Spain Itinerary - Comments please
Jan 10th, 2004 | 11:59 AM
#1
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Joined: Dec 2003
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Spain Itinerary - Comments please
With special thanks to Maribel, kaudrey and myer - We took all their ideas to design our initial itinerary and are now seeking input from everyone on what we put together. We'll report back after our trip especially about the hotels we've chosen. Our trip (which my wife has been waiting to take for 30 years!) is from May 21 - June 5.
We need help deciding whether to drop a day from our Madrid stay and add it to Sevilla. We're currently scheduled for five days in Madrid (including arrival day). The time includes a day trip to Toledo and a day trip to Segovia. If we drive ourselves, can we do El Escorial on the same day we do Segovia? Can we do the Prado, Thyssen, Galdiano, Reina Sofia and the Royal Palace in two days (including day of arrival) ? If the answers to the two above questions are yes, then we could drop one day in Madrid & stay longer in Sevilla. Would you recommend that?
Our current plan has us leaving Madrid on a Thursday morning, stopping in Cordoba for the day and arriving in Sevilla around 7 PM, staying the following day and evening and departing Saturday morning for Granada. Based on what I've read, one day in Sevilla is not enough. We are concerned about shortchanging ourselves on the Madrid museums.
Are we trying to jam too much in everywhere? This could be our only trip to Spain so it's really important to see the "not to be missed things".
After leaving Granada, we are spending two days doing Girona, the Dali Triangle and the Costa Brava (input on the latter three would be most appreciated) and three days in Barcelona.
By the way, the folks at Inns of Spain have been fabulous to work with on reservations in comparison to the paradors where we have had no responses to numerous emails.
Thanks to everyone. This site was great for planning our trip to Australia and New Zealand, too. Nice to know there are so many giving people out there!
SteveO
We need help deciding whether to drop a day from our Madrid stay and add it to Sevilla. We're currently scheduled for five days in Madrid (including arrival day). The time includes a day trip to Toledo and a day trip to Segovia. If we drive ourselves, can we do El Escorial on the same day we do Segovia? Can we do the Prado, Thyssen, Galdiano, Reina Sofia and the Royal Palace in two days (including day of arrival) ? If the answers to the two above questions are yes, then we could drop one day in Madrid & stay longer in Sevilla. Would you recommend that?
Our current plan has us leaving Madrid on a Thursday morning, stopping in Cordoba for the day and arriving in Sevilla around 7 PM, staying the following day and evening and departing Saturday morning for Granada. Based on what I've read, one day in Sevilla is not enough. We are concerned about shortchanging ourselves on the Madrid museums.
Are we trying to jam too much in everywhere? This could be our only trip to Spain so it's really important to see the "not to be missed things".
After leaving Granada, we are spending two days doing Girona, the Dali Triangle and the Costa Brava (input on the latter three would be most appreciated) and three days in Barcelona.
By the way, the folks at Inns of Spain have been fabulous to work with on reservations in comparison to the paradors where we have had no responses to numerous emails.
Thanks to everyone. This site was great for planning our trip to Australia and New Zealand, too. Nice to know there are so many giving people out there!
SteveO
Jan 10th, 2004 | 12:20 PM
#2
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 57,886
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I'm not a big fan of Madrid so I would remove one day and add it to Seville just to be able to enjoy the differentness of Spain more. (IMO in terms of atmosphere Madrid might just as well be Chicago or New York - another big city with a lot of tall buildings - loud, hot and dirty - without all the benefits of Chicago or New York). Seville, Granda and Cordoba are each gems - in different ways - exemplifying entirely different cultures and ways of life - much more deserving of limited travel time.
FYI we did the royal palace and the prado very easily in one day - went back to the hotel very early just because we couldn't take the heat any longer - 95 in early May.
FYI we did the royal palace and the prado very easily in one day - went back to the hotel very early just because we couldn't take the heat any longer - 95 in early May.
Jan 10th, 2004 | 01:09 PM
#3
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 161
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By all means spend more time in Seville. I agree that Madrid is nothing special compared with the rest of Spain, and Seville was by far my favorite. I feal you can do Prado etc. in the 2 days. You probably won't need a FULL day in Toledo or Segovia, if you get an early start (8 or 9am) you could concievably be back in Madrid by 4 and see something that afternoon. The Alcazar in Toldeo is currently closed long-term for renovations so less time is needed to see the sights. Right now you really only have 1 full day for Seville and that is not enough to see all and enjoy her beauty - I would sacrifice a Madrid museum any day of the week to spend more time in Seville!
Jan 10th, 2004 | 02:19 PM
#4
Joined: May 2003
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Sloreml:
Madrid has some really neat museums so before you scratch it in part go to the web sites and see if any of the exhibits are of interest to you.
The Royal Place was awesome. The people, parks and sights of Madrid are worth some time.
You have a lot of movement in your plans. If you and the wife can handle that then go for it. You are fitting alot into some of your days. I am concerned that you may not get to enjoy your dream trip.
You will be doing the "early riser-hit-the-road" thing but you may like that.
The leisurely breakfast with the people or innkeepers and the long coffee/tea and "see" are missing.
Late nights when the other magic of Spain is spun will be spent with your heads on your pillows...
Sevilla requires time but again if you see the things that you want to see then thats good.
My hubby and I went to Spain for one of our wedding anniversay celebrations.
After reading and researching and wringing my hands I told my husband that we would need to be gone for 2.5 months to do the trip "right".
After a month of rigirous "debate" he caved in, requested a one month LOA from is job and has not regretted one second of his decision.
We stayed the full 2.5 months. If you want our agenda I will share. I also have funny stories and can tell you the good, bad and ugly about every excursion, Parador, Restaurant, winery and so on so forth!
Happy Travels,
Oaktown Traveler
Madrid has some really neat museums so before you scratch it in part go to the web sites and see if any of the exhibits are of interest to you.
The Royal Place was awesome. The people, parks and sights of Madrid are worth some time.
You have a lot of movement in your plans. If you and the wife can handle that then go for it. You are fitting alot into some of your days. I am concerned that you may not get to enjoy your dream trip.
You will be doing the "early riser-hit-the-road" thing but you may like that.
The leisurely breakfast with the people or innkeepers and the long coffee/tea and "see" are missing.
Late nights when the other magic of Spain is spun will be spent with your heads on your pillows...
Sevilla requires time but again if you see the things that you want to see then thats good.
My hubby and I went to Spain for one of our wedding anniversay celebrations.
After reading and researching and wringing my hands I told my husband that we would need to be gone for 2.5 months to do the trip "right".
After a month of rigirous "debate" he caved in, requested a one month LOA from is job and has not regretted one second of his decision.
We stayed the full 2.5 months. If you want our agenda I will share. I also have funny stories and can tell you the good, bad and ugly about every excursion, Parador, Restaurant, winery and so on so forth!
Happy Travels,
Oaktown Traveler
Jan 11th, 2004 | 06:32 AM
#5
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 2,635
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sloreml writes: "Our current plan has us leaving Madrid on a Thursday morning, stopping in Cordoba for the day and arriving in Sevilla around 7 PM, staying the following day and evening and departing Saturday morning for Granada. Based on what I've read, one day in Sevilla is not enough. We are concerned about shortchanging ourselves on the Madrid museums."
I wouldn't worry about shortchanging yourselves on Madrid's museums: Days are long and the museums are open late.
But I would suggest some changes to your proposed itinerary: It's not just where you're going; it's also when you're going and what's happening. Plan on being in Sevilla or nearby May 30. That's Pentecost Sunday (and the day after is generally a holiday). But more importantly, the Romeria de la Virgen del Rocio reaches its peak that weekend: that's almost a million participants dressed in Traditional garb making a pilgrimage to el Santuario de la Virgen del Rocio in neighboring Huelva Province.
If you can get reservations in Sevilla for that weekend you should do Granada first and then come back to Sevilla.
I wouldn't worry about shortchanging yourselves on Madrid's museums: Days are long and the museums are open late.
But I would suggest some changes to your proposed itinerary: It's not just where you're going; it's also when you're going and what's happening. Plan on being in Sevilla or nearby May 30. That's Pentecost Sunday (and the day after is generally a holiday). But more importantly, the Romeria de la Virgen del Rocio reaches its peak that weekend: that's almost a million participants dressed in Traditional garb making a pilgrimage to el Santuario de la Virgen del Rocio in neighboring Huelva Province.
If you can get reservations in Sevilla for that weekend you should do Granada first and then come back to Sevilla.
Jan 12th, 2004 | 05:16 AM
#6
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 48
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Three days, including arrival day, is enough for Madrid. If you are "stopping by" Cordoba, get a good CURRENT map (I've had good luck writing to the Tourism offices) because in November the streets were all torn up and you couldn't get "there" from "here." You could easily spend several hours just driving around town lost -- we did! As to Paradors, we love them. Call Marketing Ahead in NY and they'll make all the reservations for you -- and guarantee them in dollars. I don't know where you're from (we are Floridians, hence do not gravitate towards beaches when we travel), but I would consider saving time by skipping the Costa Brava and flying from Malaga to Barcelona. It's only about an hour flight...and you won't want a car in Barcelona anyway. We have been to El Escorial twice and find it quite fascinating. We did it the first time en route from Madrid to Avila/Segovia.
Jan 14th, 2004 | 07:27 PM
#7
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Joined: Dec 2003
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Wow, I really appreciate the great information that gets passed around here. Didn't know the Alcazar was closed or that the streets in Cordoba were torn up (thanks PVB)! And, NYTraveler, I was surprised to read that it was 95 in early May in Madrid. That's a lot warmer than what we expected. Thanks, everyone, for the input.
Oaktown Traveler your trip sounds fabulous. Did you get to the parador in Aiguablava? We may stay there when we do the Dali Triangle.
Ladybug98-thanks for letting us know we won't need a full day in Segovia - at least there'll be a little breathing time on this trip!
On everyone's advice, we've dropped a day in Madrid and added it to Sevilla.
Nedsireland - Sevilla with a million people on May 30- sounds a little hectic and could be difficult seeing the sights!
Anyone have any suggestions on the Dali Triangle (Figueres, Cadaques & Pubol) & Girona - how much time to allot for each stop & favorite restaurants.
Thanks!
Oaktown Traveler your trip sounds fabulous. Did you get to the parador in Aiguablava? We may stay there when we do the Dali Triangle.
Ladybug98-thanks for letting us know we won't need a full day in Segovia - at least there'll be a little breathing time on this trip!
On everyone's advice, we've dropped a day in Madrid and added it to Sevilla.
Nedsireland - Sevilla with a million people on May 30- sounds a little hectic and could be difficult seeing the sights!
Anyone have any suggestions on the Dali Triangle (Figueres, Cadaques & Pubol) & Girona - how much time to allot for each stop & favorite restaurants.
Thanks!
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Jan 14th, 2004 | 08:54 PM
#8
Joined: Sep 2003
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The trip looks pretty good to me - but IMO, three days in Barcelona is too little. We spent four and wished we could have had several more!
We went to Figures but not the other parts of the "Dali Triangle". We spent about 2-3 hours at the Dali museum there; it was a day trip from Barcelona for us.
We went to Figures but not the other parts of the "Dali Triangle". We spent about 2-3 hours at the Dali museum there; it was a day trip from Barcelona for us.
Jan 15th, 2004 | 04:21 AM
#9
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,785
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Hi Steve,
Glad your trip plans are falling into place. I don't know how much help I was, since I haven't gone yet, but I am leaving 3 weeks from tomorrow and will be back on Feb. 21st. Look for a trip report shortly after that, if you are interested.
Just as you plan to do, I am spending 4 days in Madrid, including the arrival day, and doing day trips to Toledo and Segovia. So, I'll let you know how the 2 days in Madrid goes. But, I must warn you, I am not much of a museum person, so although I am going to the Prado and stopping in Reina Sofia to see Guernica, I probably won't go to Thyssen and will spend minimal time in museums.
In Toledo, although the Alcazar is closed, the Sinagoga del Tránsito recently reopened. Time it right so you can visit the Sinagoga in the morning and the Cathedral in the afternoon, since they have different open hours.
Karen
Glad your trip plans are falling into place. I don't know how much help I was, since I haven't gone yet, but I am leaving 3 weeks from tomorrow and will be back on Feb. 21st. Look for a trip report shortly after that, if you are interested.
Just as you plan to do, I am spending 4 days in Madrid, including the arrival day, and doing day trips to Toledo and Segovia. So, I'll let you know how the 2 days in Madrid goes. But, I must warn you, I am not much of a museum person, so although I am going to the Prado and stopping in Reina Sofia to see Guernica, I probably won't go to Thyssen and will spend minimal time in museums.
In Toledo, although the Alcazar is closed, the Sinagoga del Tránsito recently reopened. Time it right so you can visit the Sinagoga in the morning and the Cathedral in the afternoon, since they have different open hours.
Karen
Jan 15th, 2004 | 09:39 AM
#11
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 64
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My husband and I went to Spain in 2002 and spent 2 days in Sevilla and I could have definitely spent more time there! It's gorgeous! Madrid has a special place for me because that's where we got engaged, but other than that, the other posters are correct, it's just another city. Definitely spend the extra day in Sevilla!
