Spain and Lisbon Itinary - Your comments
 

We would be travelling to Spain and Lisbon in the last 2 weeks of November. Any suggestions based on your past experience are welcome. <BR>Day 1 - Arrive Madrid by noon. Sight-seeing Madrid late afternoon- evening <BR>Day 2 - Day Trip to Toledo. Back to Madrid. (Organized Tour Operator) <BR>Day 3 - Day Trip to Segovia. Back to Madrid. (Organized Tour Operator) <BR>Day 4 - Take train to Cordoba in morning. Rent Car upon arrival in Cordoba. Start for Granada. Overnight in Granada <BR>Day 5 - Sightseeing Granada. Start for Ronda in evening. Overnight Ronda <BR>Day 6 - Continue SightSeeing in Ronda till noon. Start for Seville. Reach Seville by late afternoon. <BR>Day 7 - Sightseeing Seville <BR>Day 8 - Return Rental Car. Fly Lisbon early morning. Reach late morning. Sightseeing Lisbon. Use public transportation. <BR>Day 9 - Sightseeing Lisbon contd.. <BR>Day 10- Fly back to US.

Wow, you are really trying to do a lot in a short time, but you should get a nice taste of southern Spain and Lisbon. The biggest flaws (for me, anyway) that I see are: #1: not seeing Cordoba at all. Arriving there, getting a car and immediately leaving for Granada does not give you any time to explore Cordoba's old city, its extraordinary cathedral/mosque, or any of its sights, unless you think you can work that in somehow. #2: driving to Ronda in the evening? I'm sure it gets dark pretty early in Spain in late November, and I for one would not want to drive the road to Ronda in the dark. It is a beautiful drive, but I'd sure want to do that in the daylight. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'd consider on Day 4 staying in Cordoba and leaving early on Day 5 to Granada, sightsee there most of the day and spend the night (day 5) in Granada, then leave early on day 6 for Ronda, spending several hours there and maybe having lunch, drive through Arcos and up to Seville by late afternoon. We left Seville in the morning, stopped in Arcos for about an hour, and arrived in Ronda in time for a pretty early lunch, so I would think that leaving Ronda at 2:00 would still get you to Seville by dark (or if not, not so big a thing as driving to Ronda in the dark). Ronda is mainly just a pretty and interesting place to see, but not worth a night there in your case in my opinion. We enjoyed staying at the Parador there, but there really isn't much there in the evening anyway.

I agree with Patrick; spend some time in Cordoba and don't drive to Ronda at night. The scenery is too spectacular to miss, and the roads are to wind-y to attempt in the dark. In addition, I'd recommend spending more time in Madrid, if possible. We were there for 4 nights, arrived around noon, took the Madrid Vision on/off bus tour (great orientation! Take it, if you can), and had 3 more days there, one of which was a day trip by bus (on our own) to Toledo, and another day trip was planned to El Escorial, leaving us one day (plus our arrival half-day) to explore Madrid. We soon realized that wasn't enough, so we dropped the trip to El Escorial and enjoyed more of Madrid. When in Ronda, be sure to wander around the part of town across the bridge and find the old Roman walls and the bridge. In Sevilla, I'd recommend the Hotel Simon, if you're still looking.

The Old Town of Cordoba is worth a visit ( specially the mosque ), the surroundings of Ronda, too, specially Ronda-Grazalema-Zahara. You will have a problem to connect Seville to Lisbon because there is not a direct flight among them and you will have to transfer in Madrid. So my advice is to leave Lisbon for a second time ( the outskirts of Lisbon are worth time to be visited ). <BR> <BR>Have a nice trip!

For me the Mesquita (mosque) in Cordoba was wonderful. We had a day in Lisbon before flying home and took the open top bus tour which gave us a feel of the city and took in some sights. It is a big city and unless you are adamant about going there I would rather spend more time in Andalucia and leave Lisbon for another trip. Try and book your time at the Alhambra before you arrive there so that you don't have to stand in line although November will not be as busy as summer. The drive between the towns in Andalucia tok us longer than we thought because of the winding roads climbing up and down. Also took a detour up to Zahara. It may be a thought to go to Gibraltar rather than to Lisbon. Not trying to second guess you as you have probably bought your airtickets already!! Have a good trip.

JSPMNS, my sis and I just returned from spain. We had a very similiar itinary as you and stayed 10 days as well. We based ourselves in Madrid, Seville, and Marbella(we wanted the beach and relaxation) the first couple days we spent in Madrid-sightseeing by the hop on hop off bus the first afternoon. The next day took a day trip to Toledo,El Escerol (spelling?) and the Valley of the Fallen (tour group). The second day in Madrid I really wanted to go to Segovia but since we got tickets to the bull fights late afternoon we had to forgo Segovia so we spent the day just walking around Madrid,checking out museums and the largest flea market I've ever seen (very dissapointin). We left for Seville the next day by train (OK i WILL

JSPMNS I don't know why my 1/2 my reply but heres the rest: Once in Seville we toured the sights, the next day we took a train to Cordoba, toured the Old City ( one of my favs, it only take a couple hrs you should really check it out) Picked up a car in Seville and stopped in Ronda for a couple hrs on the way to Marbella. While in Marbella we took day trips to Gibralter(1 hr away) which I loved,and to Granda (21/2 hrs away). And all I can say is I am so glad we did not stay overnight here. We still had plenty of time to sun ourselves by the pool.OUr last day wass spent flying to madrid and back. If I can help in any way just ask away. Good Luck

Just curious - why, since you obviously are able to go around on your own, are you taking organized tours to Toledo/Segovia? If it were me, I would save $$$$$ and take the train.

I just got back from Barcelona, and I would say it got dark between 6pm -7pm. Of course here in NYC it's already getting dark around 5pm. I was surprised at how warm it was - around 70-75F (it's a bit further north than NYC).

Did anyone ask when it got dark. I just got back from spain as well and where I was it didn't get dark till after 8 and the sun didn't come up till after 8 am which I thought was weird.