Repeating parts of a previous trip

”…. and wonder if it a "waste" to revisit the same things….”

This made me smile! Absolutely not a waste IF it’s what you want to do. I have returned to southern Spain three February’s in a row. I had an e-credit for most of the price of a flight that expires next April, so (smiling), it’s back to southern Spain next February for four years in a row!

My other repeat is the Puglia region of Italy. Three years in a row in May - loved my time there but ready to go elsewhere so next May is in Portugal.

Typically most trips include a couple of cities I’ve stayed previously mixed with some new ones. Could you fly into Malaga and back home from Madrid or another northern option and give yourselves a little of both ideas?

Traveling is never a waste of time! Been at it for nearly 60 years. Wholeheartedly believe I’m better educated because of it. Also makes me appreciate what I have and who my friends are.

As many Forum members know I love London and travel there often. Overnight flight LAX to LHR via Virgin Atlantic. I stay in different neighborhoods, eat in a variety of restaurants, cafes and pubs. See theatre, visit galleries and museums. Walk a lot. Take pics on iPhone posting for friends to see.

Thus for my travel style returning to where I’ve already been has never been a waste of time.

The perfect trip for me is some new places, some places I've previously enjoyed, some city, some countryside/small town/village. I wouldn't hesitate to go back to places or sites that you loved, but it's also good to include new experiences.

I have no issues with revisiting some of the same places multiple times. I’ve been the places you mentioned multiple times. That being said, Spain is a large country with a plethora of nice cities, towns, and villages worth visiting. A nice compromise might be to visit a couple places a second time, if there are sites in them you didn’t see the first time, and add new places you haven’t been to.

I am a diehard “repeat offender”! I also mostly travel as a couple, and I’ll be honest in that there have been times when a repeat visit was not what we thought it would be, but overall, we are committed to returning to places we’ve loved and even those we just want to “do-over.”
For example, we visited Croatia four times with some overlap, but we never rented a car. So, we’d like to get back and explore new and old areas with that extra reach. We have returned to Italy about a dozen times because it’s just the pinnacle for us, on three occasions down to the same hotel or apartment.
The key is that we always do something new, too, and since that is how you plan to do it, I think it’s a great plan. (FWIW, I’d return to Andalucia a third time or Basque Country a second time in a heartbeat).
We often know better how to go about things when we’re older and more experienced, plus it is so rare to really exhaust a place the first time, especially the rich culture of Andalucia. Sometimes we take a more city focus or a more rural/nature focus, so that helps to mix it up also.
Going to a place repeatedly when you have picked up familiarity with a language or some other aspect can also be really enriching and rewarding. I also accept I’ll never get everywhere due to time, age, budget, reality, etc., so when I plan a trip I just do exactly what I want. Recommend!

Good planning to have got somewhere booked for the eclipse. We will also be down there for a short break for the eclipse.

I would take into account how hot it is likely to be in Southern Spain in August. There were many days of over 40 degrees this Summer. Northern Spain should be a lot more agreeable on temperature as well as magical in other ways.

As the eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime event, this is your one opportunity, so you’re right to go. But a total repeat? What if you spent some time in Granada, then added some new places … Ronda, or places farther east? Or, maybe even tie in some of Portugal with southern Spain? We did that years ago.

Northern Spain has fabulous destinations, but Spain is big, and we’ve never combined both north and south in the same trip.

I recently returned from a fourth trip to Turkey, and the second time I had visited the sites of Ephesus, Laodicea, Pamukkale, Hierapolis, and Cappadocia. When I return to places where I've already been, I try to see what has changed (archeological excavations change a lot over the years) and try new experiences. For example, in Cappadocia, I toured the underground city of Kaymakli for the first time, and enjoyed a morning hot-air balloon ride over the Cappadocian landscape (a definite highlight!) I am also an avid traveler to London. I've probably been there 20+ times and each time, I try to visit a museum I haven't visited before or experience something new like traveling to Greenwich for the day or taking a walking tour through a new section of the city. Good luck on your trip planning. The solar eclipse will be amazing!

My husband and I often talk about this. There is not one destination to which we've gone that we would not like to return to...of course, some more than others; and, there are particular sites at a destination that we might leave off the list (for me, Cliffs of Moher) and some to which I'd return.

Separately, in our youth, we backpacked in Europe as far south as Rome, and I was as far north as Scandinavia. Before 2023, my husband and I (sometimes with kids) had visited the UK (4) Ukraine, Germany & Luxembourg (2) and France. Since I retired in 2023, my husband and I (2 trips with daughter) have visited the UK 4 times and will return for a holiday season redo/ husband's retirement, #5. In addition to London, we will spend about a week in Wells---for our 3rd stay in a lovely country house (reasonable$). The UK is my ancestral home, and I feel it in my bones.

Like others, we add visits to new towns, villages, or sights during our return vacations.
When someone asks us why we are returning to the UK, my husband asks, "Why do you keep returning to Hawaii?".

I hope that once we are settled in to joint retirement, we will be able to have an annual trip to the UK/Ireland as well as a trip of discovery (e.g, Normandy Beaches, Southern France, Netherlands/Belgium, Eastern Europe, etc.)

Morgan,
How long do you have (on the ground)? If you have two weeks, then you can do both. The posters here have said they are happy to revisit, but also explore new places. I concur. I also agree that the weather will be really hot that time of year in southern Spain. Revisit Sevilla, Cordoba, etc. for 3-4 days, then head north for the second week. The high speed trains in Spain are great. (e.g. Granada to Madrid about 3 1/2 hours.) Madrid is a good place to stay with several easy day trips (Toledo, El Escorial, Avila, Segovia). Or Barcelona, with day trips to Tarragona, Figueres, Sitges, Montserrat. Or the Basque country.......really, Spain has so much, and is larger than California, so you can find many sections to explore without traversing the whole country.

I love seeing new places, but am always happy to revisit a place that holds special memories. Even at home, we have done road trips throughout California many, many times, and been to every county more than once, even the far-off more isolated ones. I still get excited when we decide to head back to Sonoma county, or Prairie Creek State Park, or San Luis Obispo on a Thursday night, or Temecula to have chicken-fried steak at the Swing Inn (been eating there for over fifty years when in that town), or Burney Falls in the northwest corner of the state, or the tiny Eastern Calif. Museum in Independence, Ca. Each revisit triggers a new memory and doesn't bore.
But the new places make me grow, as a traveler, a person, an appreciator of the big world outside of my small world. At almost 83, I still have a list of places I want to visit while I am mobile and in my right mind (Sicily, Japan, Scotland, New Zealand, Quebec Province, the 24 states I haven't been to.......). Encourage Nick to think of a new place as the seed of new fond memories.
Unjoy the eclipse! My son was in northern Spain for this year's and is really glad he went!
Amusez-vous bien!

P.S. Rereading your original post.....One can NEVER visit Paris too often. There is a lifetime of sights, sounds, history, experiences to enjoy in Paris and its environs. It is far more than the Louvre and Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. It took me seven visits to Paris to get to the Cluny Museum. Fantastic! And I return to the Rodin Museum each time in Paris.

I would say the same for Rome....another city for the ages.

Enjoy, not unjoy! Sorry.

There are absolutely places I love to revisit. There are also places I have revisited and they fell flat the second time - and I am not sure why. I do find I like to combine old and new. Sometimes I like beginning with the new when I have more energy, then ending with the familiar.

However in this case, I would consider John’s thoughts about the heat and not try to repeat a 2 week Andalucia trip. Maybe pick one location for the repeat and go north for some new places.

"Waste" was probably not the right choice of words. I remember enjoying the Mezquita in Cordoba so much, I doubt I would consider it a waste to see it again!

We are limited to 2 weeks as we're still working stiffs. Boo!

On our last trip, we did a lot of running around, 2N Madrid, 2N Cordoba, 2N Granada, 2N Nerja, 1N Ronda, and 2N Seville. So I can see us spending more time in the white towns, more time in Cordoba (which was my favorite) seeing some sights we missed.

But I get that July/August is a very hot time to visit the southern part, which was part of my thought to jet out of there as soon as possible to the northern part. However, the thought of going back to an airport so soon after arriving is also yucky.

You can see how my planning brain gets so indecisive! haha

and the cost of flights I just checked makes me go, Yikes!

There are definitely places we've revisited. For example, our first trip to Florence we visited the big ticket sites, and my second visit was for the places we'd missed the first time. But I stayed in the same hotel, ate at a few of the same places, and loved reconnecting with the city. There even more places that I'd like to revisit, but they aren't yet a priority. If I do a revisit, I combine new and old places on the trip.

But I think the larger issue is whether you are asking us to be a tiebreaker for you and your husband. For that I'm going to tiptoe aside! ;)

Oh my, I can't even recall the last trip I took to Europe where is was not in at least one place that I had been before.

London, Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Munich, to name a few, are all places I have been to at least 3 times, some as many as 8 or 9, maybe more.

We have a trip planned for spring, 3 places in Spain, then a place in Belgium and the Netherlands, where we have been to each of the towns (One I guess will be new for my wife) in fact one of them is Madrid, where we have maybe spent over 20 nights over 3 or 4 trips, and this time we will be spending another 5 nights.

We always find something new, revisit old favorites, observe how things have changed. By going back, you actually have time to explore neat small neighborhoods, quirky small museums, explore restaurants. We find we relax more, and are OK if an afternoon is just spent having a glass of wine or a drink and watching people go by. In many places it is easier because you know the public transport system, know where to go, where to avoid, an efficiency if you will.

Certainly new can be fun, but digging deeper into a place can be even more rewarding.

Whew, I didn’t notice the month you were planning when I wrote my comment. Definitely wouldn’t suggest going to the Andalusia region in July. Yes, my vote is to go north.

If you were to start in southern Spain, then jet north, have you looked at flight prices on Vueling? They’re a typically cheaper Spanish airline.

Jean, if I could reschedule the eclipse to October, I would (may I speak to the Manager??)! Haha

Cyn, Vueling is what I was thinking for Malaga to Bilbao (or vice versa). It was the cost of getting over there from Denver that was a Yikes. I know the increase in fuel prices is taking a toll (literally) on flight costs.

Now I'm wondering if starting north is better and then finishing south. Relaxing beach time at the end?

Morgan, there’s definitely a potential Yikes factor with flying right now. I’m guessing you’re not shopping for Premium/Business Class?

DIA now has several International carriers. We almost always use British Airways, connecting through London (which also allows a stopover in London). Maybe you’ve researched all this, or perhaps are connected to a particular airline’s loyalty program, but there’s also Lufthansa, United, Icelandic, Aer Lingus, and just lately, Turkish Airlines. Any of these any better than others?

If you read my posts and reports you know there are places I love and places I try and return to often. One place I returned to so often that I ended up not leaving.

My best holidays though are the ones where I split the time between a place a know that I will love and a new place. That way I get the comfort and security of a place I know I will enjoy and the adventure of something new.

My best holidays though are the ones where I split the time between a place a know that I will love and a new place. That way I get the comfort and security of a place I know I will enjoy and the adventure of something new.

Wisdom there.

Lately I have been retracing and enjoying past journeys and visits.

My wife and I repeat a LOT. Places, cities, countries we most enjoy. We are even happy to return to hotels we know we like a lot. Each day we figure out what to do, and we find lots of new experiences, but it's very satisfying to be somewhere we're very familiar and comfortable with.

Thank you so much to everyone for sharing your experiences. I love reading about fond memories of re-visiting places. I'm sold on a bit of new and a bit of repeat! Now the question for me will be, is it worth the effort to travel to both north and south in the same trip, given a max of 2 weeks. I'll do a bit more research and keep an eye on flights.

We've used British Airways three times now from Denver with the layover in London. I was kind of hoping to try a new airline but BA does have that great sale in the wintertime, although some of the savings gets wiped out by having to purchase seats if you want to be able to select you seat.

Given the month, which I skipped right over, and the time frame, I’d look for something easily reachable from Malaga but would likely not spend my time in that region in July/August. I’m not especially heat averse being from the southern US, but it is a vacation!
The impulse to explore northern Spain is a good one!

We have traveled a lot and I lived in two foreign countries (Germany and Saudi Arabia) for a total of 9 years.
I have been to 86 foreign countries and tend NOT to repeat the same trips.
However, I have been to Venice about 6 times over a 40 year period.
Been to London, Paris and Rome more than once and tried not to repeat WHERE we visited. Still, I couldn't resist visiting places like the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and the Louvre a second time.

There is so much to see in the World that I would rather visit NEW places.
My barber ONLY visits the same place, in western North Carolina (we live near the ocean in South Georgia) and that is just soooo boring. But, different strokes for different folks. Do what makes you happy.
Do it before you get to 80.

Another thing, I live on the Georgia coast near beaches and would NOT go to a beach in Europe.

Morgan,
Moving from southern Spain to northern Spain to split your two weeks trip is not a big deal. The trains in Spain are good, and the high speed ones are comfortable and very fast. You will use a good part of your day changing locations, but half of that time is checking out and checking into lodgings and getting to and from the train stations. You would spend time doing that even staying in your southern Spain revisits. Even going from Sevilla to Barcelona (pretty much traversing the whole country) is 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 hours by train. IMO the move from southwest Spain to somewhere further north is not a big deal. I wouldn't fly because of needing to be at the airport a couple of hours before your flight, so no real time savings there. On the train you can see some of the countryside also. And, to repeat, due to time needed for security, etc. at the airport, I don't think flying would save you that much time. But the mode of transportation is up to you.