NEWBIE NEEDS HELP PLEASE! Itinerary for Spain?
 

My 10yo daughter and I will be traveling to Spain for the first time April 6-18th. This was a surprise and I haven't had time to plan. We will be traveling solely by train/bus, but I am ignorant about the routes. We would like to do a mix of big cities sights, and more quiet towns. I defnitiely want to see the pueblos blancos, but we would have to get there by train or bus. I am desperate for itinerary help!

Here is my very *tentative* itinerary:

7 ARR Madrid a.m.
8 Madrid
9 Madrid* NT to Sevilla
10 Sevilla
11 Sevilla**
12 Sevilla train to Granada?
13 Granada
14 ???
15 Barcelona
16 Barcelona
17 Barcelona Train back to Madrid
18 DEPART

*day trips incl Toledo, El Escorial,
**day trip to Cordoba

Ronda, Marbella, Arcos, Grazalema have also been suggested to me as good options

Hi; If possible fly open jaw into Madrid and out of Barcelonia. You could add another day to Madrid as there are other great day trips. See www.maribelsguides.com for downloads of information. Richard

Thanks for the reply Richard. Open jaw flights were significantly more expensive, so I booked into and out of Madrid. I will definitely check out Maribel's guides!

Look at Avila or Segovia as a day trip from Madrid, if you decide to spend another day in Madrid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/avila

Great thanks. Maribel's guides look amazing!

Just random.

Is this a transatlantic flight - do both of you know how to cope with jet lag?

I rarely comment on the pace of someone's journey, but I think one major destination may have to go, if the day trips are certainly required and you want a pace you both can cope with.

I can give you all the bus and train detail you need for the white villages, but you are still only going to be able to see a couple in a day as schedules are not designed for you, the tourist.

Ronda - from Seville is two hours each way by bus.
Ronda to Grazelema another 45 minutes each way.
If you have seen the views at Ronda, perhaps not necessary to go to Arcos.
Marbella - why? (It was going so well until then.)Extraordinary amount of time required to get there and then back on track for the value or lack of it.

The national rail company is - http://www.renfe.com/ for your intercity journeys - see what you make of the holes the travel time makes in your journeys and do not forget to include time to and from the hotel and station in initially unfamiliar surroundings.

What is NT to Seville? If night train, there is no such animal on this route.

I will recommend you to stay in Sevilla at the 17th. Then the world famous Sevilla Semana Santa/Holy Week celebrations start. Would give you an impression of one of the most important Spanish cultural events. High speed train from Sevilla to Madrid in 2 1/2 hours.

Twelve processions on Palm Sunday/Domingo de Ramos. You shouldn't miss a taste of this experience, a true Spanish fusion of worship and fiesta: http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/seville/holy-week.htm

If you do an extra day in Sevilla, we did this day trip with Paul McGrath to the White Villages and had a very good day. http://www.theotherspain.galeon.com/...os1249195.html

3 nights in Sevilla minimum. 2 in Granada is better. That's a lot of traveling, it will be exhausting especially with a child. I would skip Barcelona this time. Three days in madrid with two day trips is not a great idea. You will be selling Madrid short. There is so much to see and do and 3 days will go by very quickly.

For Granada->Barcelona, Vueling flies about twice a day.

I am curious, when looked up open jaw, did you:

1. Look it up as 2 separate one-way trips.
2. Look it up as 1 multi-city trip.

The #1 method is very expensive, while #2 method is usually very close to the roundtrip fare if you are coming from North America.

Greg,
I guess I'm really showing my newbie colors, I looked it up separately. DOH! Live and learn right?

Oh my! You guys are fantastic! I am going to eliminate Barcelona. We want to ENJOY ourselves, and in my excitement it seems I've overbooked. I wish I had come here before booking my flight, but so it goes...

kimhe,
I did notice that, and would love to, but we are flying out around 1400 on the 18th. There's just no way to be in Sevilla that night. :(

I will rework my itinerary and get back to you all.
MUCHAS GRACIAS!

Ok, I have updated our itinerary, but I am still struggling with it. Please critique/suggest alternatives.

I have heard that the white towns (Ronda esp.), Granada and Cordoba are not to be missed, but I simply cannot make it all work! Is there a white town from close enough to Seville to go to, explore and spend one night at, then return to Seville?

7 ARR Madrid
8 Madrid
9 Madrid
10 Mad->Seville AVE
11 Seville
12 Seville
13 Seville
14 ???
15 ???
16 ???
17 Madrid
18 DEP Madrid

7Arr Madrid, go to Sevilla
8 Sevilla
9 Sevilla
10 Sevilla (daytrip to Cordoba)
11 Ronda (stay in one of the hotels on the cliff)
12 Granada
13 Granada
14 Malaga
15 Madrid
16 Daytrip to Avila, Toledo, Segovia
17 Madrid
18 Dep Madrid
Perfect trip! Then plan next trip: 5 days in Barcelona, 10 in San Sebastian!

Going to Seville righ away is a good idea.
Getting from Malaga to Madrid would take half a day,
that leaves one day for a trip outside the city and very little time in Madrid - the only big city in the mix.
Even if one has no interest in Madrid's fantastic museums, spending so little time in a great city seems a shame.

Thank you for the replies. Egbert, could you give me some transportation details? My understanding is that Ronda is 2hrs by bus from Seville, then Granada is how much farther? And 2hr more to Malaga? Plus 2 1/2hrs back to Madrid. Still seems like too much (esp for my daughter).

I'm thinking either Malaga or Granada (or maybe both?) have to go, but how to prioritize??? My head is spinning....

or2nh4e,

If you start addressing posters specifically, for answers, I might think you are not interested in my input. ;-)

As I said Seville to Ronda 2 hours with this company - http://www.losamarillos.es/venta/busqueda.jsp
Ensure you go to the correct bus station in Seville, which is Estación de Autobuses El Prado de San Sebastián.

Ronda to Granada by train, only three direct a day, or convoluted bus journeys or return to Seville and on by train or bus.

Have you lost interest in these? - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Towns_of_Andalusia

How is your head?

Best wishes.

For what it's worth, and I hope this isn't unhelpful, we did a similar trip a couple of years ago and decided it was too inconvenient to visit Andalusia (outside Seville) without a car. On the other hand, I still want to go back and see Granada and the White Towns, so maybe you don't want to take our approach. ;) I think we did two or three days each in Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona and had a very nice time (although even that may be too "busy" for many). It was very easy/cheap to fly from Seville to Barcelona and we decided to cut down on travel days with that itinerary (we left room for day trips to Toledo and Cordoba but found that we didn't really want to leave where we were).

Granada has Alhambra and everything, but I think Málaga is a more joyful and high-spirited city. Vibrant Andalusian atmosphere, excellent tapas bars, cafés, shopping and perhaps the most easy-going people in all of Andalucía. Within three hundred metres in the center, you'll find the recently excavated Roman theater, the 8-11th century Moorish Alcazaba (much older than Alhambra in Granada), the great 16th century Cathedral and both Picasso's birth-place and the new Picasso museum (2003).

Read the article "The authentic city of Málaga" to get a better idea:
http://www.andalucia.com/magazine/en...ed2/malaga.htm

or, "Málaga: Authentic charm of an overlooked treasure".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ci...-treasure.html

Central Málaga to central Madrid in 2 1/2 hours with the comfortable high speed AVE train.

First off, I am tremedously grateful to everyone who has taken the time to respond to my requests for info!

WomBatt~your info has been invaluable. Could u specifically tell me how we could go to a true white town within our time?

So is the concensus that we should skip Granada and go to Malaga instead? Malaga seems to have a great vibe~esp for kids, but then I keep hearing that u haven't lived until you've seen the alhambra @ night.

So maybe we could do:

7 arr Madrid travel to Seville
8 Seville
9. Seville
10. Seville travel to white town?
11. White town
12. White town travel to Malaga
13. Malaga
14. Malaga
15. Malaga travel to Madrid
16. Madrid
17. Madrid
18. dep
*or maybe extra day SEV and 1 1/2days in Malaga?

I wouldn't want to miss Granada to visit Malaga. As much as I enjoy Malaga, Granada is on my don't miss list for a first visit to Spain. I'd spend 2 nights in Granada and add a day to Sevilla. This way you have 4 nights in Sevilla (the first will be a late, jet-lagged arrival).


I'd also highly encourage trying to be in Sevilla for Palm Sunday. If you don't mind an early train (7:15) you could take the first AVE from Sevilla to Madrid and still be at the airport to catch your flight in the early afternoon. The early train is inconvenient but the experience of seeingthe processionals would be worth it (to me).

sorry to join...
we'll be in Seville on Palm Sunday. Any suggestions, Cathy?

or2nh4me,

White villages.

O.K. - At your 10. above.
Take the bus Seville to Ronda at 1000hours with Los Amarillos, arrive 1200hours. Book in, stay overnight. Gives you more time in Ronda that day than many have on organised tours.
The following day your choice of white village from the list on the Wiki page and return to Ronda that afternoon or evening to overnight in the same premises.
As I have said the bus services are not tourist oriented, so ensure you go somewhere where you can give yourself enough time before return.
This is everything, may be a little unclear, in and out of Ronda (bus wise) with the websites to clarify. http://www.turismoderonda.es/informa...oautobuses.pdf.

Thank you both for the replies. Simply put, as much as I would love to, I'm just too chicken!

WomBatt, thanks again. You have been very patient with, and helpful to me. I will check that out and try to book it!

Ok, I am simply unable to navigate some of these websites!

Los Amarillos tells me that there is no service from Ronda to the various white towns? I want to see the white towns, but this is supremely frustrating and unfortunately, I don't have time to search endlessly. :(

I don't get it. Sold out? They don't service the route? I am befuddled...

Ok, I figured it out. April was too far out. I will research for my trip by inputing a closer date...

Ok, I have refined my itinerary to what I think will be my final. I just could not make Ronda or the hill towns work. I really want to avoid exhausting my daughter, so I had to make some tough calls. Now I'm off to see if I can make the transport scheduling work! :)

7 Arr MAD->Ave train to SEV 2.5hr
8 SEV
9 SEV
10 SEV
11 SEV->GRANADA 3hr train
12 GRAN
13 GRAN
14 GRAN->MALAGA 2.5hr train
15 MALAGA->MAD Ave train 2.5hr
16 MAD
17 MAD
18 Dep

I guess I could also go GRAN->CORDOBA on day 14 then CORDOBA to MAD?

danon-
For Palm Sunday in Sevilla I'd just have a nice lunch perhaps a little early. This will give you a chance to perhaps see a processional as it's leaving it's home churh. There are generally less tourists at these times and you get more of a feel for the neighborhood and people. Be sure to get a Semana Santa guide at the tourist office early in the week - often they run out as the week proceeds.