mnss

Hello my darlings, you should probbaly know that I've never been to Spain before, so I thought I'd start with a few days in andalucia this time.

Though my ideal first trip to Spain would have included Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, etc and perhaps a beach town in the south. But I would only have a few days this time, as I'm taking a French course in Paris for four weeks till June 22.

Would three days in Seville with two day trips be enough? are Cordoba and Granada really interesting and should not be missed?

BTW, if you were in Paris for a month, what short trips would you take? perhaps Provence? how far is it from Paris? I've only been to Paris in France.

You don't have to answer all the questions- I would appreciate any info.

Thanks so much!

allanc

Three days for Seville sounds high. Cannot speak to Cordoba, be we certainly enjoyed our time in Grenada. I would recommend that you spend a day driving into some of the white hill towns...they are truly beautiful.

YemenBear

I spent a month in Sevilla a few years back on a Spanish language study. The city center is a wonderful place to explore. You should have no trouble keeping yourself entertained for 3 days. Try to use a guide for the historical buildings. You'll learn much more and appreciate what you're seeing (I'm not personally big on guided tours but learned much more here with guide.) It's very touristy, but also catch a flamenco show.

The language school took a trip to Cordoba. The mosque is incredible...worth the visit. I'm not sure if other points of interest.

I took a weekend trip to Granada. The Al Hambra is incredible. Best to purchase your ticket in advance. I did this through a Spanish bank in Sevilla. Use the website to find where to pre-purchase ticket. If you wait to purchase ticket upon arrival, the lines are LONG. Plus they limit admissions to some sections. Advance purchase is the way to go. In town, the Cathedral is also interesting plus the old sections of town. Found the Turkish bath a great way to end the day. Granada is well worth at least 24 hours.

Concerning your French lessons in Paris, check to see if the language institute sponsors any short trips. If they do, this is definitely the way to go. They organize everything and provide knowledgeable guide. If not, consider the chateaus of the Loire Valley (train to Tours or Blois or Amboise, then rent a car), Versailles, Mont St. Michel.

Bonne chance!

isabel

Three days is no where near enough to see all three cities. Totally not worth it. I would plan to spend all three days in Seville, but then if you felt you'd seen enough you could pop over to Cordoba for an afternoon as it's a fast train ride away, and there are frequent trains. In an afternoon you'd basically just see the Mezquita, but that would be worth it. Granada is wonderful but requires too much time to get to it from Seville, not to mention time to see it. Make that a separate trip. It's wonderful, it's just that trying to see all three in three days is not worthwhile, you'd see nothing, spend all your time getting from one place to the next and not enjoy it at all.

For other short trips from Paris, you could do Avignon, the train from Paris is fairly fast and three days there would be nice. If you rented a car you could see a few of the villages.

Closer to Paris is Normandy and Burgandy and the Loire Valley. Any of those would make nice three day trips.

gruezi

Dear mnss,

Don't know where else you've traveled but there are a lot of easier places to get to than Andalucia from Paris...

Some ideas:

Normandy
Provence
Amsterdam
Brugge
Strasbourg
London
Montreux
Monte Carlo

I loved Alhambra and enjoyed Andalucia, but Seville was not my favorite spot there. I think maybe save the Spain trip for when you have more time so you can see Cordoba and all those other wonderful places you mentioned and not be so rushed.

Have a great trip and please let us know where you went and what you liked!

g.

mnss

Thanks a lot everyone!

The consensus seems to be that three days are definitely not enough, so I should probably just stay in France and try to make short trips on weekends. This way I'd also get to practise my broken French more, and carry on with my constant visits to heavenly patisseries ;-)



hey, someone signed up just to answer my question?! hmmmm....