roadwarrior2008

Okay.... so we were finally able to narrow down our vacation choices to southern Spain.

Any recommendations on which cities (example: Seville, Malaga, Rhonda,etc)?

What about sites that we must see?

Hotels/Restaurants/Activities?

We are really flexible at this point.

Thanks!
--Bryan

kelliebellie

Woo-hoo! You will love it. You are the stand-by guy, right?

I don't know what your budget is, but check the Parador website for awesome hotels. Where are you flying into? I have a trip report of my time there. I will dig it up.

We flew into Madrid, picked up a car and drove to Jaen for the night. We stayed in a recreated castle next to a ruined castle. At that Parador they bring you breakfast in bed. It was a very cool way to start the trip.

One word here about AutoEurope if you are getting a car. If you use their different international websites to search, you will find a completely different list of cars and prices. And you can put your US address in when you book, so there is no trouble with the voucher. I used the United Kingdom site for a much cheaper automatic.

Anyway, then we drove to Seville, stopping in Cordoba for the day. In Seville, I highly recommend the Dona Maria Hotel. We stayed there three nights, drove to Ronda for two nights, and then down to Benahavis near the coast and then over to Granada. My husband called the coast "British Florida". You definitely leave the cute mountain towns behind for plastic resort land. Benahavis was cute and we stayed at a wonderful B&B, but it wasn't as authentic as the Andalucia region. What I mean was we were driving in and there are all these cute homes going up the hillside like in the mountains, but these were all brand new condos!

I'll go dig up my trip report now and post the link.

kelliebellie

Okay, I topped the trip report, so if you click on my name, it will be near the top of my postings.

afterall

Cordoba is unmissable - and why don't you Mr Stand By just carry that approach through and find your own place to stay, and discover your OWN places to eat.

Isn't that the whole point?

Viajero2

What do you like? what do you dislike? how many in your group? ages? would you be renting a car or using public transport? when are you going? how long would you be visiting? what is your budget for hotels? would you considered yourself foodies? how flexible are you? have you ever been to Spain before? lodging preferences?

Sorry about all the questions; I just hate to "bat in the dark".

roadwarrior2008

Yup ... we finally narrowed down our vacation options to Southern Spain. The list started out with everything from Greece to China. So, I am pretty psyched about getting to plan the vacation.

And we only have two weeks to plan as we are going at the end of September.

And we are going to be there for one week.

Thanks much "KelliBellie" for the advice you have given. I am sure that this is going to come in very handy. I am going to look it all up later this evening.

"Afterall"...indeed ... part of the experience is finding your own experience. But, I really want to have a basic plan or a backup plan in place. I normally just wing trips. On our last trip to Hawaii we went without hotel, car reservations, etc. I dont really want to do this for this trip ;-)

So, I am up for as many ideas/suggestions as possible.

Thanks,
Bryan

roadwarrior2008

Viajero2....

Just 2 in our group (myself and my girlfriend). We are in our late 20s.

We are visiting for a week.

I hope to rent a car, unless Fodorites recommend against that.

No strict budget.... but, I am of the mindset that if we dont HAVE to spend a lot of money then why spend it if you can have a better experience for less.

I have never been to Spain before. My GF has been to Granada and Cordoba.

Food?.. heck yeah!

The ideal vacation would include ... awesome sightseeing (natural and manmade) during the days and enjoyable entertainment (like Flamenco) at night. One or two days near the beach would also be great.

Thanks so much,
Bryan

Viajero2

If I were you, I would fly into Malaga, pick car at the airport, stay in Marbella for three days, one of which would be a day trip to Granada. Then, get in the car, head up the Route of the White Towns towards Ronda. Stay overnight at Ronda. Explore (craddle of bullfighting) and head out towards Seville with stops in Arcos de la Frontera, Grazalema, and Vejer de la Frontera. Stay that night at your fancy . On to Seville, explore for a couple of days (not to miss: El Alcazar, The Cathedral, La Giralda, Barrio de Santa Cruz, Calle Las Sierpes). On coastal route to Malaga for departure flight or better yet, drop the car once in Seville at Estacion Santa Justa (STRONGLY recommend HERTZ), taxi on to Barrio de Santa Cruz for lodging-- fly back from Seville (connecting Barajas). If you drop a day from Marbella (beaches) you could have space for Cordova (fascinating sightseeing!).

With this plan I just gave you beaches, gorgeous mountain scenery, amazing towns, fascinating history! have fun!!

Molloy95

Bravo RoadWarrior2008! Your have completed your first assignment .

We were completely enchanted by Sevilla last time we were in Spain. As background, I lived in Madrid during my junior year in college (a few moons ago) and then again a couple years later teaching English. Have been back probably six times to different parts, but we always start off in Madrid for old time's sake.

We are headed there again two weeks from tomorrow (Ya hooooo!) We will spend three nights in Madrid, take the AVE (fast train) to Cordoba for the afternoon then hop back on to end up in Sevilla that night for three nights in an apartment, we'll then rent a car and drive down to Nerja on the coast(we live in Midwest, so I insist on seeing the ocean for at least one day) via Ronda, then to Granada just for a quick visit (only one night, which I know is quick) then we're driving back to Madrid for the last four nights with a day trip to Segovia during that time.

Remind us when you leave -- it's pretty soon, right? Am dashing off for an afternoon of work appointments but just caught this. I'll read the full thread see if we can't point you in the direction of some good info.

Hasta luego!

Molloy95

Okay, just did a quick glance because I couldn't stand the suspense and see that you are leaving at the end of September -- sorry about the question about travel time, I should read before I ask dumb, answered questions. I totally agree that you want your ducks in a row before you land, especially for a trip of only one week. For now, have a look at www.maribelsguides.com for a wonderful free (downloadable) guide for Sevilla. You'll get some good lodging info there.

And of course search here for other people's tips and experience!

roadwarrior2008

This is AWESOME advice "Viajero2" and "Molloy95". Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I am checking out the places that you mentioned right now.

So, I looked at the map this evening to see if I could knock out Barcelona to Seville and few cities in between in one week. I am thinking no ;-)

So, would everyone agree that if you have to choose between the Barcelona area and the Seville area ...that I should opt for Seville?

What about Madrid? It apparently is a modern larger city? Should I even try to see Madrid? Thoughts? As a comparison... in Quebec... I liked Montreal, but I wished that I had stayed in Quebec City longer as it was a little less "skyscraper" like ... with more quirky little restaurants, etc.

Thoughts??

Thanks,
Bryan

kelliebellie

Ahhh, then definitely skip Madrid and head to Seville. Madrid is great, but it is a city. Seville is adorable. It made me think of Ann Arbor. Like a college town of about 100,000 people.

I would stick to the Andalucia region.

Molloy95

I'm not a good one to ask, as I obviously love my time in Madrid. I don't find it so modern in a skyscraper way (glass and steel and all that), but with such a short time it probably makes more sense to fly in and out the south unless you want to sacrifice time in Andalucia for a peek at Madrid. If you are into art at all, Madrid has it. Do you want to spend more time in the south doing things like climbing around in the Alpujarras (south of Granada) or hanging out on a beach or maybe exploring Sevilla in some depth rather than just passing through (if you think you might spend three nights in Sevilla you should have a look at www.sevilla5.com for apartment options -- we loved the one we stayed in called Arfe.)

If you think you might want to hit Madrid on the way down (or back out) the AVE is an option (Madrid to Sevilla in something like 3 hours) but you have to ask yourself if you'd really get to experience anything in Madrid before you scoot off south.

Although I admit I pick Madrid in the Madrid-Barcelona war (for a whole bunch of reasons, many personal) I will be the first one to say that the idea of Barcelona is not a bad one -- you have a great city (architecture, great food), plus the beach is right there in the city. Other nearby beaches aren't as overgrown as the majority of the Costa del Sol in the south -- you could pop down to Sitges for a day for a smaller beach feeling (yet not small town) or rent a car and head north to craggy, covey beaches. I'm sure there's some climbing to be had outside of B if you want to get away into nature, but I'm not at all familiar with what's available or how far away it might be. Maribel has written some great info on the boards here about such things, and just about everything else in Spain.

So now, you have another big decision!!!

Since you will be flying standby, do you have any sense of whether it is harder to fly into somewhere like Malaga than Madrid or Barcelona?

dmlove

Madrid is a big city, but it's not filled with skyscrapers (except on the outskirts). Buildings are old and beautiful. The city is filled with squares and parks and statues and fountains. It just doesn't have a lot of specific tourist attractions. It's more a place to just "be" (a cafe-sitting, people-watching kind of city). We loved it, but you could do it in 2 full days (unless you like to spend many hours in museums, in which case you'd need more time).

roadwarrior2008

Thanks for your reply "DMLove", "Molloy95", "kellibelli"... Your suggestions and thoughts are very appreciated. I have busy days at work today and tomorrow, but I am going to go back and read your comments in more detail when I actually start making the reservations this weekend. Thanks again.

Also, let me ask....

--What about a rental car versus train? It looks like we will be spending time in Seville, Ronda, an undecided beach city, and possibly traveling from the airport in Madrid/Malaga/Barcelona. I need to look at standby options now that it is only a week away.

--What about the beach? Since I live in Florida I have access to pretty nice beaches, but I was hoping to have one day to run out a Spanish beach and perhaps go snorkeling. Know of any good spots. What about the islands just off the coast of southern Spain? Ever been there?

Thanks again,
Bryan

Molloy95

You will want to rent a car to get around in the south. The train is far easier and faster if you are doing Madrid-Sevilla. I think the conventional wisdom on the board is to fly to/from Barcelona from the south.

Most of the Costa del Sol is very built up. We are spending one night in Nerja, which is not so much so, but there are other places to think about (names escape me, but I believe there are places on the Costa del Luz? someone help me with this) that have excellent windsurfing. Not sure about snorkeling in that part of Spain.

It just dawned on me that you are posting on the general Europe board. You may want to post a new thread, with your basic info (# in party, dates, general ideas, and questions) with Spain as a select topic so that all the Spain experts who may only click on Spain (like I sometimes do) will see it. There are some folks with an amazing wealth on info on the Spain board -- far, far more than I can offer.