Spain Itinerary Suggestions
 

I'm a 34-year-old guy planning a vacation to Spain and Italy in mid-October with my sister and mother (31 and 65). We are looking to see some sights, eat food, and just hang together as a family. This will be my sister's 1st time in Europe, and my mom's 1st time in over 30 years. I haven't been to Spain, but I've been to Italy, so that will be the easy part.

Here's what i'm thinking:
1 day in Madrid
4 days in Andalusia/Southern Spain
2 days in Barcelona
the rest will be Italy (2 days in Rome and 2 in Venice)

I need help with the Southern Spain part. The cities that call my attention are Seville, Cordoba, Granada, and Ronda. Should we pick one city and make day trips to the others? Should we rent a car (we're all fluent in Spanish, so the language barrier won't hinder us getting around)? Are there any beautiful cities I haven't mentioned above, or are there others I mentioned we should skip?

As for Barcelona, I hear it's amazing. Is 2 days enough? Or should we reduce it to 1 and spend even more time in Andalusia? After Barcelona, we'll fly to Rome.

Any tips are appreciated. Itinerary/Hotel/Restaurant suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

I could spend that week in any ONE of those places (with day trips). If your mom is anything like mine, then that pace is too rushed.

Hi Pianoise -

I agree with yorkshire - this pace is far too rushed! I can understand why you want to visit these wonderful places, but each of these parts of Spain needs closer to a week at minimum, and you also need to recognize that getting from one place to another takes time.

Hope that helps!

Also, is your flight already booked?
When I went to Andalucia I got a good flight into Madrid, but since I could not do Madrid justice, I went immediately to the train station and took a relaxing leisurely train to Cordoba, which was nice after an overnight flight.
You can possibly fly from Sevilla if your flight from Barcelona is not already booked, so check into that. Then you could have a truly wonderful week in Andalucia!
I also don't think you even have enough time to visit Cordoba, Sevilla, Ronda, and Granada in one week WELL. I would pick 3 of the 4, though with careful planning you could at least see all 4.

O.k....add me to the list of people who think this itinerary (including the Italian section) is too rushed. I'm assuming that your itinerary includes the travel days (in other words, two days in Barcelona means part of the first is taken with getting there and part of the second is taken getting to Italy). Then it gets shorter.

We recently spent 8 days in Granada, Seville, Ronda and Marbella. Some of it worked well and some of it was too rushed.

One thing to consider is that travel by air is not what it used to be and you could lose a half day in delays (we did). We almost had to cut our stay in Granada completely out due to multiple delays.

I would suggest:

2 nights in Granada (book your Alhambra tickets in advance)
4 nights in Seville (you can do a day trip from here to Cordoba)
1 day in Ronda (the drive there from Seville is easy and pretty)

Personally, I'd cut Barcelona (even though I've never been there) and add the time to Italy as I love Italy and don't think you can get the 'flavor' of it in 4 days.

But to each his own.

Agreeing with the other posters, I would skip Barcelona (and save it for a future trip).

Rent a car and drive through beautiful Spanish landscape.

Maybe this itinerary works (depending on your flight connections):

- 2 days Madrid (including 1/2 day for a day trip to El Escorial) - this is the absolute minimum!
- 1 day driving from Madrid to Cordoba with a stop in Toledo (5 hours driving time)
- 1 day Cordoba
- 1 day daytrip from Cordoba to Sevilla and Carmona
- 1 day driving to Granada and visiting Granada
- 1 day driving to Malaga and flying out of Malaga

(or do it in reverse)

Your itinerary for Italy would not work either.

You will lose almost a full day for traveling between Rome and Venice, regardless whether you travel by car, train or air.

These would be possible options for 4 days:

- Rome and Naples/Pompeii/Amalfi Coast

- Rome and a little bit of Tuscany

- Venice and a little bit of Northern Italy (Padova, Verona, Lake Garda, Italian Alps)

Not sure why you're going to Madrid if you're only spending 1 day there. I would just skip it altogether and go directly to Andalusia.

I like to travel fast and cram a lot in, so I think it's okay if you spend
4 days in Andalusia
3 days in Barcelona

Anyway, I just don't see the point of "wasting" one day in Madrid as you won't achieve much, except checking in/out of hotels and going to/from train station/airport.

would either focus on to costa del sol completely or visit barcelona for 3nts and the rest at the costa del sol having a rented car and enjoy the scenery.
madrid makes only sense to me if a stay it AT LEAST 2nts.
or do a city thing:
divide the time between barcelona, madrid and maybe sevilla.

happy landing!

div

Sorry - this is not a vacation - it's a tour of european airports and train stations. You will have time to see little else.

It's not clear exactly how many days you have on the ground- and looks as if you may be counting several days twice. You should count by nights - that is 2 nights in Rome is actually one full day there - since you will be arriving the first day and leaving the third day.

You need to decide which - and then focus on 2 cities you can stay in and do day trips to see other things. To stay in more than 2 hotels in a week is a massive waste of your extremely limited time on the ground.

"it's a tour of european airports and train stations. You will have time to see little else."

agree totally.
Madrid is a huge city ( don't forget the jet-lag...), Barcelona is indeed beautiful ( not small) ,but how much can one see in 1 day?
and Rome -- in 2 days?

I understand that many people are not interested in visiting museums, galleries and churches, but even so it seems way too rushed .

I would pick 2/3 of these:

1) Andalusia
2) Barcelona
3) Madrid

And one of these 2:

Rome
Venice

Realistically, this would make for a more sane itinerary:

Day 1) Arrive in Madrid
Day 2) Madrid
Day 3) Madrid/day trip
Day 4) Madrid/overnight train to Barcelona
Day 5) Barcelona
Day 6) Barcelona
Day 7) Barcelona/Overnight trip to Milan
Day 8) Fast train from Milan to either Rome/Venice
Day 9) Rome/Venice
Day 10) Rome/Venice
Day 11) Rome Venice


Of course, you can tinker with the days--take or give one from Barcelona, but I'd keep it to three stops for 11 days.