytrip to Cordoba)

I would like to include San sebastian and possibly arrive/depart from Barcelona. This will be my first trip to Spain. Please any input will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!!!

Could it be possible to include The Pyrenees??
Also, we are planning on going late February or early March.

Thanks again :)

what time of year and what transportation are you planning on using?

Sorry just read your second posting...so ignore the question about time of year.

On the 20th of January San Sebastián celebrates its patron saint in the 24 hours spectacular and noisy Tamborrada drum festival (from midnight to midnight). Could be a fun and crazy introduction to the culinary capital of Spain, if not all of Europe. http://www.eitb.com/news/life/detail...al-tamborrada/

Here you'll get a feel of the atmosphere: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhncDjXMeQ4

Vueling flies from Barcelona to Bilbao in one hour for some 30-50€ (vueling.com). Direct bus from Bilbao airport to San Sebastián in 75 mins (pesa.net).

About the transportation - Any transportation that would allow me to see most part effectively. So train, bus and even car rental.

Thanks kimhe!

February and March would not be a good time for a beach town like SS or driving in the Pyrenees.
Madrid can also be cold .
If you can arrange for open jaw:

Barcelona - 4 nights
fly Vueling to Granada - 2 nights
bus to Seville - 3 nights
AVE to Madrid with( day ) stop in Cordoba
Madrid - 4 nights

You will be hard pressed to see Madrid, Sevilla & Barcelona in 2 weeks. I definately wouldn't try to add anything else. Is there a reason why you are not visiting Granada? I'm assuming you've overlooked Granada and highly recommend 2 nights in this city. Personally I'd take just 2 areas (Madrid, Barcelona or Andalucia) and skip one for a more relaxed pace. But if this is perhaps your first and only trip to Spain I'd probably do something like this for 15 days:

Madrid: 4-5 nights; daytrip to Toledo (and Segovia if 5 nights); take AVE to Sevilla w/a daytrip along the way in Cordoba

Sevilla: 3-4 nights; bus or train to Granada; if 4 nights daytrip to Jerez, Cadiz, Arcos, Carmona, etc...

Granada: 2 nights; fly to Barcelona

Barcelona: 4-5 nights; daytrip to Girona or Montserrat (if 5 nights)

You could do this in reverse also. I'd fly open jaw so you can fly into Madrid and out of Barcelona (or vice-versa). This way you don't have to back-track and it's often not any more expensive.

Cathy is right. Even that is too much traveling within a trip for me as I would skip Barcelona. You definitely don't have time for San Sebastian. You would need a month to visit all of the places you want to go to.

Thanks everyone for all the responses!!

San Sebastian will be out of the question since now I know that time will be tight for all those places.

I'm rearranging my travel schedule after reading all the comments and suggestions.

1-Now, we are considering a cruise for 12 days (round trip port, Barcelona). I can arrive 1 day ahead to Barcelona, take the cruise the next day and when i get back, I should be able to spend 3 days in Barcelona with a daytrip to Monserrat.

2-Next stop: Madrid with daytrip to Toledo

3- Then last stop could be Sevilla (include Granada?)

After the 12 day cruise trip , I'm planning to stay 9 additional days. Can this be possible?

Any suggestion that I should add or avoid?
How easy is to travel in the AVE from BCN to Madrid with the luggage or should i take the plane instead?

Sorry for so many questions and I really appreciate all the help.

Thanks again!
Sumiko

AVE Train is great, better than the plane, more comfortable, less stressfull although a bit more expensove, worth it. Just enough time for 3 days in Madrid, 3 in Seville and 2 in Granada, fly, bus or slow train back to Madrid. Don't worry about anywhere else it's a great itinerary , keep it simple and enjoy your time in Spain.

Egbert, thanks so much for your quick reply :)
Now I feel more comfortable!!! Time to start looking for hotels and polish all my trip details.

9 days for Barcelona (w/daytrip to Montserrat), Madrid (w/daytrip to Toledo), Sevilla & Granada? (I wouldn't attempt Granada as a daytrip from Sevilla - it's 3 hours one way so 6 hours travel time not including the time you'll need to get to the train or bus station.

I wouldn't attempt this - you were on a pretty tight schedule with 15 days.

Cathy, so 2 nights in Granada? I can discard one of the daytrips.

The land portion (after getting back from the cruise)will start in Barcelona to Madrid.

Personally I would recommend 2 nights in Granada. Either way you don't have time in 9 days for Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla & Granada. Without daytrips (which would be a shame to miss Toledo when you're in Madrid or Cordoba when you're in Sevillla) you really need 3 nights for Madrid & Sevilla, 2 for Granada and 4 for Barcelona. That's 12 nights bare minimum (which means slightly rushed).

Cathy has a good point...9 days is a short time to cover 4 cities ( each time you move takes half a day).
You might wish to consider:
Madrid and Barcelona ( with day trips : Toledo, Segovia, Girona etc,) .
or Madrid, Granada, Seville
or Barcelona , Seville , Granada
Do you have to fly back from Barcelona or is it open jaw?

Danon - I don't have to fly back from Barcelona. I can stretch it to 10 days.

Cathy - Thanks again. Let me work again with the schedule logistic so I can have your input if you don't mind.

-I will arriving to BCN - March 5th (early morning)
-Cruise departs March 6th at 7pm
-Cruise arrives on March 18th early morning
-I will have until March 27th to see the other parts of Spain

Thanks again!

Should I skip Sevilla or Granada?
I'm trying to fit everything but I won't be able to do it.

Hard choice...
Before the cruise you have about 24 hours in Barcelona:
most hotels won't let you check in before the afternoon
so you will have some time to walk around ( or hop on the tourist bus) - depending on how jet lag affects you....
Barcelona is a wonderful city - I would recommend at least 3 days after your cruise.
We flew Vueling to Granada ( from Barcelona)..if you arrive in the afternoon, see Alhambra at night and again during the day...so, 2 nights in Granada.
If you wish to spend a bit more time in Madrid, take side trips to Toledo or Segovia and see Prado (and other museums)
you might wish to skip Seville this time.
There are trains or cheap flights from Granada to Madrid.
Or, you can fly to Seville from Barcelona, stay 3 nights, stop in Cordoba on the way to Madrid ( on AVE) and stay
in Madrid the rest of the time.

It all depends on your "tolerance" for moving from place to place and stile of travel i.e. spending more time seeing more in one place or shorter time in more destinations.

p.s.
A number of posters think Alhambra is the
most impressive place in Spain .
There is more to see in Granada than just Alhambra.
I have not been to Seville and Cordoba in years ( I am reluctant to compare)...we are going there is April during La Semana Santa.
Spain is addictive!

Ok fodorites, here is my new itinerary :)
I wanted to include Sevilla but couldn't do it with this time frame :(

March 5 - Arrival to BCN
March 6- Cruise leaving from BCN 7pm
March 6-- March 17: Cruising (Rome,Greece,Turkey,Egypt,Malta)
March 18 - Arrival to BCN
March 19 - BCN daytrip to Monserrat
March 20- BCN
March 21- Depart to Granada
March 22 - Granada
March 23- Depart to Madrid
March 24- Madrid, daytrip Segovia
March 25- Madrid, daytrip Toledo
March 26- Madrid
March 27- Depart home

Again, all your suggestions and comments are very welcome and thanks so much for helping me with my first time trip to Spain.

This looks much better. It's too bad you just don't have enough time for Sevilla but that will mean you will have to return! IMO it's just not worth trying to push Sevilla into the itinerary at the expense of rushing around at a crazy speed.

I'd consider a daytrip to Girona from Barcelona versus Monserrat. This is only my personal opinion - others love it. You have plenty of time to read and make up your mind.

Madrid is a big city with wonderful things to see.
I would go to either Toledo or Segovia and spend an
extra day in Madrid.
I liked Girona... after 4 visits to Barcelona still have not visited Monserrat ( just not my "thing")

This tread is of good use to me as I'm planning a 2 week family (parents) trip to my motherland for later in the year. However, I want to include a stay in Galicia (where my father's family comes from) as well as Madrid (my mother's side.) I also have interests in visiting other regions, in particular - Castile-La Mancha, Andalusia, and Catalonia. I was even considering going across the Pyrenees into the Languedoc region of France. How much of this could I possibly do? I do plan on having an extended week after the initially two with my parents where I will would travel on with my girlfriend. I, however, would rather continue on to other parts of Europe (perhaps Paris and Berlin.) I haven't had much time to think about this trip lucidly as I have been planning my trip to Germany which would happen earlier in the year.

Abraxas -
It would probably be best to start your own thread so the responses are specific to your trip.

I see. I'm not going to worry about this trip just yet though, because I'm planning another trip which is more pressing. I'll leave it for some other time. Thanks for the tip.

I would cut out Barcelona for Seville. I also wouldn't worry about daytrips, there's not a lot of time in this itinerary to enjoy anywhere except Granada. I guess you can't see it all.

Thanks Cathy,kimhe,Danon and Egbert for all the suggestions and advice!!!

I'm still tweaking details of my trip but will let you know if I have more questions and will definitely share my experience once I get back.

I'm so excited!! :)

Here is my trip report from my visit in 2009, hope it helps.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...tour-spain.cfm

Agedude - Excellent review and very detailed!! This will be extremely useful in my planning since your itinerary is very similar to what I want.

Thank you, this is a great help!

Hmmm...I think I found a way to fit Sevilla by reading agedude report :O
Egbert - I followed your suggestion to cut one night in Barcelona.

Counting my pre-cruise night in BCN this is how it looks now:

March 5: Night in BCN
March 18: Night in BCN
March 19: Night in BCN
March 20: Night in Granada
March 21: Night in Granada
March 22: Night in Sevilla
March 23: Night in Sevilla
March 24: Night in MAD
March 25: Night in MAD (daytrip)
March 26: Night in MAD
March 27: Fly home

Thanks to everyone for all the ideas and advice. The more I read, the more I want to see :)

Looking forward to read what the experts think!

It really comes to YOU - your interests, your style of travel, your tolerance for changing locals and hotels.

The "experts" are as subjective as everyone else.

I know danon and thanks. Its just that as my first time in Spain I would like input of the people who have more experience than me since I still have time to rearrange my itinerary.

For instance, you suggested Girona so it lead me to read about it and compare it with Monserrat.

So all the advice of the more knowledgeable fodorites matters to me :)

Honestly I liked the itinerary better before you tried to squeeze in Sevilla. I love Sevilla but you'll barely have enought time in Barcelona especially since the first day will be jet-lagged. You'll barely have 1.5 days in Sevilla - no time for a daytrip to Cordoba. Then in Madrid not enough tiime to visit Segovia & Toledo as daytrips. No time for daytrips from Barcelona either. I don't think you're factoring in the travel time. This isn't an itinerary where there will be alot of time to relax. But danon is correct in that it really comes down to what you want. Sometimes you have to learn by experience. I shudder at the pace I planned my first couple of independent trips - they were mini marathons.

We visited Girona the second time in Barcelona.
On the first visit ( six days), we loved the city so much we did not wish to leave.

But, we are "lazy" travelers who like to do things without a tight schedule or moving around a lot.

Of course, many posters are just the opposite.

Just wanted to keep you posted.
I'm sticking with the itinerary without Sevilla. So should be
Barcelona, Granada and Madrid with some day trips.

Cathy and danon - Thanks so much for all the patience.

I know I will have more questions regarding my planning so thanks for all the help.

you are welcome. Enjoy Spain!

Last summer I spent a day in Barcelona before a cruise and 6 days there afterward. I visited Montserrat but...I suggest you stay in Barcelona and skip Montserrat with such a short time in the city. Montserrat is lovely but there are SOOOOO many wonderful things to see in Barcelona that are just as lovely and without the time spent traveling to see them.

I also recommend the 2 hour Gotic walking tour from the Barcelona tourist office to see things you would not see on your own. http://bcnshop.barcelonaturisme.com/...PwfBGc-xA03U6w

The tourist office site offers much information on the city.
http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/
Ann Marie

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the advice. I had one of the best trips of my life so far and can't wait to get back to Spain.

I enjoyed every part of my trip!!! I will try to do a report as soon as I can.

Thanks again!

nice of you to get back to the Forum.
at let us know about your experience.

Glad you enjoyed Spain ;I said it was addictive!