Spain itinerary for a 5 week trip?
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to Spain for either next Sept or the following spring. We have about 5 weeks and are trying to work out a route. We prefer basing ourselves in an apartment/house and doing day trips as much as possible, with rental car or trains. After a lot of research, I have come up with a possible plan and would like some input as to whether this sounds like a good routing, or is there a possible better way to see all that we want to see?
Fly into Barcelona....5 nights (day trip to Montserrat)
Train to San Sebastian.....5 nights (day trip to St Jean de Luz)
Train to Madrid.........5 nights (day trip to Segovia, Avila, El Escorial..1 day car)
Train to Toledo.....2 nights
Rental car to Granada.....3 nights
Rental car to either Ronda or Arcos.....6-7 nights (day tripping to other villages)
Rental car to Seville .........6 nights (drop rental car BEFORE entering Seville!)
Train to Cordoba.........2 nights
Train to Madrid........1 night Fly home from Madrid

We are trying to avoid backtracking and we do like the freedom of driving when feasible. I'm not sure that the time allotted in each place is good...may need to subtract or add a day here or there. Any suggestions? Thanks for all input.

That is awfully long time for Ronda and Arcos. While Ronda is worthwhile it is not a good place as a base.

You did not allow much time for Madrid itself and unless you want to do some roaming, a car is not necessary to see those places as the trains and buses are very good.

Cars are burden and unnecessary in many Spanish towns and almost all cities.

Agree, WAY too much time in Ronda. From Granada you could drive to the Alpujarra on the way to Malaga and then on to Ronda for ONE (1) night ! If you need more locations, consider Casares, Merida, Salamanca, and Santiago. Avila is a driveby.

At some point I would definitely spend some time on the Almeria coast area and enjoy the natural park Cabo de Gata.

http://www.degata.com/eng/

The area around Nerja is also lovely..

Thank you!! Is it too much time in Ronda if we are driving out most days to explore other towns? Would Arcos be a better base? We are looking for a base to visit several of the white villages and also to have some downtime,just absorbing the ambiance!! Two of our favorite European trips involved staying in a house in a small Tuscan village for a week and visiting other hill villages each day, and in Provence, a week in a tiny village (Isle sur la Sorgue) and, again, exploring more of Provence. We were attempting to replicate those wonderful times!! Do you have another thought for a weeklong base? Madrid doesn't have any more time allotted because we don't really enjoy BIG cities as much as smaller ones. WE originally had thought of basing in Nerja for the white villages...would that be a better place than Ronda or Arcos? I will look into the Almeria Coast area. We really don't want to be moving every night...much prefer at least 2-3 nights in each place.

I think your allocation of time for most places is GREAT!

I would also find 6 or 7 nights WAY too much for Ronda, and I'm not sure that there are enough differences among the White Towns to justify the time even if you are using it as a base. YMMV.

I second the recommendation for delightful Salamanca, which is easily worth 2 days IMO.

You might wait until you reach Granada to pick up your rental car.

Should be a great trip!

Agree that 6 or 7 days seems like way too much for the white towns.

What we enjoyed much more were Cadiz and Jerez - where you could spend several days exploring the towns and do some sherry tasting (one of my favorite drinks - fino in the summer and amontillado in cold weather).

Also you don't have much time in the center. We visited Merida on the way from Lisbon to Seville and were only able to spend the afternoon. Would have loved to spend several days and fully explore the glorious roman ruins as well as the rest of the city.

Thank you all! nytraveler, would you think that either Cadiz or Jerez would be a good base for 3-4 days, and Ronda for 3-4 days? And, yes, we probably do need to add some time around Merida and Salamanca, and Casares is one of the pueblo blancos that we were planning to visit. Sounds like we need to do some "rearranging" of the middle portion of our trip!

Oops, sorry. Casares is a typo on my part. The town you want to see is CACERES, between Merida and Salamanca.

<WE originally had thought of basing in Nerja for the white villages>

Nerja could be a good option, but from what you have said, I think Antequera - the so called heart of Andalucia - would be the ideal base for you. Great little town in itself with tons of history. Genuine Andaluciasn atmosphere, way off the tourist track and white towns all around. http://www.andaluciacoastandcountry....era-spain.html

Lovely, little Archidona is for example only ten miles from Antequera: http://www.andalucia.com/province/ma...idona/home.htm

Alora is "next door": http://www.andalucia.com/province/malaga/alora/home.htm

So is Ardales: http://www.andalucia.com/province/ma...dales/home.htm

Alhama de Granada is also within easy reach from Antequera: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...d-of-town.html

And Ronda is an hour drive or so away.

Thank you, kimhe! We will look into Antequera as a base. The surrounding villages look interesting, as well. Would 7 nights in Antequera be too much, do you think? Ronda looks larger, and most respondents to this post thought 7 days was too long there. We are now thinking of maybe 4 nights in Ronda or Antequera and 3 nights in Arcos or Cadiz. Or maybe just adding a couple of nights to the 5 in Seville. Not sure how to add anything in the center, like Salamanca or Merida, and still allow enough time at the other places. Five weeks sounds like a lot of time, but Spain has so much to see!!! thout

I would think about adding a stay for 4-5 days in rural Catalonia, north of Barcelona. We spent a month in that area, rented farmhouses in tiny villages and did day trips to Figueras and Girona and also a week in Cadaquez (the Dali triangle). The vibe there is more like Tuscany or Provence, with more to explore than around the white villages.

Then you could still have 3 days in Ronda (which I don't think is too much) and perhaps shorten your time by a few days in Sevilla.

crosscheck, we had not considered that!! Sounds like that might be great!! I had read your posts about staying in Ronda vs Vejer and was following that. (Also saw where you were in Prague..we were there in April...loved it!!) Do you have names of where you stayed in rural Catalonia? If we were staying in rural Catalonia, we probably wouldn't need a full 5 days in San Sebastian, since that was to experience the Basque culture. Plus with only 3 days in Ronda, we would have 4 days left (or something like that!) I'll do some research for that area, but would love some input from you or anyone else. (May need to post a new topic!!)

<If we were staying in rural Catalonia, we probably wouldn't need a full 5 days in San Sebastian, since that was to experience the Basque culture.>

Rural Catalunya is a world apart from Basque culture and plain fantastic San Sebastian.

And more than plenty to explore around the white villages. All of Andalucia is 3000 years of Phoenician, Roman, Christian, Jewish, Moslem and Gitano history and culture hand in hand with the modern world. The region is an adventure for a lifetime if you scratch the surface.

I think Antequera would be a perfect base for 7 days, especially if you plan going for some day-trips. Larger than Ronda and much less tourists. Here you'll find dolmens (some 5000 years old burial chambers), Roman baths, a Moorish Castle, Gothic churches, Renaissance fountains and Baroque bell towers. Antequera was the first of the Granada emirate towns to fall to the Christians in 1410.

Antequera is surrounded by great landscapes (for exampel the spectacular Torcal) and white villages, and it's a short drive to wonderful cities such as Malaga by the Med in 30 mins and Granada with the Alhambra in one hour.

I love the terrace in the corner of the peaceful square in front of the Real Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, the first partly Renaissance-style church in Spain (built 1514-1550). Up here it's totally peace and quiet. Next to the recently excavated Roman baths beneath and looking up on the 13th century Moorish alcazaba/fortress. Great views over unique landscapes (the spectacular Torcal limestone mountain etc.). http://www.wild-about-travel.com/201...ing-antequera/

Yes,kimhe...as soon as I sent that reply, I realized that I was off base with my remark!! We are back to our original 7 day white village base plan...Antequera looks really intriguing so I will look into that. Accomodations look a bit sparse there from my initial, brief research, but I will check further....any recommendations? Neither of us was willing to give up our 5 days in San Sebastian anyway!!! Although from Barcelona, we are planning to take a day trip to rural Catalunya. That will have to suffice. The Andulucia area is calling us!!! Too much to see, not enough time, as always!!! Glad you verified that 7 days is not too long...it does seem like it would suit our purpose!!

Yes, Basque and Catalonia are two different animals.

On that 5-week trip we spent a week each in Barcelona and Cadaquez - from there went to El Bulli and met Fernan Adria. We divided the rest of the time between two farmhouses rented through villasbarcelona.com - one in Orfes (near Lake Banyoles) and one in Agillana (in the Pyrenees, near the French border). We did day trips to Girona, Figueras (Dali museum), Pubol (Gala's castle), Besalu (perfectly preserved medieval village), Ceret, France, small Costa Brava beaches, plus hiking in Olot, an extinct volcano.

If you get an early start on your Catalonia day trip, you could do Girona/Figueras/Besalu in one day. We absolutely loved that area and dreamed about getting our own farmhouse to restore. Andalucia is fabulous as well, but much more on the beaten track.

Thank you for the further details, crosscheck! I will look into us adding that area...at this rate, we will end up with a 6-7 week trip (which is fine by me!!)but it all looks so fabulous that I want to see it all!! (That's nothing new..I always feel like that when embarking on a new adventure!!)