CAespana

Hi there! My husband and I are taking a month-long trip to Spain this summer. After spending a couple of months doing research on this and other sites, I think I'm ready to post our Spain itinerary and get some feedback. Some background: we're in our mid-30s, no children. We're going to Spain for the culture, people, food and wine, flamenco, architecture, and beauty of the country. Our accommodations budget is mid-range (approx. 100Euro/night), and we like to find creative, interesting places to stay. We will try to "plant" ourselves in a few areas and take day trips so we don't spend the whole trip unpacking and packing. By the time we go, I will have a working knowledge of Spanish - enough to get us around, hopefully! With that in mind, here goes...

June 16 - arrive in Madrid (flying from San Francisco)

June 16 - June 20: Madrid. Day trips to Segovia, El Escorial. Accommodations: Hostal Adriano in Madrid.

June 20 - AVE train to Toledo

June 20 - 21: Toledo. Accommodations: La Posada de Manolo "Translators" room.

June 21 - travel from Toledo to Seville. Is there an AVE train to Seville?

June 21 - June 28: Seville. Day trips to Jerez, Carmona, Italica, otherwise just relax, eat, drink, enjoy. Accommodations: I have a few inquiries for apartments in the Barrio de Santa Cruz, but nothing booked.

June 28 - July 5 or 6: Rent a car in Seville and travel in/around Andalusia and pueblos blancos, staying in little places/casas rurales along the way (easier to pack/unpack when there's a car). Ronda, Nerja, Granada, Iznajar.

*From here we need to get to Barcelona. Is it best to go to Cordoba, return the car, take AVE to Madrid, then AVE to Barcelona?**

July 7 - July 13: Barcelona. Spend 3 or 4 days in BCN, and a couple of days in the Costa Brava - Figueres/Girona/Lligat.

July 13 - depart Barcelona.

Any recommendations on places to stay or ways to amend the itinerary would be greatly appreciated! The only thing that's set is our arrival and departure from Spain. Thanks so much for the input.

Robert2533

I don't think you can classify Hostel La Macarena as charming, at least not in the normal sense, but it does have a history.

Depending on your budget, you may want to look around a little more.

The train to Toledo is the Alta Velocidad, not the AVE. You will have to return to Madrid to take the AVE to Sevilla.

You're heading into Andalucia in late June. You should find a place with air-conditioning, if not, then I hope you enjoy a little heat.

Since you are traveling in high season in the south, as well as in Barcelona, you need to book accommodations ahead of time if you expect to find anything decent, especially when it comes to the Casa Rurales, which are very popular. If you don't want to make reservations ahead of time, there is the possibility of finding someplace nice if you want to take the chance, but you may end up spending a little more time looking around for a place to stay then you had planned on.

Yes, you can take the AVE from Cordoba to Madrid and then make the connection to Barcelona.

artlover

Sounds like you have a good plan, but I don't understand why you're going back to Madrid to get to Barcelona--you would be better off either taking the train or getting a cheap flight from Malaga. Check out iberia and vueling.com for inexpensive flights within Spain. Also, check out solmelia.com, bancotel.com, petrabrax.com, and parador.es for good hotel deals.

Happy planning!

CAespana

Thanks so much to you both for the advice, it helps a lot.

Artlover - we'd rather not take a plane to Barcelona, even though I'm sure it's the fastest way. We're probably going to be near/in Cordoba (where we'll stay for a night) when we want to head for Barcelona, after having finished our Andalusia "road trip" - what would you recommend as our means of travel to Barcelona? I'm up for suggestions - the train system in Spain is one thing I haven't investigated as deeply as I should.

Thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it.

Robert2533

The train system in Spain works very well and you can take the AVE from Cordoba to Madrid and then on to Barcelona. The final leg of the AVE run to Barcelona is not yet complete, so the train becomes a Regional on the last leg, but you don't have to change trains between Madrid and Barcelona.

artlover

Good advise from Robert, just don't think you need to go back to Madrid to get to Barcelona. The trains in Spain are really good, but sometimes it helps to have reservations. We were travelling during Easter and it seemed that 2/3rds of the people in Spain were as well and reservations were needed then.