BritishCaicos

Alvamo

Most of the posters here, including me, like Malaga.

Most of the posters here, including me, think most of the CdS is an overdeveloped enclave of tacky Brits.

Egbert

If you are from Great Britain or Ireland I would recommend the Costa del Sol. If you are from the U.S. you might find it a letdown. However Malaga is an exception and worth two nights if you want to be on the Med. If you like nice sandy beaches and cool, clean water (Spain is Africa hot in the summer) the nice beaches are on the Costa de Luz. Cadiz is a great city with a nice beach. I had the same experience in Nerja as Britishcaicos. It sounded so nice in the travel guides too. You could even skip Barcelona but that's just my opinion.

BritishCaicos

Egbert.

I agree on all points, particualry Barcelona.

Really didn't like it. Too many drug addicts and tourist trap shops.

Seville is a long way ahead. Second best small city in the world.

danon

If people ventured outside Las Ramblas in Barcelona and actually saw
many other parts of a beautiful city, the would know what they are missing.

casperjj

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all of the insight. I think we'd prefer to be on the Mediterranean just for the experience. I'm also trying to limit the travelling and since we'd like to visit Granada, the Mediterranean coast just seems more logical for a stop. We could venture closer to Valencia though if there are areas there with small Spanish villages near the beach.

I do really like the look of Mijas. That said, the town itself seems to be away from the beach. I did find some places closer to the beach but there don't seem to be very many. Can anyone recommend places to stay in the area where you're either on the beach or a 5 min walk away? (I did take out a few guidebooks from the library so that may help as well)

Rubicund

We stayed at this place not too long ago for a couple of nights and were pleased with it:

http://www.vikhotels.com/es/hoteles-...ran-hotel.html

It's in Cala de Mijas and right on the beach.

MyriamC

I really didn't like Mijas Costa.

I do like TS' idea of Valencia. The city is not too big and easy to explore. Beautiful architecture and the home town of Santiago Calatrava (you can't miss his 'Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias' - spectacular!). Valencia has a lovely wide beach and a nice and long boardwalk where you can cycle for hours (if that is what you like. We do!).

There are some very pretty towns/villages around Valencia. Check out Requena, Buñol, Guadalest (castle!), Xàtiva (castle, UNESCO WH), Montanejos (hot springs), etc. etc.

BritishCaicos

Casperjj

I think we should be clear.

If you want a quiet, relaxing break in the sun with a beach, in a location where you could pretty much be anywhere in the world. Then the CdS is fine. Some areas are upmarket and expensive. It's just not very Spanish.

casperjj

BritishCaicos, that's actually not what I'm looking for so maybe I do need to look beyond CdS. We would like to visit Granada though so the atlantic coast would, I think, be a bit far. We hope to visit Jamaica for beaches and relaxation in the winter. When we visit Europe, we're more into museums, churches, architecture and other places that aren't available closer to home. I just think the kids would like to visit the Mediterranean sea and swim in it for an afternoon. We visited Rome last summer and took a daytrip to Pompeii and Naples. We walked along the water front there before visiting the museum and I know they would have loved to have a dip. It would be a nice experience for them, and nice to just hang out on the beach in the evenings for the few days we'll be there. But we're not looking for a resort. Our days will be full outside the hotel. I thought that if we stayed in Mijas, maybe we could visit Nerja and the caves one day, Estepona another day and stay in the village of Mijas a third day with a half day swimming. And maybe swimming in the evenings each day. Maybe Mijas isn't the place for this. I'll look more into Valencia area.

Right now, we have 16 days. I'm thinking 4 days Barcelona (with a daytrip maybe) , 4-5 days Madrid (with day trip or two), 3 days Seville, see Ronda as a daytrip between Seville and Granada, 2 days Granada, and 3-4 days near the Mediterranean with daytrips each day to somewhere nice close by. In a perfect world, we'd do the Mediterranean as one of our last stops so we can wind down and have a break and then have Madrid as our very last stop as we'll likely fly out of Madrid. We're willing to fly if trains don't make sense due to distance.

I appreciate everyones help. I'm dealing with a concussion from a car accident and I'm having a really hard time organizing this. And I can't seem to move past and think of individual places until I know where we should stop and how long to stay there. Can anyone advise on the order of how we should visit these places (assuming the beach stop is somewhere on the Mediterranean)? I think we'd like to start in Barcelona and end in Madrid but we could fly in and out of Madrid if it made more sense.

kimhe

You should take a close look at small and 3000 year old Almuñecar, on the Granada Med coast. 7 miles east of Nerja, 40 miles east of Malaga city, 40 miles south of Granada city:
http://www.andalucia.com/province/gr...necar/home.htm

More info with video presentation: http://www.spain-holiday.com/Almunecar

BritishCaicos

Look at Mallorca.

It has very good beaches for lazing about, good local culture, good restaurants a d many day trip options. It is very easy to rent a place close to the beach and have good local villages.

Santanyi in the south has some of the best beaches in Europe closeby and a sleepy centre with good restaurants, markets etc.

One option is to fly into Barcelona, spend a few days, take a very short flight (30 mins) to Palma and rent a place for a week then fly to Seville for a few days. Fly home from Seville.

casperjj

Thanks Kimhe. That video was actually really helpful. I had looked at Almunecar before but had forgotten about it. It looks like a nice place. Near the beach. Older village. Not overrun with people yet not isolated either. I like the idea of eating paella on the beach. I think I read something about that at one point. There also seems to be quite a few options for places to stay, either hotel or renting a flat. And close to the other locations to make daytrips.

Ok. Assuming we stay here, my next problem is figuring out the order that we make our stops. I'd love any suggestions that anyone may have.

MyriamC

You can eat paella on almost every beach in Spain. And fresh grilled anchovies, too! The ones we had in Málaga and Pedregalejo were outstanding.

kimhe

Here's the very nice Suspiro del Moro road between Granada and Almuñecar. Also a straight forward highway between the two, but this could be an experience in itself: http://www.holavalencia.net/2010/02/...and-almunecar/

An excellent little food market in Almuñecar:
http://almunecarinfo.com/almunecar-market/ http://wagonersabroad.com/almunecarmercado/

The Aquarium: http://www.almunecartoday.com/almunecar-aquarium/

General info about Almuñecar: http://www.turismoalmunecar.es/

casperjj

Almunecar looks beautiful. My only concern is the pebbly beach but I'm sure that will be fine. I'm also going to keep looking into Mijas area as its certainly more central.

BritishCaicos, I didn't see your comment last time I posted. I'd love to visit Majorca but we just don't have the time this trip to spend one week in one location. We're trying to give the kids a bunch of experiences so going to the island would take a bit too much time from our 16 days I think. We also can't fly home from Seville. To do so increases our cost by $1000CAD per person which is crazy.

I was thinking of the following order. What do you all think?

Arrive in Barcelona. 4 nights (would 3 nights be better? should we do a daytrip?)
Fly to Seville.
Seville 3nts
Train from Seville to Granada, stopping at Ronda (would bus be better?)
Granada 2 nts
Mijas or Almunecar 3 nights (spending one day in Nerja/ one day in Almunecar / one day in Mijas and maybe one day in Estepona ... is there another location within an hour that may be a better day visit?)
Train to Madrid
Madrid 4-5 nights (daytrip to Segovia and possibly Toledo)
Fly out of Madrid


Flights aren't booked yet so we can definitely change this up. Thought has also gone into skipping Barcelona and visiting Lisbon or other areas of southern Portugal instead and then go to Seville and continue from there. We could then visit Barcelona, norther spain and norther Portugal on another trip when we visit the south of France. What do you all think of that?

kimhe

Almuñecar is pretty central, less than an hour drive to both Granada and Malaga city. Wouldn't skip Barcelona to put in Lisboa etc, if you skip Barcelona, perhaps give more time to Andalucia. And I would stay all days along the southern coast in either Almuñecar, Nerja, Mijas or Estepona. In general the areas west of wonderful and genuine Malaga city itself are very touristy and developed, less so to the east of Malaga city (Nerja and Almuñecar).

A couple of articles about Malaga city, can't wait to come back here in a couple of weeks. And from here you can go to Madrid in 2h 30 mins with the high speed AVE train, city center to city center.
"Picasso's city of hidden treasures": http://www.theguardian.com/travel/20...-breaks-travel
"Malaga: Spain's best kept secret": http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...pt-secret.html

kimhe

... and here's a link to beaches in Malaga city: http://www.spain-holiday.com/Malaga-...ty-beach-guide

Fine beaches in the center of town, but you should also take a look at the Acacias beaches in Pedregalejo just east of the city center. Here you also find many typical seafront restaurants that are very popular with locals.

Egbert

You won't find any quaint Spanish villages on the Costa del Sol.

Bedar

Exactly, Egbertt ! And most anywhere else. With beaches comes development and mass tourism. Just the way it is. Last June we were horrified by the CdS after a very long absence. We were glad we'd seen it in the dark ages, and as soon as we got over jet lag at the Parador, we were out of there. BTW, the Parador de Golf recalled the old days. Sure hope they'll keep it going, but those damned developers are sure to have their eyes on it.

alvamo

How ignorant can people be, to say you won't find any quaint Spanish villages on the Costa del Sol


I´m glad some people don´t discover the good things of Costa del Sol, they think Spain is the false flamenco in Santa Cruz, the overrate and expensive tapas next to la Giralda and things like that


Casperjj if you want to spend 3 days in Costa del Sol, stay in one place, Nerja to Almunecar is close but Mijas and Estepona are far away for a day trip.

As kimhe I would recommend you to visit Malaga and if you stay in Nerja or Almuñecar go to Frigiliana and Competa.