wakeem

We have a week to visit the following cities..Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, Granada and Ronda.

Considering how much ground we're trying to cover, would you drive or take the train everywhere?

cruiseluv

I''m sorry but I think you should reconsider your itinerary.

laclaire

Personally, I think that is way too much to cover in 7 days, so your goal should be whatever saves time, which is probably a car. I would try to wait on it by starting in Madrid, then taking the train to Sevilla, seeing that, then renting the car and hitting Ronda on the way to Granada, then back up going to Córdoba and Toledo, returning to car to Madrid.

That said, you are going to literally see things and that is about it. You might as well just look at a picture book. Consider your tastes and think about what you want to accomplish with this trip, then try to pare down the itinerary.

Larry_M

I agree with cruiselov. Your itinerary provides for a week of either training or driving, and little else.

Are you flying into Madrid? If so, I would do 3 days there, and do Toledo or Segovia as a day trip by bus on one of those days. Then take the high-speed train to Seville, and make a choice to either:
1 - Day trip to Cordoba, less than an hour away by high speed train. You could also easily go directly to Cordoba from Madrid, spend the day, and continue on to Seville that evening ... it's on the same train line.
2 - Drive from Seville to Ronda and back. It's probably 2 1/2 hours each way, which makes for a long day, but doable.

You can easily occupy your other 3 days in Seville, and leave Granada for another time.

PalQ

To OP Q - train service to all these cities is good though buses to Granada and Ronda may be better alternatives as train service to those two cities is limited. (Spain has a very dense bus network.)
They used to say the Pain in Spain Is Mainly on the Train - but this is no more as the mainline now have fast modern trains - I'd defintiely train from Madrid to Seville or Cordoba at speeds up to 185 mph on the AVE (A French TGV train) and then either rent a car or continue by train.
Investigate the Spain Rail 'n Drive pass, which gives you a number of rail days and train days in a 1-month period - pick cars up at train stations and drive to another station to get back on the train. The pass is marketed by RailEurope in US only i believe - for details i always recommend BETS (800-441-2387), a RE agent who i've always dealt with and they don't charge some of RE's fees i believe.
I agree you may want to scale back a city or two - but Madrid to me is the least attractive place on your list - a day there should suffice for the average non-museum buff. All the others are fabulous places however. Granada is a so-so city but the Alhambra is worth the journey.

arcrecon

Interested in this montserrat trip anyone know some dates? I have another month of botany studies, my summer sea- son goes until september or so and I have two breaks if I take classes this summer. four weeks beginning in june or two weeks beginning in mid august. lets' not forget dmtc (so cal) mid-june till early september!

lincasanova

i would arrive in madrid and go straight to toledo, a smaller more manageble town.
you can either rent your car at airport, or take taxi to toledo if there are several of you.
sounds expensive, but it would probably be 100 euros and very time efficient if you didn't want to pick up car til toledo.

it will take 3 hours longer to go into MADRID, buy ticket and wait for a train. and time is of the essence here.

then continue by car to granada and the rest of trip.

some people are equally satisfied "seeing" things from the "outside".
so, i respect your pace, but by leaving madrid to the END, you can decide on how much you want to rush back there or take it more slowly, gving you hopefully, more time in the quainter southern part of country.

i would defintely drive from at least toledo to southern spain and white villages, perhaps dropping the car off in sevilla or cordoba on way back to catch AVE to madrid.(only if you were tired of driving, otherwise, gives you more freedom timewise, unless it is a sunday afternoon!.. massive traffic jams going into madrid).

laclaire

acrecon- what? That sounds like the first lines of a virus-containing e-mail. Perhaps you posted on the wrong thread?

wakeem

Thanks for all your input. I'm going to rethink our itinerary. Overall, I get the feeling that Granada might be the one city to skip this time around?

mjs

Maybe you should consider adding in Barcelona and San Sebastian!!!

BreukelenMan

i don't think your itinerary is realistic... it's just too much (too many places & too much distance) in just a week. you won't get a chance too really "experience" these places with such much on your plate! however, if you're determined to do it, here's a tip: car travel can be tricky in spain due in part to all the round-a-bouts that can be a bit tricky to enter & exit, and somebody must know how to speak & read spanish!! rail travel is good in spain although some trains don't run as regularly as in some other countries (eg. holland, england). best luck on your trip...

lbelgray

Here's what I'd do: spend 3 nights in Madrid, 4 in Seville - or vice versa - and take day trips IF you feel you have the time to spare once you've gotten settled in to each city.
Personally, I couldn't get enough of Seville. I thought it was magical, just walking around. Madrid's great too, more formal and grand - a bit like Paris or London.
We stayed in Granada, but weren't crazy about the city itself. The Alhambra could easily have been a day trip instead. Same with Cordoba.
If you're intent on seeing all those places in the South, how about skipping Madrid and basing yourself in Sevilla and then Ronda at the end? We did Vejer de la Frontera and drove a couple of times into Cadiz, which was just half an hour away. Then, flew out of Jerez.
As for driving vs. train, it's nice to be free of schedules, and the roads are really well-marked.

licciardi

Rent a car, $250.00 approx. for a week. just came back, and had no trouble driving, same side of road as USA. roundabouts are cool.....just keep going in circles until you're sure of exit, then go!a car is 100% more convienient. Phil

h0b0

We recently spent a week doing Cordoba, Granada, Ronda, and Sevilla and I would not want to do any more than that - it was rushed as it was. We (skipped Madrid) and took the train to Cordoba where we rented a car. We later dropped it off in Sevilla (no need for a car in Sevilla). Driving around there is fantastic - especially all around Ronda.