Spain / Barcelona, Seville & Toledo - May 2017
 

My wife, myself and another couple are considering our travel options for next year and would like to travel to somewhere in western Europe that is fairly inexpensive all the while being beautiful and historic. We have traveled to Europe several times and are fairly comfortable traveling there.

The current plan on the table, to be voted on later this week over some wine and cheese, is as follows:

Air Canada from Toronto to Barcelona. Three nights in Barcelona.

Onward to Seville for another 3 nights.

From there to Toledo for 2 nights, followed up by one more night near the Madrid airport for a flight home.

We are limited to eight nights in Spain. We like historic sights, nice scenery, good food, good wine, a relatively relaxing pace. We also like to make our travel dollars stretch as far as possible.

Any advice on this itinerary is appreciated. I am particularly interested in travel options between cities, as we prefer not to have a rental car.

Looking forward to all replies!

Wherever you go in Spain will be wonderful. Too bad you don't have more time there, but so it goes. I would fly (Vueling) from Barcelona to Seville and then take the high speed train to Madrid. You must do this in order to go south again to Toledo. Myself, I would stay in Madrid and make Toledo a day trip. In any case, stay in Madrid rather than at the airport for your last night and be sure to get train tickets online way in advance as they are cheaper that way.

https://goo.gl/photos/JoC4VMo5qhV6sS9r5
https://goo.gl/photos/ir9BuNujWwf1vtui7
In preparation for your 2017 adventure, I thought maybe some familiarization photos could help. Also have Toledo but haven't scanned them yet. If you're there during Santa Semana Sevilla is wonderment!

stu

Fly instead of train from Barcelona to Seville. Check.

Your photos are beautiful Stu.

I am particularly interested in travel options between cities, as we prefer not to have a rental car.>

Yes Barcelona to Seville by train is just over 5 hours -simple change in Madrid- AVE trains - up to nearly 200 mph - flying would be only a bit quicker and if you book far in advance at www.renfe.com on trains you could get really cheap tickets - check

Seville to Toledo best by train of course. You actually have to go via Madrid Atocha and change there- takes just over 4 hours all together - not much more than Barcelona to Seville.

For lots of great stuff on Spanish trains check www.seat61.com - great advice on discounted tickets and alternative booking sites if the RENFE site balks as is not unusual for American users it seems; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

We have never been to Barcelona, so can't comment on the beauty, but from reading all the reviews and trip reports it goes not appear to be historic or inexpensive.

The cheapest way to travel is by rental car, also the best way to make the trip your own. With a car you can pop into places for an hour or two and still tick off the major cites.

FWIW, our 2014 Spain 8 night trip was originally planned for two nights in Oropesa, three in Seville, one in Zafra, and two near Madrid. It became one night on Oropesa, two nights in Seville, two in Merida, and three near Madrid.

Because we had a car, we were able to modify our plans and at the same enjoy other places such as; Guadalupe and its beautiful cathedral, the castle and the Roman ruins in Medelin, hile to the ruins of the castle in Alange, spend half a day in Trujillo, half a day in Toledo, a wonderful day in Siguenza (the art collection in the cathedral is beautiful) and the country side around Madrid, especially the town of Pedraza.

Not counting airfare, that week, which included three nights in paradores cost us about CDN$1600

http://www.planetware.com/tourist-at...e-extr-mer.htm

http://www.lacatedraldesiguenza.com/en/home/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLJC2LJWxGw

Thanks to both PalenQ and cdnyul for the great suggestions and tips.

Depending on what YOU want to see and experience, this could be a very rushed itinerary. By way of comparison, I wanted 6 full days in Barcelona, 3 to 4 full days in Sevilla (not counting Cordoba, which I thought worth 2 full days), and 2 full days in Toledo. Not to mention 4 full days in Madrid or time for the Alhambra. And I travel hard and solo!

That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be able to see some woncderful things, but you would have to be very selective and willing to spend a chunk of your limited travel time in transit and/or preparing for transit. I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together. You might end up deciding to cut a destination or two.... BTW, note that many things in Spain are closed on Monday, and often for all or part of Sundays too; and many things in Spain will also be closed daily for a very long mid-day break.

Good luck!

From there to Toledo for 2 nights, followed up by one more night near the Madrid airport for a flight home.>

When do you have to be at the airport- if not in the morning the train ride from Toledo to Atocha station is very quick - but I can see wanting to be at the airport the night before.