Spain Itinerary Advice
 

Hello fellow travel enthusiasts. My husband and I are planning a trip to Spain for Christmas this year. Here is some information about us - we will be 56 & 59 years old, we are fairly experienced travelers and do all of our own planning, making reservations, etc. We enjoy art/museums, architecture, history, dining, exploring old castles/fortifications, and generally strolling through scenic towns and cities.

We have never been to Spain, and think it would be a great place to go in December since it won’t be hot (we would wilt in the summer heat). We are from the Seattle area, so we think temperatures in the 50s & 60s Fahrenheit are perfect for touring.

Here is what we have sketched out for an itinerary so far. We value your advice.

Day1: Fly from SEA > BCN (Christmas Day)
Day 2: Arrive in Barcelona
Day 3: Barcelona
Day 4: Barcelona
Day 5: Barcelona
Day 6: Take train to Granada
Day 7: Granada (visit Alhambra)
Day 8: Granada (New Year’s Day)
Day 9: pick up rental car, drive to Malaga
Day 10: Malaga
Day 11: Malaga
Day 12: Drive to Ronda
Day 13: Ronda
Day 14: Drive to Gibraltar, afternoon in Gibraltar, then drive to Seville, return car
Day 15: Seville
Day 16: Seville
Day 17: Seville
Day 18: Take train to Cordoba
Day 19: Cordoba
Day 20: Take train to Madrid
Day 21: Madrid
Day 22: Madrid
Day 23: Fly home

Question 1: If we plan to do a day trip from Madrid to Toledo, should we take a day from Seville and add it to Madrid?

Question 2: I booked a hotel in Barcelona, the Claris Hotel & Spa, and requested a room with a queen bed arrangement. They sent me an email that read, “We took note of your request for a double bed in your reservation. However, let us inform you that we are not able to confirm in until check-in time since this is upon availability.”
Huh? Should I change hotels? I’ve never received a notification from a hotel like that. DH is 6’3” and really prefers a larger bed.

Thank you in advance for your insights and expertise.

I think your plan sounds fine. Of course, it's always be nice to have longer in each place but that's rarely possible. We travelled in Spain (mostly Andalucia) in December and loved it.

As to whether to take time from Seville, that's such a personal decision. For me, I love Seville and I'm not very interested in visiting Gibraltar so I'd ditch that in favour of Toledo/Madrid. Even though we enjoyed our couple of days in Malaga, I'd even consider dropping it from your itinerary and spend that time in places you've already chosen. There are fairly frequent buses from Granada to Malaga if you prefer to just travel directly there. In fact you could do the whole of your itinerary by train/bus if you wanted to.

I'm not sure about the bed issue. I'm pretty sure a double bed is the same length as a queen (but not as wide). If you think they might give you twin beds and that's not suitable for you, then perhaps reconsider your choice.

I don't know where you come from. But a Queen sized bed in the US is a King in the UK and possibly the same in Spain. So use dimensions but in metres.

Don't be surprised if a hotel cannot confirm you bed size until you get there. If you don't like it I'd write again saying the booking is conditional on the bed, if they still will not confirm find another hotel.

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Our trip to Spain in 2006 was remarkably similar to what you are planning to do. The itinerary sequence you have sketched out worked well for us. Our trip was a week shorter and we did not go to Malaga but we did daytrip to Toledo. You may have already seen it but I have posted a brief trip report with a few details and a link to some pictures. It was our first and only trip to Spain and we had a great time.

john183 That was a good trip report. I don’t blame you a bit for having breakfast at Starbucks. Sometimes you just want something familiar. It
I ended up canceling that hotel reservation.

I can speak only for Madrid and wanted 5 days there. My TR is about Madrid and London. Look for maitaitom's Spain TR also.

I topped my TR...go to entry #96 to start Madrid!

I agree with Dreamon about ditching Gibraltar in order to visit Toledo. I would not decrease my time in Seville. It's such a beautiful city with many gorgeous historical and cultural sites. We also loved Malaga; spent 2 nights there, so I would not delete Malaga from your itinerary. The Malaga city center is beautiful, and we loved the cathedral, the Alcazaba, the Castillo de Gibralfaro, Picasso Museum and strolling along the waterfront. There are many more museums, too. We really enjoyed Malaga and think it's an under-rated city.

Do you have good guidebooks? I used Lonely Planet, Michelin Green Guide and Rick Steves.

If you wish, you can click on my name to read my trip report from September 2017. We visited Barcelona on a separate trip. I wrote a trip report for that trip and I think the date is October 2010.

My husband really wants to see Gibraltar, so we are going to keep that on the itinerary. Yes, we have guidebooks and are looking at all the things to do in each location. My husband prefers small towns and countryside, I prefer cities, so we have to strike a balance on our trips.

we can actually take a late-afternoon flight from Barcelona to Granada, so that gives us a little extra time in Barcelona. And I read Maitaitom’s trip report. The stayed just one night in Cordoba. If we do that, then we can get 4 days in Madrid, which I think is about right for us.

I really enjoyed our daytrip to Gibraltar (we were basing in Marbella at the time). If you click on my name, you can find a link to my Spain trip report in the profile, complete with pictures from our Gibraltar outing. I think your plan looks pretty good.

Popping back to ask another question. Should we stay five nights in Seville and do Cordoba as a day trip, or should we pack our bags and stay 1 night in Cordoba (4 nights in Seville)?
We don’t like to move around any more than necessary since it burns valuable time.

We will be there in January 2022.

I don't think there is a clear winner so either would be okay.

If you go as a day trip, you could leave your hotel very early in the day and return as late as possible, giving you the whole day, having breakfast in Cordoba and tapas in the evening before taking the last train of the day back to Seville. You don't have to worry about finding your hotel and checking in. It might cost more as you have to pay for a return ticket. I wouldn't do a day trip unless you can make a full day of it.

If you go and stay just one night, you may have to fit within hotel checkin times (although most places will take your luggage) but you potentially can stay longer and therefore see more, depending on your travel times. And, as you say, moving hotels can burn time. One thing to consider is how far your hotels in Seville and Cordoba are from the train station.

I recommend 4 nights In Seville & one night on cordoba. Actually I will recommend 2 nights in Córdoba if you can add an extra night to your trip. We loved cordoba & there is so much more to see than just the mezquita.

you can click on my name to read my trip report from 2017.

i’m going to take the over position to KarenWoo’s under and recommend 5 nights in Sevilla. It is my favorite city in Spain and I would say is what North Americans think of when they think of Spain. Yes, ai was there for Semana Santa which added to the allure but I still would have loved it even without the pageantry. To this day, it’s still one of my 5 favorite cities in the world I’ve visited.

I did Cordoba as a day trip from Sevilla and was fine with that. I loved the Cattedrale/Mezquitta but don’t remember much else about it.

in the end, as kja used to say, there are no bad decisions, only tough ones.

Ask 10 Fodorites and you'll get 10 opinions. Like KarenWoo, I really enjoyed Cordoba. We stayed one night and wished we had stayed at least one more night. Four nights in Sevilla seemed just right to us.

We also stayed two nights in Córdoba and were happy for it, there’s more to the city than just the Mesquita. We spent four nights in Sevilla, but this was mid March of last year when things were hotting up and except for Day 1 we couldn’t really do or see very much, though we walked around a lot. In the end we were just lucky to get out on one of the last flights before the borders were closed!

Absolutely true that if you ask 10 people you'll get 10 opinions. I agree with others that more time in Cordoba would be great. If it were my holiday, even though we really enjoyed our short stay in Malaga, I would ditch Malaga from your itinerary and add time to your other destinations. That's not to say anything bad about Malaga but I would choose longer in your other places over it, especially as it's out of your way.

You mentioned Toledo almost in passing as a day trip from Madrid. Personally, I find Toledo to be one of the most beautiful and interesting places I have been, but not very satisfying as a day trip. The cathedral is magnificent and an overnight is magical. However, in winter, it might be really cold. Madrid will be also, being the highest capital city in Europe.