LeslieC

We have only 7 nights (Apr 10 - 16) in Spain. Coming in from London, we can fly either to Madrid or Barcelona. Returning to the US on 4/17 - midmorning departure could be out of Madrid, BCN or Sevilla. Would like to experience Flamenco, tapas bar, castles, culture, pretty countryside, history. Sevilla and Barcelona are top on my list but figure we can't hit both in so short a time. Can you suggest an itinerary and/or rank these destinations. Willing to rent a car if necessary:

Sevilla
Barcelona
Granada
Cordoba
Jerez de La Frontera
Cadiz
Nerja
Toledo

LeslieC

Correction: Looks like we will have to fly home from Madrid on 4/17 11:40 am departure.

Aduchamp1

You left off Bilbao and San Sebsatian.

Just go to Sevilla and Barcelona and fly between them.

danon

Seven night is 6 days. What you wish to experience would take six weeks.
If you have to fly back from Madrid - go to Barcelona for 3 days, fly to Madrid ( don't drive). You may be able to visit Toledo for a few hours from Madrid.

Ramblero

Ummmmm.....I don't think you can do that in 6 days. I spent 2 weeks in Spain; 7 days in Madrid (after spending 3 days in Madrid (the Plaza Major/Prado/Picasso will take nearly 3 days), driving to Segovia (Roman aquaduct), Avila/El Escorial and Toledo(cathedral) (1 day each)) then flew to Grenada and drove from Grenada (Alhambra - a MUST SEE):Malaga:Gibralter: Seville (the most fun city we were in). Can't imagine doing just the above in 6 days.....much less Barcelona et. al.

victor_d

You must skip some places.

If you choose Barna and Andalucia or Madrid and Andalucia(sevilla, cordoba, ronda, granada..) it will be stressing for 6 days, can be done but you will realize that you are missing many things to see. And you'll loos many time travelling between those cities in andalucia, by car you save some time but drinving into the center of Sevilla or Granada is not a nice experience.

If i were you i would do:
Left Andalucia for another 7 day trip in the future.

Focus in Barcelona and Madrid, with 3 days Barcelona and 4 days in Madrid, why more time in Madrid? apart of time for the museums you have good daytrips from Madrid (Toledo, Segovia, Avila, El Escorial...)

Flamenco, you can try it at Barcelona and Madrid (some famous places in Madrid, seek in fodors for previous threads about this issue), tapas bars: in both places, more in Madrid i think.
Castles: Toledo and Segovia (Segovia Alcazar is outstanding)

Culture: important museums in Barna Picasso museum, and Madrid, (Prado,Tyssen, Reina Sofia)

Countryside, while doing daytrips, if you do the Segovia daytrip by car you can add La Granja palace and nice countryside through Navacerrada mountain pass from Madrid to Segovia. (and also add Manzanares El Real castle)

From Barcelona to Madrid, countryside is not specially interesting, i would do it by plane or train.

I would rank Barcelona, Madrid and Andalucia the same, it's very hard to choose one of them as all them have must see places and have their own charm.

chimani

Barcelona is Barcelona - you could spend the whole time there but it is Barcelona, not Spain, imho.

Given your interests, and given you must fly out of Madrid I would do one of the following:

Fly in to BCN, spend time there - train or fly to Madrid. As Museums and Art Galleries aren't on the list, get yourselves out to Toledo same day, and spend a night there (tons, tons better than a day trip). Go back to Madrid and fly home.

Fly into Madrid; stay one night if necessary; take AVE high speed train to Sevilla, stay there; take bus to Cordoba (not on your list, I know) and AVE back to Madrid.

Or .. check out Easyjet or other budget carrier. Fly to Malaga, hire car, visit Granada (esp for flamenco) and Sevilla. Take AVE from Sevilla to Madrid, fly out. Forget Barcelona. Leave it for another time.

Is there some reason why you can only fly into Madrid or Barcelona?

Loads of other options. Depends on all sorts of things.

basingstoke2

In your list of places, IMO the high points would be Seville, Granada, Cordoba and Toledo. The first three are not too far apart from each other. Toledo is very near Madrid. Barcelona is worthwhile but too far in the other direction. You can certainly skip Jerez and Cadiz without missing much. I would also skip Madrid. Although a fine place to visit, it is a big city and you will not have the time to do it justice. I would head straight to Toledo on arrival -easy enough to do, and overnight there. Toledo is one of those places that is very different at night when most daytrippers leave. From there go on to Seville and use it as a base for daytrips to Granada and Cordoba or stay overnight in Granada. IMO consider busses for this. Sevilla alone has everything you say that wish to see and experience and the other three cities have them too with different perspective and context.

CathyM

With only a week I'd focus on Sevilla and Andalucia. You could spend 5 nights in Sevilla with daytrips to Jerez, Cordoba and the white villages...even Cadiz. Then 1-2 nights in Granada to see the Alhambra.

I agree with the previous poster about Barcelona. It is a beautiful vibrant city...however if you are looking to visit Spain it is not the "typical" Spanish city or culture. If you really want to visit Barcelona you could easily spend this time in Barcelona with perhaps a night or 2 in Girona/Tarragona.

Aduchamp1

It is astonishing that people pass judgment on Barcelona, that it is not "Spanish."

Well what is Spanish? San Sebastian and Bilbao are Basque. Santiago de Compostela is Gallego. The various islands all ahve their own identity. Andalucia is heavily influenced by the Moors. The center of the country has windmills.

So what is Spanish when many languages, cultural influences, and heritages are in one "country?"

I dare say a preconcieved notrion of what Spain is, not what it is.

LeslieC

Thanks to all for your thoughtful replies. Yes, I do understand we cannot do it all so that is why I wanted help prioritizing these sights. To answer Chimani's question we are using American airline miles to visit London for one week, then on to Spain and home to the US from Spain. This requires we use American Airlines' partner airline, British Airways and they only fly to MAD or BCN from London.

I think we will focus on Andalucia because I really want to see Sevilla and observe the Moorish influence in the architecture. Madrid is not a high priority for me and sadly, Barcelona will have to wait, though I may never get there!

So if we arrive Madrid midday, how about this itinerary:

Afternoon visit to the Prado and overnight in Madrid.
Day two AVE to Sevilla, with a midday stop in Cordoba to see the Mesquita.
Nights 2, 3 and 4 in Sevilla. Pick up rental car and drive to Granada for 2 nights.
Drive to Toledo for one night.
Drive early am to MAD for an 11:40 am departure to the US.

m_kingdom2

You're there for one week, not one year. As previously suggested, I'd choose to spend three or four nights in Madrid, having spent three or four nights in either Seville, Bilbao, etc. I'd probably advise Bilbao if it's your first trip as there's plenty to explore in the city itself and the surrounding region.

As for Barcelona, I know exactly what the poster means when they say it's not really Spanish. I hated the city when I was there a couple of years ago. It is pretentious, trying far too hard to be modern and cutting edge, and it is just a dump. Americans tend to be impressed with it, give me Seville's charm any day. The area by the beach is pleasant enough, the various arty museums are relatively interesting, but as a city it is a hard place to warm too and it does lack that really Spanish feel that one associates with the country. If you fancy Barcelona then by all means see it and judge for yourself.

CathyM

Why not skip Madrid and head straight to Toledo for the first night? You'd have to head back to Madrid to take the AVE to Cordoba/Sevilla but it's not much time. Instead of driving from Granada to Toledo you could take a train to Madrid and arrive in time to visit the Prado your final evening in Spain.

Alternatively, you could head straight to Sevilla (via Cordoba) from the beginning and after Granada you'd have 2 nights to split between Madrid and Toledo. This may actually be a better option. I'd take the train or even fly if you can get a good rate from Granada.

Just my thoughts. Once you receive more input from others and finalize your decision please let us know and we can help out with hotels, restaurants, etc..

One more thought....your trip may be around the time of the feria in Sevilla. If so, you'll need to start reserving hotels now. They'll be at a premium but the feria is supposed to be a wonderful time to visit (I cannot personally say as I've never visited during this time).

danon

Aduchamp1
I agree with you !

M-kingtom2
Barcelona is a dump???

What did you do - spend a day in Ramblas and go away?

"If you fancy Barcelona then by all means see it and judge for yourself".

Indeed. It is one of the most beautiful and interesting cities I have seen ( been on 4 continents, more than 30 countries).

bobthenavigator

Spain takes 6 weeks and you have 6 days. I agree with Cathy---see Andalusia.

LeslieC

I'm trying to pare my list down and Andalucia in spring is my priority - so I'll not explain why Bilbao, San Sebatian are not in the cards or why 3 or 4 nights in Madrid does not appeal. I am willing to skip Madrid altogether if need be.

Thank you Cathy and Bob for responses. Now that I've narrowed this down to Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada and Toledo, I have 3 concerns -
1) I'd like to take the AVE to Sevilla and Toledo is off track from that. It seems odd to back track to Madrid.

2) With a midmorning departure on the last day, do we need to spend the prior night in Madrid? Is Toledo too far to drive to MAD in early morning? I'd really like to spend the night in Toledo and not just day trip it from Madrid. But I don't want to spend our last night just in a hotel near the airport.

3) I'd like to have a rental car, ideally to drop off at the airport last day and also to see some countryside.

chimani

Ok - so don't stay in Madrid - get out on arrival and go to Toledo.

With a hire car for one day.

No I don't think so.

I guess if you arrive early enough in Madrid you could take a train out to Cordoba or Sevilla same day, and then your itinerary might, just might, work.

It doesn't take long to get from Toledo to Madrid. But sometimes it takes longer to drop off that hire car than it would to take the bus and a taxi or other public transport.

Buses from Toledo to Madrid are frequent

As always, I wonder on the fixation hereabouts on having a car.

To be honest, you are still trying to do too much.

CathyM

Leslie-

I'll try to help you out here on your concerns:

1) "backtracking Toledo to Madrid"
It's only a 30 minute train ride from Toledo to Madrid so it's not much backtracking at all. In fact, the AVE to Sevilla (and Cordoba) and the Avant to Toledo both depart from Atocha station. So, no worries about transfers turning in a car, etc...

I'd just make sure to book the AVE and Avant tickets ahead of time. You can even do it on-line and pick up your tickets at the airport.

2) "With a midmorning departure on the last day, do we need to spend the prior night in Madrid? Is Toledo too far to drive to MAD in early morning?"

It appears you're returning on a weekday and there are early trains from Toledo to Madrid. The current schedule shows trains leaving at 6:55, 7:30 and 8:05 a.m (arriving 30 minutes later). Once at Atocha you'd have to catch a taxi to the airport. If your flight is around 11a.m. you should be OK. Otherwise, couldn't you spend the final night in Madrid and the prior night in Toledo? Then you'd just have to take a taxi/shuttle from your hotel to the airport?

3) I'd like to have a rental car, ideally to drop off at the airport last day and also to see some countryside.

I'm with chimani on this one. I don't see the purpose in renting a car for the Madrid/Toledo portion of your trip. With only one night in Toledo I don't see what type of countryside you'd want to see in this area. If you were staying another week in Madrid/Toledo it would be a great way to hop to Avila, El Escorial, Segovia, Salamanca, etc.... With such frequent (and faster than driving) train connections I'd skip the car.

If you have your heart set on renting a car the best part for this trip would probably be between Sevilla and Granada. You could visit some of the white villages. But with only 3 nights in Sevilla and 2 in Granada you'd be visiting the villages very quickly or cut a day out of Granada and stay overnight in Ronda/Arcos/Zahara/etc... But then you'd have the hassle of returning the car in Granada and I've heard it is not easy to navigate in this city. I suppose you could keep the car and drive it to Toledo/Madrid but it's a long drive and will cut time out of your trip. I have a friend who very much enjoys driving. Despite my warnings, she insisted that she wanted to drive from Sevilla to Madrid (on Easter Sunday!) versus taking the train. Instead of arriving in Madrid around 7:30 pm she arrived in Madrid at 1:00 a.m. Being Easter Sunday it made the trip much worse than normal and she admitted it just wasn't worth it!

Also, is it possible you could fly into Madrid and return with a flight out of Sevilla? If so, perhaps it would be good to start the trip in Madrid/Toledo then head south and not worry about returning to Madrid.

Just my 2 cents - bottom line is this is your trip and you need to do what makes you comfortable. If you have any more questions, just let us know!

LeslieC

Thank you Chimani & Cathy. Very helpful comments. It sounds like the real stretch is the return from Granada or Sevilla all the way to Madrid.

So I re-checked British Airways and find we can fly from London to Malaga, non-stop, arriving at noon. No flights to Sevilla, though. So how about this revised plan:

Day 1 - arrive Malaga, and immediately transfer to Granada.
2 nights Granada
2 or 3 nights Sevilla
1 night or 1/2 day Cordoba
1 night Toledo
1 night Madrid

My ideal would be to rent a car upon arrival and return it in Sevilla. Could we drive from Malaga to Granada via the coast and have a brief stop (peek) at Nerja? Then, after our time In Sevilla, use the AVE to go Sevilla-Cordoba and after use AVE to Madrid, connecting directly to the Avant to Toledo. Return to Madrid for the last night. (I'll be satisfied with an afternoon at the Prado. Next morning, Taxi/Shuttle from Madrid for our flight home.

If this is getting closer, then my questions are still about best transportation between Malaga, Granada, and Sevilla, if not by rental car.

Note to Cathy - our trip falls after the Feria de Abril.

chimani

Leslie,

That's good news. An open jaw into Malaga and out of Madrid is a lot more time efficient.

I did a similar sort of trip in 2003 but the other way round and with an extra 2 nights. And I didn't go to Sevilla, because I like to dawdle, and you always have to compromise/make choices. I did it all on public transport.

Option One:

A noon arrival in Malaga means you could easily get to Granada same day on the bus. Stay two nights. Hire your car there and drive to Cordoba to see the Mesquite and arrive Sevilla same day. Drop off car that night or next morning. Stay Sevilla nights 3,4,5. Take AVE to Madrid early, and on to Toledo. Stay night 6. Train/bus to Madrid late afternoon. Stay night 7 in Madrid. See Prado for a couple fo hours and whizz off to airport in taxi.

Option Two:

Or add a day to Sevilla: stay night 7 in Toledo; skip the Prado (it's wonderful) and follow Cathy's advice about early departure from Toledo by train for flight out same day.

Option Three:

Add a day to the available time.

Cheers.