zombie1986

We are visiting Spain this March, landing in Madrid and taking off from Barcelona. We will be there for 11 days and 10 nights but only have 9 full days. Our arrival also happens to be on Good Friday(we didn't realize it at the time of booking) and I don't know how this is going to affect our visit. Have any of you been there during this time?
Though, we are excited to witness the much talked about Holy week celebrations, we are also getting anxious about how it will affect our travels.
Considering we are there for tail end of the Holy week, what should we plan for?
We also need some help with the itinerary.
We were initially considering the following and would love to hear your thoughts on it.
Day1: Land in Madrid in the evening
Day2: Madrid
Day3: Madrid/Toledo(Not sure if we should skip toledo)
Day4: Seville
Day 5eville
Day6:Granada
day7:Granda,
Day8-10arcelona
Day11epart
Are we doing too much? Should we skip a few things? Any advice will be much appreciated!
Thank you.

tower

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...villaHolyWeek#

Zombie:
Thought you might appreciate a look at Sevilla during Holy Week. We found it to be extremely interesting, colorful and meaningful, even as Jews. What I'm saying is that you don't have to be a devout Christian to appreciate the celebration, the outpouring dedication and the pomp displays. We stayed at a delightful hotel in the Santa Cruz district, Las Casas de la Juderia.

One thing, in my opinion, I would suggest taking a day from Granada and add it to Barcelona.

Robert2533

The only issue is that hotels in Sevilla tend to be expensive during Holy Week. But everything else is fine.

zombie1986

Thanks for your responses.
Tower,
Lovely pictures!!! Do you know when the holy week celebrations end? Do they continue into the following week?
I am wondering then if we should head to seville directly after we land? First Seville, Granada then head back to Madrid around day 4 and then a train to Barcelona around Day 6-7. I will be adding a day to Barcelona!
Robert2533,
I heard that too. We have been also thinking of doing airbnb but haven't looked into accommodations yet as we are still deciding the dates.

On a related note, should we include Cordoba as a day visit from Seville? We are also thinking of renting a car in Seville and driving around. Is that recommended?

rialtogrl

Am I right, in that you will arrive in Sevilla on the day after Easter? If so I think you will miss most of the pasos - don't they lead up to Easter? (I might be wrong.)

So does that mean day 3 is Easter?

zombie1986

rialtogrl,

We arrive in Madrid on the evening of Good Friday, so if we had to head to Seville, we would do it directly from the airport. Considering we are going to lose that day in traveling, that gives us only Saturday and Sunday(which is easter). I need to look up when the celebrations in Seville happen.

rialtogrl

Got it Zombie! Hopefully someone can tell you what will be going on that Saturday and Sunday.

Robert2533

All of the hotels in Sevilla typically require reservations well in advance and some require you stay more then one night. Prices are steep and availability limited, especially over the final weekend, Friday-Sunday. The first thing you need to do is secure accommodations and then make your plans work around them.

Semana Santa this year is from 20-27 March. Some things will be closed on Monday, 28 March. This year's La Feria de Abril, the April Fair, is from 12-17 April.

El calendario de la Semana Santa 2016 es el siguiente:

20 de Marzo, Domingo de Ramos
21 de Marzo, Lunes Santo
22 de Marzo, Martes Santo
23 de Marzo, Miércoles Santo
24 de Marzo, Jueves Santo
25 de Marzo, Viernes Santo
26 de Marzo, Sábado de Gloria (ó Sábado Santo)
27 de Marzo, Domingo de Resurrección (ó Domingo de Pascua)
28 de Marzo, Lunes de Pascua, festivo en algunas comunidades

zombie1986

Thank you for your replies. We have narrowed it down to the following itinerary after reading all the replies here, but we need more help with transportation options from Seville to Granada and then to Madrid.

Day1: Land in Madrid in the evening. Stay the night. We could not find a direct flight to Seville so instead of heading the train station and taking the AVE, we are thinking of checking into a hotel closer to the station, and spending the night in Madrid. Our flight is going to be a long one from California and we don't want to unnecessarily tire ourselves. We plan to take the early morning train to Seville.

Day2: Seville. Early morning train from Madrid. Thanks to Robert2533, we booked our accommodations. The hotels were more expensive that we planned for.

Day3: Seville

Day4: Granada. Planning to rent a car from Seville and heading to Granada. Spend the day in Granada.

Day 5: We have 2 options here. Spend the day in Granada or drive to Cordoba? I read a lot of blogs and they all insist that Cordoba is worth the detour. What should we do? We also want to head to Madrid by the end of the night. Should we drive back to Madrid and drop off the rental there or should we drive to Seville and then take the AVE to Madrid? Should we even rent a car? Confused!!

Day6: Madrid

day7-10: 4 days in Barcelona. Early morning train to Barcelona

Day11epart

Bedar

On Day 4 you'd pick up the car and drive to Granada which takes time and leaves you little time in Granada itself. I'd spend Day 5 in Granada and Day 6 drive to Codoba, drop the car there, and at night get the train to Madrid or directly to Barcelona.

Robert2533

There is no direct train from Cordoba to Barcelona, you'd have to connect in Madrid.

Bedar

Right, Robert, but he doesn't have to stop in Madrid. Or, he could stop there and take a day off Barcelona.