Bugaboo

My husband and I are going to Spain in February. Any thoughts on flights vs. train vs. car from Barcelona, to Seville, to Madrid? We're thiking of going by plane, any favorite airlines? We will only have a week in Spain and want to optimize time. However, we were told by a friend that we should drive and that we could get from Barcelona to Valencia in 3 hours by car, which he says is worth the trip.

Eurotour

Personally I would say if you have a good constitution as a driver car would be a good way to do it.

We went all around Spain last year and the dirve was very relaxing once you were out of the cities. Especially around Seville. In the city itself it was a nightmare, but our hotel was signposted. Another recomendation is if you have a good quality sat nav .. like a Tom Tom take it.

THe things you can see in Seville are quite astounding. http://www.hotels-spain-accommodatio...capilla-mayor/ is the main alter at the cathedral and definitly worth a look. I really think you wont have time to enjoy it all.

Audie79

I hope more people respond to your post, as we are considering this same issue.

My brother studied in Spain and based on his feedback we are considering flying into Spain, driving to Valencia and then onto Sevilla (where he studied). (While in Sevilla we'd like to do a side trip to either Cordoba or Guarda Spain, which my brother said are both about an hour from Sevilla by train.) Then we would fly out of Sevilla back to the U.S. We would use public transportation or walk in Barcelona and Sevilla. I usually use trains when traveling Europe, but want to be able to do more side trips from Sevilla to smaller towns that my brother is recommending.

Eurotour

Cordoba Cordoba Cordoba

Oh ... did i not mention Cordoba? The Mezquita and the Alcazar oh yes a day out indeed. You know the only thing that put me off in that city was that they had a Burger King right outside the walls of that fabulous church.

First choice imo in that area, Andalucia Seville, Granada Cordoba and if you have a head for hieghts, Ronda.

Bugaboo

Audie 79 - that sounds like a great itinerary! We'll have to look into that!
Eurotour - thanks for the info on driving. What were gas prices like? If we went to Cordoba, where would you take the time from, Barcelona, or Sevilla? I really wish we had more time!!

I'm also looking for hotel recommendations for Barcelona, Sevilla, and Madrid. I'm looking for cheap, but clean.

Thanks for all the replies!

nytraveler

If you only have a week in Spain you cannot possibly cover all that territory and actually see anything. In February I would do Andalusia only - since the weather will not be nearly so bad. Even thaat area by car in a week you will be rushing it.

As for the rest of Spain in February, Madrid is on a high plateau and has a true winter. Barcelona is very far north and will be chillier than Andalusia - but not so cold as Madrid.

lincasanova

the euronmed train to valencia from barcelonais a great way to go. driving is god but tolls and gas are more expensive than the train.

then you also have inexpensive one way flights on www.vueling.com, and sometimes www.iberia.com matches them ( compare your country as being spain vs.US on iberia, seems to make a difference at times.)

a week is not enough to do justice to this itinerary, but i know some people like to skim the surface, so you have chosen some visually impressive places.

train/fly to valencia, then fly to sevilla, train/fly to madrid.

carioca4ed

I went between these two cities by train...Very enjoyable journey,and I was able to follow the video that they put on during the journey,"School of Rock"...Reason that I wanted to go to Valencia,(what a fantastic place),was that I had read that they had found a mural when they had been looking at the ceiling in the Cathedral.The poor artist had spent time on this ,only to be told that he was not getting paid for his work,as they did not like it.(They even had the original contract on display)..Was eventually covered over by later work...But old mural was on display..Beautiful !!!!They had scanned it with a computer,and you could see it in glorious colour !!!!The only thing was that in the place next to the Cathedral where you could view the scanned work,none of the staff seemed to know English..Of course you could look at this another way,and say that I had not learned any Spanish !!!!!

Bugaboo

NYtraveler - I wish I had the vacation time and funds you must have to be able to take a longer vacation. Unfortunately I'm a teacher, and a mom, and rarely get to go anywhere. So when I do get to go somewhere, I see as much as I can see all at once! My husband and I did London, Paris, Rome, and Sardinia in 10 days, so I guess we just have a different travel style than you do. We do realize that February is not the best time to go, but again, I can only take certain days to travel. Thank you for your advice though!

Lincasanova - I'm really not trying to just skim the surface, that's why I'm trying to limit the number of places that I'm going, but we definitely don't want to only see one city. Which place would you cut out so that you could spend more time somewhere else?