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Madrid,Seville, Barcelona, Florence & Venice

Madrid,Seville, Barcelona, Florence & Venice

Old Mar 19th, 2016, 06:58 PM
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Madrid,Seville, Barcelona, Florence & Venice

Hi everyone, I am going to these cities on a 2 weeks trip starting next week --Madrid,Seville, Barcelona, Florence & Venice..


I wanted t be sure I don't miss anything, I have 4 full days in Mad and Bcn and 3 each in others, would like your insights on what I should absolutely not miss in these cities?

What are your top must see/do in these cities?

Thanks in advance
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Old Mar 19th, 2016, 09:23 PM
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Is your travel all arranged already? I don't quite see how you can have that much time in each place in 14 days. Do you actually have more than two weeks to cover travel time between places?
4, Madrid
4, Barcelona
3, Venice
3, Florence
?, Seville
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Old Mar 19th, 2016, 09:30 PM
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I agree -- 4 days (5 nights) in each Barcelona and Madrid and 3 days/4 nights in the other three would be a 3+week trip -- not two.
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Old Mar 19th, 2016, 10:19 PM
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The general idea of 4 days normally means 3 nights, not 4, which the OP will be spending 2 nights in each of their next stops. That doesn't include travel time.

Some people just like to travel this way.

As far as the top 'must sees', don't miss your taxi to and from the airport or miss your lunch reservations, assuming you have any.
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Old Mar 19th, 2016, 11:25 PM
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>>The general idea of 4 days normally means 3 nights, not 4
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Old Mar 20th, 2016, 04:09 AM
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The OP clearly states 4 full days, which would be exactly as Janisj says, five nights unless you were somehow arriving very, very early on day 1 and departing very, very late on day 4. That means places would be close together or the OP would be traveling all night.

The OP asked advice for sight seeing, but the itinerary calls out for clarification.
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Old Mar 20th, 2016, 04:28 AM
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Sorry - but your numbers are just off. Four full days in a city means 5 nights - there is no way around this. (Tour groups count the way you do - but their schedules are fantasy - they count departure, arrival and then final departure days and you spend most of your time sitting on a bus anyway.) Also you don;t say how long 2 weeks is - for some this is 12.5 days on the ground - some count 3 weekends and will get 15.5 days on the ground.

If you lay your trip out day by day - showing for each where you will awake, what travel you will do that day and deduct actual time (based on train or flight schedules) for it and then showing where you will sleep you will see your mistake.

Separately, if you have no idea what you want to see.do in each place why are you going there? And how can we help you since we know nothing about you and your interests. Strongly suggest you get some guide books and start making a list of your must sees and people can tell you what is possible and what could be added or dropped.
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Old Mar 20th, 2016, 05:15 AM
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Is there a reason you left out Cordoba and Granada? The Mezquita and Al Hambra were the highlights of my trip to Spain.
With only two weeks, I would stick to one country:

4 days Madrid (day trip to Toledo)
Train to Seville
4 days Seville (day trip to Cordoba)
Train to Granada
2 days Granada
Fly to Barcelona
4 days Barcelona

Or I would split my time between Spain and Italy and save Andalusia for another trip.

4 days Madrid
4 days Barcelona
3 days Venice
3 days Florence

I don't know if it matters to you, but Seville, and Andalusia in general, will have glorious weather in April.
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Old Mar 20th, 2016, 05:41 AM
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I second the motion to visit Granada. I would not spend four days in Madrid. Could easily spend lots of time in Granada and not get tired of it: beautiful, historic, clean air (compared to very dirty air in Madrid), cheap food, great tapas (known for generous tapas), The Alhambra, etc

Cordoba is also spectacular though I would say Granada beats it, and with so little time in Spain it might be best to limit options. I personally don't think Madrid is worth spending time in on one's first visit to Spain. Once you've seen lots of the 'must see' sites, it's ok, because then you are just traveling to meet people etc etc but it's a huge, grey, quite dirty aired and hectic city with a lto of metro underground time required to get most places.
That said, I spent two months in Madrid meeting great people (probably my favorite place to meet people in Spain because of the open mindedness, and international feel and the lack of exhaustion of tourists because it's not as much a tourist city as the others), but the depression of being in such surroundings with such dirty air and ugly building and so much time so deep underground got to me. I got out on day trips whenever possible, and only remained there so long because I was supposed to start a job there (which was going to help fund my year of entrepreneurship).
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Old Mar 20th, 2016, 06:00 AM
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Brooke, I agree with you about Granada. The town itself is very interesting and beautiful.
But I disagree about Madrid being ugly. Which part of the city were you staying in? I thought it was a beautiful and clean city, overall, with chic boulevards and lots of green spaces.
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Old Mar 20th, 2016, 07:27 AM
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lol...thank you all...I was not expecting a discussion on numbers here ahaha...but you are all some what right ...My mistake its a total of 17 days excluding my incoming and outgoing flights, i will have almost full days in all places except Venice cuz all of them are early morning trains and f-lights, so here's the break down
4-MAD (reaching at 7 am)
3 -SVQ
4-BCN
3-Florence
3ish-Venice.

So the days when I travel I want to have a list of must see places ready so if time permits I start as soon as I get there.

Thanks again guys!
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Old Mar 20th, 2016, 08:27 AM
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Madrid:
Prado museum
Park del Retiro
Thyssen museum
Reina Sofia museum
Royal Palace
Cibeles Palace
Mercado di San Miguel
Santiago Bernabeu stadium
Enjoy the tapas bars scene at Cava Baja street
(+daytrip to Toledo)

Seville:
The cathedral and La Giralda
Alcazar
Plaza De Espana
Maria Luisa Park
Barrio Santa Cruz
A flamenco show at Casa de La Memoria
Restaurants: Eslava, Az-Zait

Barcelona:
Sagrada Familia (obviously)
Casa Batlo
Eixample
Gothic Quarter
Palau de la Musica Catalana
Palau Guell
El Born neighborhood

Restaurants: Cerveceria Catalana, Cal Pep
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Old Mar 20th, 2016, 10:01 AM
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Landing that first day at 7:00 a.m. you will need to get to your hotel and drop your stuff off (not likely a room will be ready) and things like museums won't be open yet, so hang out at a cafe for a little while before sight seeing. You have traveled to Europe before. Will you be jet-lagged?

With four days in Madrid, I would definitely spend one day in Seovia and one day in Toledo. The cathedral in Toledo is a major, major "don't miss."

I think Madrid is a lovely city. Parks, museums, fountains, etc. There are many things to see, but the major draw for me is the Prado. That would be the "don't miss" sight.

A thought about all those early flights and trains. You might sleep on the trains, but getting up so early for flights (and trains) means little sleep the night before, getting to your hotel before rooms are ready and arriving before museums and things are even open. That schedule doesn't work for me. I would be exhausted, but I am older and choose afternoon or early evening travel, always waking up in the city I am staying in. However, some people are early morning people and would handle it fine. You are maybe one of them. Just plan for it.

Venice: best thing is walking around and Burano, IMHO.

Barcelona: everything Gaudi.

Florence: Duomo, David, Santa Croce, Ponte Vecchio, walking, day trip to one hill town.

The Alhambra in Granada is one of the top sights in Spain (perhaps Europe), but you can never see everything anyway, and you are seeing some amazing places this trip, so just enjoy them. I didn't see the Alhambra untill my fourth trip to Spain. It was worth the wait. You will go back.
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Old Mar 21st, 2016, 03:28 PM
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thanks all of you, Toledo is on my list, will go for a day trip. you inputs will help a lto. I will keep an eye on this forum for more info.
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