Spain Itinerary
 

We are planning to go to Spain on 1st May 2014 for 13 days. Our tentative itinerary is as follows :

1 01/5 Barcelona Thurs - Reaching at 2.30 pm
2 02/5 Barcelona Fri
3 03/5 Barcelona Sat
4 04/5 Figueres and Cadaques Sun (Train from Barcelona to Figueres and bus from Figueres to Cadaques)
5 05/5 Girona Mon (Bus from Cadaques to Girona) Returning at night to Barcelona to take morning flight to Seville
6 06/5 Seville Tues
7 07/5 Seville Wed
8 08/5 Granada Thurs Day trip from Seville
9 09/5 Cordoba Fri Day trip from Seville
10 10/5 Madrid Sat
11 11/5 Salamanca Sun Day trip from Madrid
12 12/5 Madrid Mon
13 13/5 Madrid Tues Leaving for Mumbai at 12.30 pm
14 14/5 Reaching Mumbai Wed

We are interested in sight-seeing, history and some quaint towns if possible...

Some questions on the above :
1) Should we spend more time in Barcelona ? In that case, what should we give a miss ?
2) Should we hire a car from Figueres / Cadaques to Girona / Barcelona for more flexibility ?
3) Can we drive from Seville to Madrid, seeing Toledo on the way ?
4) Should we visit Salamanca or drop it ?
5) Any other suggestions ??

Thanks,

Chandrama

Hi Chandrama,

1) I did a similar trip a few years ago, and we spent about the same amount of time in Barcelona and found it to be enough (though our interests may differ).

3) You could potentially do Toledo on the way from Seville to Madrid, though it would make for a very long day, and a very short visit. The Seville-Toledo-Madrid route will add about an hour to your travel time.

We did Cordoba on the way from Seville to Madrid, as all we wanted to see was the mosque, and found that we had enough time for a good visit. We did Toledo as a day trip from Madrid as we wanted to see more in Toledo. Depending on what you were planning to see in Toledo or Cordoba, you could fit them in.

If you are planning to see Alhambra in Granada, you may want to start looking at buying tickets as they go very fast.
As a whole, it looks like a reasonable, but busy itinerary, and you definitely picked a good time to go!

Perhaps plan for a bit more time in Córdoba, you'll be visiting during the famous patio festival: http://www.andalucia.com/cities/cordoba/festivals.htm

"Córdoba - The city that changed the world": http://www.theguardian.com/spanish-t...-changed-world

I recommend to experience real deal flamenco artists in intimate Casa de la Memória in Sevilla. Popular with tourists, but only top of the shelf artists perform here. Could be a great intro to this powerful and beautiful art so important for Sevilla and the region. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...Andalucia.html
http://www.casadelamemoria.es/

The sevillana Pastora Galván was voted best female flamenco dancer 2010 by Spanish critics, and she dances at Casa de la Memória once a week through April and perhaps also in May (the performance "Arte flamenco"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2SBUcrJgeQ

"La Choni" is also dancing here regularly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwZm...?v=mwZmwWJAg5g

So is Rafael Campallo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ_g1q47QgU

Thanks a lot ! Both your replies were very helpful !

And the Patio festival is a great tip and I would not miss it for the world !

@Will_power27 - We have been debating about Toledo / Cordoba / Salamanca / Segovia. There is just not enough time for all of them. Should we just drop Salamanca, Toledo and Segovia and stick to Cordoba ? How did you travel from Seville to Madrid via Cordoba ?

Granada is not a daytrip from Seville unless you leave VERY early in the morning. You're talking about 5.5 to 6 hours driving time round trip.

Salamanca os a long way from Madrid
Toledo or Segovia are easier day trips.

We drove from Seville to Cordoba, and spent a few hours there (I believe we saw the mosque and the Alcazar), and then carried on to Madrid. It was a very long day, but we did enjoy it.

BigRuss is correct, it is very difficult to go to Granada as a day trip from Seville. We wanted to do something similar, so we took a very early flight from Barcelona to Granada, and rented a car in Granada. We drove from Granada to Seville in the evening after seeing Alhambra and spending some time in Granada.

We went to Toledo, and Segovia as day trips from Madrid, but had more time scheduled in Madrid than you do. Based on the time you have in Madrid, I would say either do no day trips, or do only one. It is hard for me to give you advice on Segovia or Toledo, as it depends entirely on your interests... We were interested in the Aqueduct in Segovia, and the Alcazar and cathedral in Toledo. If you are interested in roman ruins Segovia is very well preserved

I must admit that this itinerary is much more rushed that I would like. It sounds to me like you will spend WAY to much time getting from place to place and way too little time seeing any of the places you will pass through.

I'm not sure that you are including the time it will take to get from place to place. As a rule, you should expect to "lose" 1/2 day each time you change locations -- time to pack/unpack, check in/out, get to/from your train/bus/whatever station (and time to get there early enough to be sure to make your connection), time to get oriented...

It obviously depends on one's interests, but FWIW, here's how I allocated my time in the places on your list that I visited: Sevilla 3.5 full days (not enough!), Granada: 2.5 days (you need at least 2 nights there to see the Alhambra properly), Madrid 4 full days, Salamanca 2 full days. I also spent 2 full days in Cordoba (the Mezquita is, truly, magnificent) and 2 full days in Toledo (incomparable), 1 full day in Segovia, etc. Granted, you might not want to spend quite so much time in any of these places, but it will (perhaps) give you a sense of just how much you are shortchanging them.

Hope that helps!

Would pick Toledo over Segovia; Cordoba 8th century Mezquite & old quarter as enchanting as Seville; can do Alhambra in one full day but you'll need at least night in Granada to do so; wished we'd had additional night in Barcelona (spent 3)and one less in Madrid (spent 4). But I was/am mesmerized by Gaudi architecture, and less by royal palaces. High speed trains took us Barcelona-Madrid-Cordoba-Seville then we rented a car for the Pueblos Blancos (Ronda), Granada, Marbella. 3 nts in Seville seemed right, favorite city of trip. We had total of 19 days. It's all about what appeals to you, but departure/arrival days are 'halved' at best as mentioned above.

Thanks :))Was really helpful. Still working on my itinerary. Looks like I have to go back to Spain another year !