I'm booking a trip to spain tomorrow- i never things this much to the last minute but i initially was looking into greek islands and then rome and the amalfi coast or tuscany (just to give you an idea what we like) but realized that neither were a good time in october.

So i've been doing my research this week and i'm only 3 weeks out and prices are going. Spain is on the list of place my husband and i have wanted to go to- mainly we wanted a few days in Barcelona and then we really thought we'd go to costa del sol or costa de luz. When we realized the weather isn't "beachy" i revised again. We didn't intend to go to madrid this trip but it seems like it's necessary and maybe we should at least see a little. We really like the beach, hiking, and more scenic drives, wineries (our last trip was to costa rica)we like to do a lot- i'm afraid this trip is to city- musuem oriented and I'm afraid i'll lose my husband halfway through. The only reason we were thinking about going to madrid was for a futbol game the last night. This is what i have:

10/6 Fly to Spain
10/7 Barcelona
10/8 Barcelona
10/9 Montserrat fly to Granada
10/10 Granada
10/11 Costa Del Sol- Malaga/Maragbella
10/12 White Village Tour Ronda- Arcos de la Frontera - hiking- Jerez
10/13 Seville- tour- flamenco
10/14 Cordova Madrid
10/15 Madrid
10/16 FLY HOME

I'm happy with time amount in barcelona. These are some of my questions:

1. What are your thoughts on montserrat- is it worth the day for that since it doesn't seem to be a full day there- is it possible to go to the wineries in Sant Sadurni in the same day or what else would you recommend in the area?
2. Are futbol games usually this expensive- tickets were at least $100E and they are terrible seats- any ideas on getting good seats/prices- we may otherwise go to a game in barcelona
3. I was shocked at the prices of flights to granada - we'll have to do barcelona to granada- it looks like the are over $200 each- can you get tickets while you are there- any tips- we were looking at $200 for one way
4. Since weather won't be that warm- is it worth going to costa del sol or are we better having a day after doing the white village tour and going to cadiz & maybe driving down a bit in costa de luz
5. how is driving in andaluscia- i checked on some driving sites and it says most rides are only an hour or 2- is this right- or am i not alloting enought time?
6. White village tour day- do i have enough time and to do a late tasting in jerez while maybe doing a hike - either in el bosque-benamahoma trail along rio majaceti or in Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema- can we do both - or which should we choose
7. In cordova - we'll have our bags- are there lockers to leave them in the train station- en route between madrid and sevilla.

Any suggestions would be appreciated- we are probably going to book through delta vacations- best prices for this late date- with a few hotels- any recommendations for booking sites for hotels. THANKS!

Well, you're trying to do Andalusia and the Costa del Sol in 4 days - when you need 7 or 8 minimum - 10 would be better.

While it is true that many of these places are only an hour or two apart - you're not allowing time to find and check in and out of hotels, finding a place to park the car in each town, become oriented, etc. and actually see/do anything. So - in effect you may have only a couple of hours in Marbella, Arcos, Jerez or Seville.

And you won;t have any time in Cordoba - assuming you mean to drive from Seville to there in the am (2 hours) and then on to Madrid in the afternoon (about 5 hours). Or - if you're driving there the evening beofre you'll only have aoubt 4 hours in Seville - which deserves 3 days at a minimum.

You are trying to see way too many places and checking in and out of way too many hotels.

We covered les territory than you are in 3 weeks and felt we didn;t have enogh time anywhere.

Plus - if you run into any problems - bad weather on flights, road construction etc - your schedule will be useless.

You really have only 9 days in the ground - so I would suggeest you do either Barcelona and Madrid or Andalusia - certainly not both.

Have you checked all the airlines in Spain for your Granada flight?

Since you say you like hiking and scenery, I'd keep Montserrat in your plans. But I think I would be tempted to stay within Catalonia until the 13th, enjoying the hikes and scenery in the Pyrenees foothills, and getting to the best of the Costa Brava's fishing villages if the weather is nice. And enjoying the great food and wine.

On the 13th, I'd fly to Granada for two days. Then fly to Madrid for the futball game. (Sounds like a great way to experience Madrid.)

If you want head into Andalucia, I'd keep Granada, some small towns and Cordoba, but skip Sevilla.

There are no painless choices when it comes to eliminating something, but if you are really more interested in small towns, wine and gorgeous scenery than you are in touring museums and monuments, Spain's got lots of it of wonderful outdoor venues. Don't spend what little time you have trying to do the standard tour.

By the way, I've never been in the area of Tarragona, but I've heard it is one of Spain's best wine regions.

You are giving me a lot to think about- with little time to decide. In October- do you think i need to book hotels in advance- i'm now thinking maybe we just play it by ear once we get down south and go as far as we wish each day staying longer and skipping places if we are enjoying a place- but i don't want to spend all day looking for hotels. Is parking that tough in the small towns?

I planned to take the AVE train once we hit seville and get rid of the car- it seemd by the fast train that we'd be able to get to cordoba for a few hours and then move on to madrid later on- and having a nice dinner and the last day there to walk around hit a museum or two. Not an all encompassing tour- but it's our first try there. It is so hard to eliminate but i think you are right i am trying to do too much.

Also, thoughts of cadiz v. costa del sol for this time of year- i didn't plan more than a day there (originally i was just going to go there for a few days) b/c since it's not weather to lay on the beach- there doesn't seem much to do- i just thought we'd walk on the beach and relax that day.

We did try a lot of flights- spanair, aireruopa, iberia- the only cheap one was a 6 a.m. flight w/vueling and it appears to be the only flight. Is it cheaper when you get to spain- can you book flights there or am i chancing it again. I really appreciate the advice.

Others will weigh in, I hope, but I think the internet air fares you see are the cheapest deals, and you could risk losing them entirely if you wait until you are in Spain to book.

Have you checked the possibility of flying from Barcelona through Madrid to Granada? Or, fly from Barcelona to Sevilla and do your route backward, leaving Granada as your last stop before returning to Madrid?

As for hotels, I don't think winging it is a problem, so long as you do not set your heart on staying in paradors or hotels in historic buildings.

I still think you are trying to pack in too much. You are underestimating how tiring it will be to drive and how often you will get lost, and what it takes to get oriented every time you visit a new town and start looking around.

Please remember too that Spain is not like the US with regards to food and services. Apart from Barcelona, which has something of a fast food culture available, places serving food observe very strict opening hours, followed by a long afternoon closing period in which almost all other shops and attractions close at well.

Spain is a bigger country than you are imagining it to be. Even the Alhambra is bigger than you are probably imagining. If you go to the Alhambra, be sure to go at nighttime as well as in the morning to see the gardens.

However, I still think it makes sense for you to consider skipping Andalucia in this trip and exploring the small towns of either Catalonia or Tarragona before heading to Madrid. Consider visting Girona and hiking in the lower Pyrenees.

PS: Or consider eliminating Barcelona.

You might look at www.maribelsguides.com
and see what appeals to you. Been to Spain twice and never had a problem getting a hotel (on the first trip a companion had insisted on an advance reservation in Madrid for an American branded hotel on the first night which proved to be a waste of money as better and cheaper accomodations were everywhere for the asking). You can check out the links for Spanish hotels/hostals available at
www.madridman.com
Hostals usually don't offer all the services of a hotel but can be clean, comfortable, safe and at least in downtown Madrid everywhere.
Places to go: Never been to Barcelona so can't speak to that point but you might consider the Costa Brava area above Barcelona. Another guide to Spain and I'm sure you've seen many is at
www.spain-info.com
I wholeheartedly endorse going to Granada. I found the Alhambra just magical. I also found Spain an easy country to drive (just be careful about getting into small, old city streets; it's best park a car and explore without it). In the Madrid area consider seeing Toledo, Segovia and El Escorial. You can pick and choose how many of the historical sites you want to see but all of the above are worth the time. If I could only see one historical site I would try to work in Granada's Alhambra. Another guide to look at is at: www.travelinginspain.com
Maybe taking a hunk of your trip time and just driving around Spain and stop where you find it appealing might be a good idea. You might be spending the night more in smaller town/cities but that can be a good thing. I had a wonderful night in a hotel alongside the Mediterranean in a town of maybe a thousand people. Terrific seafood meal in a restaurant where my companion and myself were the only tourists and then took an after dinner walk by the sea where we were only two people out.

Futball? Does it have to Madrid? I would imagine there would be smaller cities/towns with games with nearly the same flavor as Madrid. One one trip driving back to Madrid I stopped for a picnic on a hill covered with windmills and a castle (the site was later used by Nissan for a car commercial) overlooking the town of Consuegra. My companion spotted a large and busy stadium in the town and thought it was a bull fight and asked to check it out. On arriving at the stadium she asked if she could go in for a minute to look and they let her but it turned out to be a soccer game with everyone, it appeared, for miles and miles in attendence. Anyway, just a thought you might find a less expensive game elsewhere. If you do go to the game in Madrid make certain to see the downtown area, the Gran Via I think is the main street, after dark. Many cities are prettier by night but I thought Madrid, at least in that area, exceptionally pretty at night.

have a great trip.

Ok- i just booked the trip- what a nightmare- the prices changed several times this morning- only for the worse and i lost my vacation package w/hotels w/delta b/c they sold out of my air i wanted. But finally i'm booked- i could only fly into barcelona - out of madrid flights so that has to be the final. I have really learned not to wait till the last minute. i almost gave up.

Floydvic- I have looked at those guides- love maribels- i think that's what confused me thinking i need to see more- everything sounds great.

I'm going to give it some thought as to where to book once we leave Barcelona. I may just plan on getting to madrid the day we leave- for the game. My husband really wanted to go to a big game - he's a big sports fan- and beckam plays for madrid.

Great idea about going through madrid for flights. I may even look at flying to malaga and driving. If we go through granada- we'll just wait to pick up the car till we leave.


A few more questions- montserrat- is there anything else we can do while we are out there if we want to make a day of it- by train is the champagne wineries near there. Is there hiking near there.

Taking the train to Cordova- can we leave bags in the train station or anywhere while we tour if we aren't staying.

I was disappointed the Parador in Granada was booked- though not a surprise- is there any other i should really think about doing- i was thinking maybe near malaga- i saw there was one there. If you were doing one- which would you go to.

Also for the one night- should we go to malaga v. cadiz for october weather???? THANKS

In lieu of the parador in Granada, see if there is availability at the Hotel America. And if that doesn't work, book elsewhere in Granada, but keep inquiring at both hotels up until you leave. Sometimes there are cancellations.

I don't know if you booked your internal Spain travel yet, but I'll share a tip I discovered when booking last month.

When checking for cheapest flights on Iberia, you need to put into the website that you are in Spain. If you look only through the booking engines such as Travelocity or you put in that you are in the US on the Iberia site, you will not be shown the web special fares.

I was looking at one-way Alicante to Madrid and being quoted $200 on the sites, then changed to Iberia-Spain and was given the web specials and booked for around 40 Euros. Worked out fine.

Some thoughts which might help

The trains are pretty good on time tables.
In the south and madrid they keep spanish time (long siesta and eat late)
In the north in the winter they move gradually to a shorter day. You need to plan your day around the same ideas or else you will be out of phase.

Cordoba and Seville need at least half a day each even to be able run in, photo, run out.

Barcelona is by the penedes so if wine is your thing then visit Torres or the various Cava houses.

October no need to book hotels but note that some smaller ones may close

Thanks for the advice- i still haven't booked all the hotels yet- i know we are trying to do too much so right now we just have the three nights booked in barcelona and one in granada. Right now the plan is just winging it driving for the rest and seeing where we end up till flying out of madrid. I've been going back and forth for days and looking at hotels but i just can't commit and it's been stressing me out- i had a computer crash and lost my initial research. I am usually very efficient. i did get a cheaper flight on iberia after some of the helpful hints on these boards.

Thanks for the advice on siesta- i am trying to be careful in looking at times and know that if we try to do cordoba we will have to be very careful with train schedules.

biloburgler- you said check out Torres
or the various Cava houses in barcelona- what a great idea- i think we'll add on to my day at montserrat- do you know if you can get to torres without a car- otherwise i saw a day tour that goes to montserrat, torres and sitges- not a huge fan of bus tours but may be easier. Any cava houses in the city you'd suggest.

Also- instead of jerez which may be too much i was thinking of making a little stop to zahara and I was thinking of stopping at El Vinculo- i saw they had sherry and olive oil tastings. Has anyone ever been there.

Both Torres and the town where Freixenet (spelling) are based are on train routes. I'd use train and taxis from Barcelona but I hate the spanish roads.

Freixenet is worth a visit from the shear size of it.

Torres has a wine expereince visit "mickey mouse meets perfumed wines" a bit odd but probably unique

Final thought Freixenet is just off the back of the railway station

thanks!