I need some help with my itinerary. My friend and I are traveling to Spain next week arriving in Madrid on Thursday and staying there until Monday. We have one week open leaving from Barcelona to NY the following Tuesday giving us a total of 12 full days there not including travel days. Do you recommend going to Granada and then traveling to Barcelona and Sitges or should we skip Granada. My concern is the heat in the south and the time wasted traveling from one city to the next. Just to note, we are 2 guys in our early 30s looking to have a balance of both fun as well as enjoy the culture. My preference is the following:
1. Thurs. to Monday Madrid
2. Monday to Wed night Sitges
3. Wed. night through Monday Barcelona.

Any comments would help.
Thanks

My daughter during her study abroad a couple months ageo visited Lagos, Sitges and the Algarve coastline area of portugal and really loved it. Excellent beaches. Costs there were very reasonable, but you'll need a car to visit some of the private coves. Exploring and finding them was part of the fun. They saw a bullfight while there, too. Granada is a fun town for young people, as well as visiting the Alhambra. There are snow-capped mountains outside the city, which gives it a great backdrop. You could see some good Flamenco in Granada, which is fun as well as cultural. We flew cheaply on Clickair from Granada to Barcelona (15 euros each plus fees, which almost doubles it, but still cheap and flight only took 1 hour, 30 minutes). have fun!

Hi, dtreb -

It really depends on what you and your friend hope to see and experience while in Spain, but deferring Granada for another trip when you can see other parts of Andalucia (like Cordoba and Sevilla) might make sense. But Granada is wonderful, so I can understand why you would consider fitting it in!

Hope that helps. . . .

Rock in Rio finishes up on the 4th, 5th and 6th of July in Madrid, which would be next week. Hopefully you've already booked your accommodations.

http://www.rockinriomadrid.terra.es/

Note: It was over 90 today in Madrid, and a bit hotter in the south.

Robert, I don´t know how bad it is going to be with the Rock in Rio thing. Yesterday they were "pressing" a lot in the Corte Ingles in Callao offering free parking with every ticket purchase. It sounded to me as if it isn´t working as good as they thought.

Myself, I have opted for running away to Bilbao for the weekend and be able to have a bit of fresh air. The heat is supposed to continue until Tuesday.

Bye, Cova

You've got a Sunday in Madrid and another in Barcelona: If I am in Madrid on a Sunday AM I make a beeline for Retiro park. Street Performers are good and non-agressive (i.e., not like the ones at NYC's Washington Square Park or SFO's Pier 39).
Parc Guell (another Gaudi Spectacular) in Barcelona is also worth a visit on a Sunday.

Cova,
We've heard that Rock in Rio was only so-so, but the hotels have jacked up their prices regardless. Could it be that the groups are passé, or that there are better things to do when the temperature hovers around 30 Celsius?

The Police will be in Bilbao for the BBK Live Festival, which runs on the 4th, 5th and 6th. We though about picking up some tickets, but saw that most of the performances were sold out, besides, we have to head to Pamplona on the 4th.

It's actually rather pleasant here in Liérganes tonight; almost cool enough for a sweater.