nkranes

I am planning my honeymoon in Spain, May 30, 2004 for 14 days and I have a prospective itinerary that I would love comments on.

Firstly, let me say that my fiance' and I are more interested in seeing/experiencing rather than resting/relaxing on our vacations. We'd like to drive as much as possible (without wasting too much time) and meet with the locals, eat/drink, rather than lie back and relax. I'd like to see as much as possible by day trip rather than constantly packing/unpacking suitcases and moving from city to city checking in and out of hotels. This is our honeymoon, after all.

Itinerary:
We're coming from NY and flying into Madrid. We're then going to take the AVE down to Sevilla, renting a car for the rest of the trip, and spending 3 days there, taking day trips out to Cordoba and Granada. We'd then like to drive up the eastern part of Spain, possibly along the coast and stay in a Paradore in Cuenca for 2 days. We're looking for a city to stop in for a day/night on the road from Sevilla to Cuenca, as the drive is a bit long to do in one day. While in Cuenca, we'd like to check out Teruel, as a day trip. From there, we're driving up to Barcelona for 4 days. From Barcelona, maybe go to Majorca for a day. Then up to San Sebastian, possibly stopping at Saragossa along the way (not sure). Stay in San Sebastian for 3 days, day trip to Castilla(?). Then back down to Madrid, possibly stopping at Segovia along the way, and staying the night. We fly back out of Madrid to NY.

I'm not sure if this is a bit ambitious, but we've never been to Spain and not sure when we'll get a chance to come back so we'd like to see as much as possible. Is this realistic to do in 14-15 days? Are there any places I can omit or need to add? Is renting a car and driving this a bit much? Should I try to stay in more Paradores, I've heard wonderful things about them? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

nytraveler

For my money you haven't left enough time in the South - need at least 2 days each for Seville, Granada and Cordoba. Also, I think you planning on too much driving each day. If you're on a major highway speeds will be relatively high but going cross country can be much slower. Also, you're not leaving much time for meeting the locals and eating/drinking (in spain lunch and dinner are relaxed meals taking a couple of hours to enjoy). If you try to do Granada from Seville for example, you'll just drive one way, have lunch and return with no time to experience Granada. Barcelona and San Sebastian are also interesting and very different - but I'm not sure you can realistically make all these other stops. Or how you could fit in Majorca at all - fly? ferry?

I would select fewer places and try to determine exact mileages and realistic driving times before finalizing any itinerary.

car

nkranes
This is too much driving and too many places for two weeks.
I think you should avoid the Sevilla Barcelona(700miles) drive and the Barcelona SS(400miles)
In both trips you can fly or take night trains. It also depends how important is for you to go to Cuenca and Zaragoza. Teruel can be missed this time. Mallorca for a day makes no sense.
So I will suggest the following:
Arrival in Madrid,it looks like you want an inmediate train to the south, which I will not recommend, rather stay for a day and then leave one more day for the Madrid visit at end of the trip.
Trip to Sevilla, In the way south all AVE trains stop in Cordoba, you need to buy two tickets one for the Madrid-Cordoba and another one for the Cordoba- Sevilla, it is not more expensive you just need two. Then you can visit Cordoba during half a day. You don't need a car while in town in Sevilla but you will need one to explore Sevilla surroundings(pueblos blancos, Ronda).
You can drive to Granada and stay at least one full day and take a flight to Barcelona, 2/3 days . Flight to SS staying for 2 days, then drive to Madrid (4 hours) stopping in Bilbao and Burgos and then back to Madrid for the rest of your time left.
Resume:
1-Madrid
2-Madrid-Cordoba-Sevilla(AVE)
3-Sevilla
4-Sevilla
5-Sevilla-Ronda-Granada(car)
6-Granada
7-Granada-Barcelona(Fly or train)
8-Barcelona
9-Barcelona(car to visit Monserrat)
10-Barcelona-SS(fly or train)
11-SS
12-SS-Bilbao(car)
13-SS-Burgos-Madrid(car)
14-Madrid
15-Madrid-Home

kaudrey

Hi,

car gave you a great itinerary. The only thing I would add, so that you can see that your plan is a little too much, is that it is about a 3 hour drive from Seville to Granada, so doing that as a day trip doesn't make much sense. Hit it on the way out east, as car suggests.

I am going to Spain in February for 2 weeks, and this is what I am thinking of doing:

4 days in Madrid (with day trips to Toledo and Segovia), hit Cordoba by train on the way to Sevilla, 3 nights in Sevilla, pick up rental car and spend 2 nights in Ronda to explore the white towns, drive to Granada (return car here) stay for 1 night - see Alhambra; then next evening fly to Barcelona (flight can be as low as $35 and takes 1 hour 15 minutes), then 4 days in Barcelona.

Just to give you a feel. Obviously, since I haven't done it yet, I don't know how well it will work, but I've gotten some feedback on this board about the plan, and it seems like it will work out well.

Good luck, and congrats on the wedding!

Karen

nkranes

Thanks so much for this info! It was very helpful.

Another question: If I take the train down from Madrid and stop in Cordoba for the day, what happens with our bags? We'll be lugging around quite a bit to just carry around. Can they be left on the train so we can rejoin them as we continue on to Sevilla? Also, I assume Iberia is the best airline for intra-Spain travel?

kaudrey

mkranes -

Your luggage cannot be left on the train in Cordoba. But, thanks to the helpful Maribel - this is what she said in response to my itinerary post (this may be a combo of several responses...):

"Take the 8:30 AVE arriving Córdoba at 10:12.

Stash your bags in the luggage lockers located right above the escalator, to the left of the terminal, grab a taxi to the Mezquita, see it first (opens at 10), then visit the gardens of the Alcázar, stroll around the Judería (Jewish Quarter), peek into the lavishly decorated patios, have a wonderful lunch of tapas in the indoor patio of terrific Taberna Casa Pepe on the corner of Calle Judíos, then back to the plaza where the tourist office is located to grab a taxi back to the station. The absolute minimum time I'd spend would be 4 1/2-5."

There are trains in the afternoon from Cordoba to Sevilla - one every hour or so, so there is so problem getting there.

Karen

kaudrey

That last sentence was supposed to be "there should be NO problem getting there"...