We are a couple in our 70s, traveling independently to Spain the last 2 weeks in October for 15 days and will use only trains/buses and one internal flight to Barcelona. We will land in Madrid, spend 4 or 5 days there with a definite side trip to Toledo. The last 5 or 6 days will be in Barcelona with a definite day trip to Gerona Figuera. What is the best way for us to do that?
In between we hope to visit Cordoba, Seville and Granada. This will be the most intense travel period in our trip. Is it doable? What sequence of cities should we plan for?
We are hoping to stay in 3 star hotels which must be very clean and well located . Our interests are museums, architecture , exploring local neighborhoods and taking in the locale"s ambience and flavor. Suggestions for hotels will be most welcome.
One last consideration is transfers from airport./train stations. Should we consider public transportation or count on cabs. We'll have one piece of luggage each plus a small carry-on.
I'm a bit hesitant that we can pull this off, since it's been about 5 years since a similar trip in Italy, which was fantastic. I guess I'm looking for moral support as well as input. Thanks.

I've never been to Spain, but I can give you "moral support"... sounds like a great trip! But you mention 7 different places for only 15 days trip, that part sound like quite a lot to me. In general terms, I use a taxi from airport and train stations, and save public transportation for when I'm not toting my suitcase along.

Thanks Suze. We won't be dragging around that much, since we will be home based for at least 10 nights. The middle piece is my concern. Will sriously consider the transportation with luggage.

4-5 days in Madrid and 5-6 days in Barcelona leaves
you with 3-4 days for : Cordoba, Seville and Granada
AVE goes from Madrid to Cordoba, a day in Cordoba, AVE to Seviille , 2-3 days in Seville , 3 hours on the bus to Granada 2 days Granada, fly to Barcelona. I am not sure you can fit it all in unless you spend less time in Madrid and Barcelona.
Spain is a wonderful and large country, you know your health and ease with coping with jet-lag, taking luggage around etc
We ( much younger) covered only Madrid, Toledo, Granada and Barcelona in about the same time.
We went to Barcelona first ( smaller than Madrid, easier to navigate) flew to Granada for 3 nights and flew to Madrid . Every time you move half a day will be lost.
many people have covered a lot in a short time, it all depends on your interest, stamina etc....

p.s.
If you decide to stay in Madrid and Barcelona 4-6 days, you may think about staying in apartments. More comfortable. not more expensive than hotels.

An apartment is definitely the way to go in Barcelona, even more so since you hope to immerse yourselves in the culture. "Three-star" quality is abundant; it's just a matter of picking the district and neighborhood. Watch out for night noise in some areas. Public transportation within the city is excellent (metro, bus, even taxi) so as long as you are convenient to a metro stop you can easily reach the Gaudi sites, museums etc., although you should still be prepared to walk.
We took a cab to and from the airport, only about 20 euro and quicker than other options.

"definite day trip to Gerona Figuera."

If you are planning to do both Girona and Figueres in one day, that would be a mistake. I can't speak for Figueres since I haven't been there, but Girona is a full day by itself.

Besides Madrid and Barcelona your trip gets quite hectic.

Thanks rbartizek and damon. We'll definitely consider apartments in Barcelona.


Beebs: You are the first person I know of who has gone to Gerona and I appreciate your recommendation of a full day there. I'll research Figueres some more and decide if I want to go there another day.


Aduchamp1: I know it's hectic. Just not sure what to eliminate. We have great interest in Cordoba and Seville. Unfortunately, any Cordoba sites are closed on Monday which is a travel day for us to either Seville or Granada, so all options are still in the table. We'll limit our overnights to the two cities, in which order to be decided . I don't know if I could bring myself to eliminate one ; that would be the Alhambra. Thanks.


Anyone: Is the bus or train preferable transportation between Granada and Seville?

Sorry I don't understand the "for seniors" reference - it's a bit like asking "what do women want?"
Jess

I would absolutely not eliminate Alhambra, the highlight of a trip to Southern Spain. I have to bluntly say you are cramming too much into this trip. You aren't considering that you'll spend more than half a day checking out of hotel, getting to train station to go South, train travel, etc. My very fit husband is 68, and he'd run away at a train station somewhere if I planned your itinerary for us. You'll see a lot, but not relax and enjoy the ambiance.
You will arrive in Madrid after an overnight flight, ready to have a light schedule your first day.
Our first trip to Spain we covered Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Seville and Cordoba in 2 weeks. Another 2 week trip took us to Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Salamanca, Avila, Chinchon and Cuenca, all very short drives. On a third trip we included 5 days in Barcelona, a beautiful city that deserves leisurely walks to enjoy the architecture, and days to cover the incredible museums.
If you can get rooms at the Paradores with a senior discount, you will be pleased in Granada.

Whether it is doable or not is a function of how much you plan to do at each location and your ability to move around.

The simple math is that if you try to do four days worth of activities in three days, it is not doable, but if you only do less than a day worth of activities in one day, it is doable. You decide what is important to you.

Your itinerary covers typical destinations. The key itinerary issues for this type of routing are 1) how to get to Barcelona 2) how to enter and exit Granada, 3) what you do about Cordoba.

Granada is an end-of-line type of location when approached by ground when you are not going further south. One way to solve this is to fly Granada-Barcelona. It addresses two time consuming issues mentioned previously.

Cordoba would be an easy day trip from Sevilla.

Aleta: Thanks for your input. We are seriously reconsidering our itinerary, which now allows us 15 full days.


Greg: Your math is right on in the way we tend to travel, few daily activities with the rest unfolding. That said, we do have specific sites we wish to explore. We are flying to Barcelona and doing a day trip to Cordoba from Seville. Given my personal priorities, we'll plan on only seeing the Alhambra in Granada. Further exploration will be on a future trip, if we are lucky. Thanks for your advice.

Does anyone have any info on the availability of taxis from the Granada bus station?

Girona is on the same train line as Figueres -some people go to both in one day , we found going to Girona enough traveling for one day.
The old town is about 20-25 minutes walk from the train station.
Vueling has cheap flights from Barcelona to Seville and Barcelona Granada..

There is a line of taxis waiting at the Granada train station, so no worries there. The Alhambra is a must see. Also, if you can swing the expense, the Parador de San Francisco is actually on the Alhambra grounds. It's the most popular of all of the Paradors in Spain. I think we paid $350 EUR for the night, but it was worth it.

If you're interested, you need to reserve well in advance. It's literally a 5 minute walk from the hotel front door to the entrance at Charles V palace.

http://www.paradores-spain.com/spain/pgranada.html

Enjoy!

nans, my very fit 69 year old husband and I were in Spain from April 21 to April 30. We landed @ 9am in Madrid (4/21), rented a car at the airport and drove to Segovia. Two days later we drove to Toledo. Two days later drove to Jaen, and from Jaen we went to Cordoba one day and Granada the next. Then we took the AVE to Madrid (from Cordoba) and had a fabulous 2 and a half days there before flying back to NY (4/30).

Your trip is absolutely doable. No, you will not have enough time in one day to see all of Granada, or all of Cordoba (or any city in the world, for that matter). But you will be able to visit the Alhambra and the Generalife in one day (just book your tickets on-line now so you will be assured entry), in about 5 hrs really, time left over for a bit more exploring if you start early in the day . You will be able to see old Cordoba, the mosque, and Medina, all in one day.

All I can say is that we did visit all those cities (and a few more along the way), got the flavor of each and every one of them in only 9 days. Your extra 5 or 6 will certainly allow enough time to include Barcelona, which we did not visit this time.

I agree with danon: it depends on your interests and stamina ... Have a wonderful vacation!

Thank you so very much for your very positive encouragement. You caught the essence of our goals. Some stops are done just to see specific sites. Others allow for additional experiences. I know we'll be fine. Thanks again.

I must tell you: even though we (I) planned the itenerary, what we enjoyed the most was one the stops we made along the way: when driving from Toledo to Jaen we stopped in Consuegra - unforgetable ...

I know it's been a while since this thread was written, but where did you stop in Consuegra? or in Jaen? We, too, are driving from Madrid south to Malaga and are planning on stopping at least once on this journey.

Consuegra - the windmills. Unlike anything, anywhere. We just drove up the winding road, parked wherever we found a spot and paid to get into the amazing ....hmm ... castle? fortress? Loved it. One of the pictures I took is now one of my favorite "screensavers".

Jaen - we stayed at the Parador. Gorgeous. Modern facility but old-looking, nasty uphill drive, views are incredible, felt like Heidi!
Goats, jagged mountain scenery, castle-like setting. Great. But, food in the Parador - lousy (in our opinion, service in the restaurant was sub-par and menu was not enticing at all). We ended up ordering room service (sandwiches) more often than we'd ever done before. (and we travel a lot).