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Spain, Switzerland, France, Italy Trip

My husband and I are going on our honeymoon for two weeks in April. We'll fly into Madrid on a Monday (4/9) and will stay there for a few days with people we know there. We'll meet them in San Sebastian that Sunday (4/15) for a family reunion, so we're trying plan some things before then, and then also after then. We leave Europe (preferably from Madrid) on Saturday (4/21). Aside from exploring Madrid and surrounding areas, here are the things we'd like to do but aren't sure the best route, timing and mode of transportation to do them all in:

Dali Museum in Figueras
Barcelona
Nice/French Riviera
Murren, Switzerland
Venice
Florence
Rome
back to Madrid

Any suggestions would be very helpful to us!! Thank you.

Posted by
7834 posts

Based on where you are going already and what you'd like to do this is one option

Madrid Monday
Madrid Tuesday
take the train to Barcelona
Barcelona Wednesday
Barcelona Thursday
Barcelona Friday (take a daytrip to Figueras)
Fly Barcelona to San Sebastian direct
San Sebastian Saturday
San Sebastian Sunday
Bus or Taxi to Bilbao Airport
Fly Bilbao to Rome
Rome Monday
Rome Tuesday
Rome Wednesday
Rome Thursday
Rome Friday
Fly back to USA from Rome Saturday 4/21
You might want to go to Florence from Rome or do some other day trips.

or
Madrid to San Sebastian by train
to Barcelona by plane
to Venice by plane
to Florence by train
to Rome by train
Fly home from Rome

Posted by
27104 posts

Woah. That's a long wishlist. You cannot reasonably see all of those places in 12-1/2 days.

So let's prune the obvious: Murren. April is not a very good time of year for the Swiss Alps, it takes time (and $$$) to get there, and I think you'd want four nights on the ground in the area to have a reasonable hope of good weather for outdoor sightseeing. So no Switzerland on this trip.

Now we're down to two broad possibilities: Italy and not-Italy. Pick one.

The family reunion on April 15 complicates matters. I wouldn't want to range terribly far from the Madrid-San Sebastian axis for logistical reasons, so that looks like a good place to slide in Barcelona/Figueres. But what about Madrid? There are lots of great day-trip possibilities from Madrid even if you are not big fans of art museums (are you?). I think the top two side trips are Toledo (clearly #1) and Segovia. I also like Cuenca; others like El Escorial. So: what do you want to do about Madrid? What do you want to see there? It could fill all your time before you head to San Sebastian on April 14, unless you opt to do your Madrid sightseeing at the end of your trip instead (not a bad idea).

For me (who spent 10 nights there in 2016) Barcelona itself needs 4 nights (that means just 3 days of sightseeing), plus you need an extra day to get to Figueres. Girona would also be worth a day, as would Montserrat if you're lucky with the weather.

Then there's the possibility of seeing more of the Basque Country (Bilbao is very interesting), if you're up for what may be coolish/wettish/overcast weather.

As I write this out, I'm convincing myself that you should stick to Spain:

April 9: Arrive on transatlantic flight, sleep-deprived and jetlagged. Train to Barcelona (5 nights).

April 14: Travel to San Sebastian. Trains departing at about 7:30 and 10 AM take approx. 5-1/2 hours. At least two nights in San Sebastian, more if you want to see Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Hondarribia, etc.

April 16 or later: Train to Madrid for the remainder of your time.

If you have no interest in Madrid's art museums or the Basque Country, I suppose you could skip Madrid and spend the rest of the trip in Seville/Cordoba.