my husband and i just got back from 2 great weeks in Madrid and Andalucia. Thanks to everyone on fodor's, but especially maribel, for great advice.

we're from NY and love eating out, and Maribel's restaurant suggestions were great. In Madrid we loved Matritum, Taberneros, and Pan de Lujo. In Seville we had tapas at Enrique Becerra 3 times (and the cerveceria across the street from it is pretty good, too)!

Our itinerary was 3 nights madrid (Intur Palacio San Martin-- perfectly fine) including a day trip to Toledo (with a hellish experience at Atocha trying to get tix. The machines wouldn't accept out credit cards-- no pins-- or ATM cards-- don't know why, so we waited in line almost 90 minutes to get tickets!! And when we finally got the counter, the guy said this was pretty typical. We did this because we didn't know in advance which day we would go to Toledo, but it was NOT worth the added flexibility!

from there it was on to Cordoba-- the mezquita was great-- for 1 night (at the hostal Lola-- atmospheric though a mediocre mattress) and then sevilla for 4 nights-- at the Puerta del Sol-- perfectly fine and a good price.

We rented a car from the train station (Avis-- no problems) and easily made our way to Sanlucar de Barrameda for lunch and some walking around before heading down the coast to Tarifa. It didn't look like it would be worth an overnight.

2 nights in Tarifa (I forget the hotel name at the moment) before driving up to Zahara de la Sierra, which was beautiful. (1 night there at the hotel at the top of the town).

After that, 3 nights in Granada at the Hotel Santa Ines. I thought this was overrated from reviews I had read. Our room was comfortable enough, but worn down, and had no windows!!! I'm not generally too picky about hotels, but this was the most expensive place we stayed and I don't think it was worth it. One morning the wooden covering below the sink fell off (literally, onto my feet), and the guy at the front desk didn't offer an apology and they took 2 days to reattach it.

Finally, we ended up back in Madrid for 1 night (Tryp Atocha, which we pricelined, and which was nice and well located) and saw an amazing Sara Baras performance.

I know this is brief, but hopefully I got most of the important stuff in here! Thanks again for the help.

Hi

Thanks for the review. I loved Spain, particularly Madrid and Granada. I hope to return soon and stay a little longer! Just curious - what did you pay for the Intur Palacio San Martin and was it worth it?

Hi rbws,
I'm so glad you had a great time and especially that you enjoyed the dining!

And glad that you found the car rental pick up at Seville's train station to be easy (for me, picking up at a downtown rail station and getting out of town is far easier than dropping off).

I had the same reaction as you to the Santa Inés in Granada's Albaicín. I tried its sister hotel once, the Carmen de Santa Inés, found it very tired looking and with indifferent service, and we left after one night. We checked the Palacio de Santa Inés, which was billed as being equally charming, but we saw the same tiredness.

How do you like your lodging atop Zahara de la Sierra at the Arco de la Villa? I've never spent the night there, but it certainly has an impressive setting.

I'm so happy you got to see Sara Bara's new production! Did you get your tickets in advance or just at the box office the day of the performance? (that is what I've always done in Madrid) She's amazing, I just love her and hope to see Sabores soon too in Madrid. We saw her in Paris where she swept the audience to its feet and danced an encore with her mother.

Again, welcome back and that's for your report!

we paid 120 euros a night for the San Martin. Given big city hotel prices, this seemed reasonable (I think!)

and Maribel, I'm impressed you know the name of the place in Zahara! Yes, it was the Arco, which was servicable, though nothing special (the showerhead kept falling off, etc), but with the great views and at 55 euros a night, definitely worth it.

As for the Sara Baras tickets, we bought them online with El Corte Ingles and picked them up at the theatre 30 min before the show and had no problem at all.

Maribel (and others), they were selling today the Sara Baras spectacle at the new half-price ticket booth in Plaza del Carmen, near the Liabeny hotel.

I was hoping to get tickets for Dagoll Dagom´s "Mar y Cielo", but no luck. I saw it last weekend and wanted to repeat, because it was amazing. Ended up crying like a baby, so sad and so pretty.

Rgds, Cova

We will be in Madrid around the end of December. Can you elaborate on what the Sara Bara show is (I am assuming it is flamenco) and whether we can get tickets from US?

Also Maribel, I just posted on fodors on a way to get us from Tarifa to Sevilla in a private car or another convenient way. We are arriving by ferry (with child)from Tangier Morocco and want to get to our hotel in Seville. Do you think the hotel (Hotel Alfonso XIII can arrange this?)

Thanks.

Thanks for the report. I'm going in March and have a few questions maybe you (or Maribel) can answer. Did you prebook tickets for the Alhambra? Do you have a sense how far in advance you need to do that for a visit in March?

I've heard other stories about long waits for train tickets at Atocha, but did you notice if that was the case for other places - for example train from Seville to Cordoba - would that need to be booked in advance? Also bus or train from Cordoba to Granada. I was thinking I would wait till we got there to get tickets from city to city but don't want to go through what you went through. I wonder if it's just Madrid that the lines are so long.

Finially - I've been reading here about construction in all those cities - did you notice it, was it a problem? I can't figure out if the people who posted the warnings are just not used to the fact that there is always a little construction going on in any city - or if this is big time stuff that needs to be planned around.

Thanks for you time.

Isabel, the train from Seville to Cordoba is the train from Seville to Madrid, Cordoba is the first and only stop on that route if you're talking about the AVE. I took that train twice last week and it was full both times, so I would most certainly book ahead. But I booked mine the day before at El Corte Ingles (it seems like you're always near one!) for all my train travel.

Good info for my trip this Feb/March to Spain/Portugal

WE WILL BE IN MADRID DEC 5TH - 8TH WILL SARA BARA BE PERFORMING?
THANKS CANDACE

Have you realized that Sara Baras (her real name) is also a palindrome (you can read it backwards or forwards)?

www.sarabaras.com

She will be. Buy the tickets at El Corte Ingles.

Rgds, Cova