danon

Andalusia, Barcelona and Madrid are totally different .

If you are interested in Moorish heritage in Spain with a bit of the coast ....Andalusia
If you are interested in unique Gaudi architecture and a Catalan city ( on the coast) ..Barcelona
If you are interested in excellent art museums and day trips in central ( very Spanish ) Spain...Madrid
Perhaps, you can take a look at the few guidebooks and decide .
Spain is a big country with
culturally and linguistically distinct areas.

mike1728

If you just want to relax and enjoy the sun, culture, wonderful tapas, vino and friendly people try the Cadiz to Zahara de los Atunes area. We just spent 7 days in this region in September-October, it was our second holiday in the area and have already booked an apartment for September 2015. We based in Zahara, which has a wonderful beach that stretches for miles without any crowds in late September. Day trips within an hour include, Cadiz, El Puerto de Santa Maria, Jerez, Vejer de la Frontera, Bolonia (wonderful beach and Roman ruins), and the southernmost coast of Spain, Tarifa with views directly to Morocco.
Weather in September is perfect, and again, very few crowds.

MikeK

stevelyon

Sounds great MikeK its an area that I want to explore, were you happy with your base, Zahara - I fancy El Puerto de Santa Maria, but is this a less attractive base?

mike1728

Steve,
We based twice out of El Puerto in an incredible apartment right on the beach (away from the town-Puerto Sherry Beach)and absolutely loved it. Having explored that area twice we decided to move further south to Zahara. Zahara is absolutely beautiful with an incredible beach. Zahara and the towns in the area is a lot less bustle than El Puerto, and Cadiz. This past September we did take a day from Zahara back to El Puerto (its about an hour drive)as we have a favorite tapas restaurant there.
Mikek

erintb

Okay, another question. Cost-wise and time-wise, it seems much more beneficial to fly from our hometown (small airport) into Madrid. Is there a train or something we could take to Malaga? Most of the flights near us to Malaga that are affordable put us at about 23h of traveling time.

Bedar

Yes, of course there's a train to Malaga. It's now a major city, even with a metro (subway). Some of the train buffs here will fill you in. There's also bus service which is cheaper but think you'd prefer the train.

Rubicund

The train takes around 3 hours, some trains take less.

http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/horarios.html

I'm not sure that timetables for September are available yet, but you should get an idea of the journey for the moment.

kimhe

The high speed AVE train from Madrid to Malaga is 2h 30 mins, city center to city center. Very comfortable and convenient, almost 200 miles pr. hour, cafe on board etc.