Hardingski

I am travelling alone throughout Spain from April 17th through May 2nd! I am flying into Barcelona. I am going alone to get a taste of the country. I have looked at spending 4 days in Barcelona, then heading to to Madrid (3 days), Toledo (2 days), Granada (2 days), Malaga (3 days) and ending in Sevilla (2)! I am planning on taking night trains for the longer distances (barcelona to madrid, Toledo to Granada for example). Is this too much? Other places you think I should visit? I have no reservations currently and my plans are very fluid. If anyone else is in Spain at this time, what are you doing/visiting/seeing? Thanks, Steve

cheapboxofwine

Our family will be in Spain earlier than you. I too am wondering about our itinerary but you probably have more flexibility traveling alone.
Will you be pre booking your night trains? I will check again but thought the Renfe site was all in Spanish which does me no good. I would also consider a night train if we could guarantee a private compartment.

NEDSIRELAND

You say you are traveling throughout Spain, but all you are doing is hitting the big Cities along the 'Tourist Trail.' In my humble opinion, you will miss all of Basque Country and Northern Spain, what I consider the real Spain.

There's no Train, sleeper or otherwise, Toledo to Granada: you'll have to come back to Madrid.
Toledo is actually a nice daytrip from Madrid, as are Segovia, el Escorial, la Granja, and others.

On your current schedule, you may catch the tail-end of the feria de Sevilla: crowded and expensive!

I think your itinerary needs some work ...

yk

Are you flying out of Seville?

I traveled alone in Spain last Feb for 12 days, you can take a look at my trip report for some ideas:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

danon

"you will miss all of Basque Country and Northern Spain, what I consider the real Spain."

Although interesting, why is BASQUE COUNTRY more "real" Spain than Madrid, Salamanca or Seville?

Some people don't consider Barcelona "real" Spain !
Spain is a large and divers country with rich regional history.


Hitting the tourist trail for the first time in Spain is a good idea.
I would drop Malaga and try for an open jaw ticket.

danon

sorry, you said you are planing to flying into Barcelona and out of Seville.
from Barcelona you could take a fast train to Madrid ,( make a day trip to Toledo ), take a fast train from Madrid to Seville ( even stop in Cordoba for a day). Granada is 3 hours by bus or train from Seville.
We flew between Madrid and Granada; if you wish to do that, you can visit Granada and than take the bus to Seville to end your trip there,

Hardingski

Yes, I'm flying into Barcelona and out of Seville.
Ned --, thanks for the info. I am just trying to get a flavor, hopefully my first of many trips.
yk - thanks for the info, I can just about follow your route.
Danon -- thanks for the info, it is good to know about the fast train to Barcelona. "open jaw ticket"?? I'm not set on Malaga.
Thanks again all. I'll post final plans once I get closer. Maybe you could help with some final tweaking.

danon

the train from Barcelona to Madrid takes just under 3 hours (center of town to center of Madrid)
here is the link to renfe

http://www.renfe.es/horarios/english/index.html

You can find the connection Madrid to Seville on the same site.
Bus from Seville to Granada takes about 3 hours.

"open jaw" is what you are doing - flying into one city and out of the other .