Spain advice
 

Hello,
I am planning to go to Spain for the 1st time with my husband. We are planning on going in January for 10 days. Could anyone suggest good places to go...I had Barcelona (for city and shopping) and Andalucia (for culture: bull fighting, gypsy culture and flamenco) in mind. How far is andalucia from Barelona? Is January a good month to go? Are these the ideal places to go as we have never been to spain.
Any help would be much appreciated.
We are also contemplating between morocco and spain? Cant decide...which one would be better.
Also we are total vegetarians...and I run a jewellery business ..so i was wondering tht spain would be a good place to get hold of suppliers as I have heard Barcelona is very good for Fashion jewellery.
In a fix...please advise...
thank you

Thank you for providing good information which hopefully will help provide helpful replies.

While January is not the greatest month to visit Spain, there are plenty things to do and see. I always tell Spain's first timers, to head South, Andalucia. In your particular case, Toledo is also a mandatory stop to check the damasquinado jewerly shops. Since you have 10 days, I would advice to limit your home bases to 3 max. I would not do Spain first and not bother with Morocco this time.

As far as jewerly, Barcelona is great for that, Andalucia's best jewerly is mostly religious articles; medals, etc...

In a synopsis, fly to Barcelona, train to Madrid, train to Seville, back to Madrid for departure.

oopss!....I got confusing extra words on my previous posts... "I would do Spain first and not bother with Morocco this time".

Do you eat fish? Being just a 100% vegetarian might be hard. Certainly you'll be fed but fish would help.

Blackduff

"total vegetarians" don't eat fish
;-)

If Morocco (and it would be warmer) you might want to do the three royal cities (Marrakech, Meknès and Fez). There are good train and bus connections between all of them. Count on one day of travel between Marrakech and Meknès, and one day between Fez and Marrakech (assuming that you would do a circle trip).

You're total vegetarians and you want to see a bullfight? Now I've heard it all...

FYG you don't eat the bull if you don't like it.

Moot point, no bullfights in January.

For flamenco the real scene takes place in a peña, which is unlikely to have anything going on in January as most places rest from the "resaca" of the Christmas holidays.

I'm the son of a jeweler myself, and to be honest, jewellery in Spain has never caught my eye as being a good place for supplies, Morocco is infinitely more interesting and rich in its jewellery making traditions but I like 'primitivism' more than the classical gaudy jewellery I've seen in Andalucia.

How far is Andalucia from Barcelona? Depends, Andalucia is a region with many cities and Barcelona is a city. A ViaMichelin check will give you approximations between cities.

Vegetarian in Spain and Morocco: ouch, both cuisines are heavily meat based, though I suppose Spain has woken up more to the idea that people exist who don't eat meat. You'll always be able to find options in both countries.

We did not find it a hardship at all to eat vegetarian food in Madrid. We used Time Out for restaurant recommendations. So that is one place I would start - and this web site:
http://www.happycow.net/
and click on the Restaurant Guide.

Weather is very veriable in Spain in January. I have known blizzards in Barcelona a few years back, and heavy snow on the beaches of the Costa del Sol (south) two decades ago. January is not a good month to go. Try April upto the end of November

Hopefully it will be about warm that time of year but the nights will be cold. Go inland and it will get colder. Take warm clothing and an umbrella.


Lots of tourists go to Spain in summer but in winter, many of the tourist places close down. In Spain, they drive on the right, and it seems to be rush hour all the time. Many motorways are tolled. Barcelona is an expensive city so not many bargains. Parking is a nightmare. Use a parking garage.

http://www.barcelona.world-guides.com/

If you want to get a real feel for a place, I would not advise trying to see barcelona amd andalucia on one trip, as they are at opposite ends of spain, though if you must, flying between them would give you the most time in each.
andalucia may be cold in January, or it may be pleasantly warm. we went to granada in nov last year and it was warm in the day, with cool wet evenings. To judge from the clothes in the shops, it can get quite cold in that area. Certainly there was snow on the tops of the mountains.
i have no more than passing interest in jewelry, but there were some beautiful things in the shops in granada. You could spend a wonderful 10 days in andalucia, seeing seville, ronda, granada and cordoba.
A business trip would require more specialist advice than i could possibly give you, but a few hours googling "jewelry makers in spain" couldn't hurt.
Morrocco will most probaly be warmer, but it still gets snow - there re skiing reports in the mountains there.
hope this helps!
Regards
Ann