Niroth

Hoping for some help choosing between these two intriguing regions and for suggestions on where to "base" for a group travleing from Boston that includes 3 ~40 year olds, 2 ~67 YOs and 1 will be 4.5 YO at time of travel.

When my wife and I (40) have traveled Europe in the past we would spend 2-3 nights a place and then hop to another. With our daughter in tow we are thinking it would be best to pick a "base" for a week, relax and experience the culture while taking some day trips around the region.

Since we will have 5 adults to 1 child there will be opportunity for groups of adults to go exploring while someone stays back with our daughter. We all love nature (including the 4YO), food and wandering interesting neighborhoods. While we aren't looking for a beach vacation / resorty place there is something to be said for how much amusement a child can get with a bucket and some sand!

We plan to rent a car for daytrips and ideally would base somewhere big enough to be interesting for the adults but where we could potentially rent a larger apartment or villa with some outdoor space... so not a big city. An example of what we are thinking is one year we stayed at the bottom of Montepulciano in Tuscany, drove around the region during the day and walked the streets in the evening.

If we chose Basque Country we would target June which I realize will still be cool but my wife runs a summer camp so July / August are out. If we chose Andalucia we would target May (April?) to avoid the real heat.

Any thoughts on which region would be better suited to our needs and potential base locations are GREATLY apprecaited. Thanks in advance!

annw

Hard to go wrong! San Sebastian is gorgeous and plenty of sand for the little one, and Bilbao/Bayonne are close and interesting ventures (IMO), but I'd find it hard to give up the glories of Granada, Toledo, Cordoba, and Seville (we started in Madrid and then went south).

I actually did both areas this last April (perfect weather in Andalusia, and we were in Seville for the April Fair), but that was for almost 3 weeks -- hubby flew home from Seville, and I flew to Bilbao to start a Camino de Santiago walk across the border in France for the last week.

If you do choose Andalusia, and see the Alhambra in Granada, I highly highly recommending booking ahead for a private guide for your group. We had a Moroccan guide who could translate the writings, explain the cultural history as well as the events over the centuries. Actually, Granada was our favorite place of the whole trip.

Niroth

Thanks! I realize you may have used public transit, but any sense for if any of Granada, Toledo, Cordoba or Seville have areas that would be reasonable with a car? Or would it be a big burden? It is hard to tell how dense each city is from the guidebook - I know obviously Seville is a major city and a car is likely far more trouble than it is worth.. but the other 3?

danon

Although we never drove a car in Andalusia ,I can see how it could be an issue in small Andalusian towns.
SS and the area around ( including crossing to France ) may be more relaxing and equally interesting holiday.
We were in SS in mid May some years ago. The weather was sunny and pleasant.

btw, the Holly Week is in April…Andalusia is a very popular destination. The temperature in May is likely
in the 90s.

annw

Yes we used trains the whole way, with the occasional taxi if needed.

bilboburgler

Go north and go earlier.
You might even look into a house rent in Pico's d'Europa. Not sure if actually Basque but very special.

mikelg

Two totally different worlds, it´s almost like visiting two different countries...I¨m biased as I´m Basque, so the choice would be obvious. But I´d say that if you have the classic ideas about Spain (white villages, sun, beach, flamenco, paella, sangría...) well, this is not it!

amsdon

Hi! I may have missed this but how Long have you set aside for you trip?