My partner and I will be in Spain for the first three weeks in April. At is looks now, we'll be starting out in Madrid and doing a loop counter-clockwise to include Seville, Granada, Valencia, Barcelona, San Sebastian and other points along the way.
My question is around places to be and not to be during Holy Week. We want to take part in the activities but also recognizing that we will be moving from place to place, possibly on Easter week-end, could someone provide some thoughts on what travelling/visiting will be like during this week?

Do you mean April 2004? If that is the case, you are severely behind as far as planning. If I was going to Spain during Eastertime, I would try to make it to Seville and witnessed some of the most poignant religious pagentry (you do not need to be religious to appreciate this religious and cultural expression). Very crowded (many Spaniards take their "Spring Break" during this week), but quite a unique experience. Hotel reservations NOW are highly recommended. What is YOUR criteria for wanting "to be or not to be"? Are you driving? Are you flying Malaga-Barcelona?

Yes, April 2004. Sigh.
Our criteria for wanting to be or not to be is wanting to wanting to respect the culture and while wanting to partake in the experience we're not wanting to infringe on places that are most holy and shut down to visitors during this time. We will be using the train as our primary mode of transport and will be renting a car for a portion of the trip also. We will be flying from Malaga to Barcelona.

I was in Ubeda and Sevilla last Semana Santa and it was such a unique, wonderful and spiritual time to visit. You don't have to worry about places being shut down as much as you need to quickly come up with a itinerary. You will need to get hotel reservations particularly if you are in Sevilla/Granada/Cordoba. I would also recommend train reservations for Easter week or you could be stuck for hours waiting to get somewhere - a poor woman that flew in with me on Palm Sunday was trying to get from Madrid to Malaga and the only train available was not arriving into Malaga until midnight. So after flying overnight from California she had to wait all day for the train and not get into Malaga until late.

As far as places to visiit during Easter Weekend, IF you can get lodging I'd definately do the souther portion of your trip then - Sevilla and Granada. I'd suggest you drive the white village route and spend a night in Arcos or Ronda between Sevilla and Granada. In fact, Arcos has a small bull running on Easter Sunday that I've been dying to see!

You're covering alot of geography in three weeks - another reason to finalize your itinerary and make sure you're not trying to do too much.

Keep us updated on your planning and once you've got the general outline (# of days in each city, etc...) please post and let us know the $ range for your hotel expenses too.

We were in Seville during Santa Semana two years ago and had a great time with one exception--we did not make train reservations in advance and because of that ended up having to change hotels and it became very confusing. As another poster pointed out, and I can vouch for as well, MANY people in Spain travel at this time, so if you plan on taking trains, get your reservations in advance.

(I hope you have your hotel reservations already, especially for Easter weekend. If not--good luck!)

Have a great trip.

artlover, do you think it is necessary to get bus tickets in advance, as well? We will be taking the bus from Cordoba to Granada on Good Friday. (It seems bus is the best way between these cities.)

thanks!

WHile on the topic, we'll be in Madrid April 3-7 (week leading up to Easter). Is Madrid extra crowded this time of year. How about Toledo?

I would definately reccomend being in Seville for Semana Santa, it is truely remarkable. But you would need to book way in advance!

rialtogrl
Are you sure that bus runs on Good Friday?

Yes - make all reservations possible for this area for the week leading up to Easter. In fact, it may already be too late.

Some years back, I found I couldn't even get on a train to Seville in the few days before Easter, let alone find a hotel. As a person who never books anything in advance, this was a bit of a lesson.

p.s. - it's a wonderful experience, and some processions go all night (more or less). It's a time of high excitement.

Watch out for pickpockets! Crowds = pickpockets! Especially if you're eating one of those foiled potatoes as you watch the prpcessions!

Margo - I downloaded a bus schedule off the internet - it is a public bus, so I am hoping it runs on a Friday!

I could not find any train from Cordoba to Granada. But, when we get to Madrid (March 27) we will go to the Renfe office and book all our tickets right away.

We have already booked our AVE tickets, from Madrid to Seville but you can only reserve one ticket on-line before you get there.

I can't wait to get there. Have been planning so long, and we're in the home stretch now!

Don't presume then, that it'll run on Good Friday - it may - but that part of Spain is quite religious!

You can get from Cordoba to Granada by train, but not direct - you have to change somewhere, the name of which has left me!