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13 day Spain itinerary

I just booked RT nonstop tickets on Iberia from LAX to BCN for $340 each for next October! So excited. (I hope Iberia Air is not terrible?) When we traveled in France and Italy the last two years, we really enjoyed anchoring those trips with a major city, but then renting a car and exploring the small villages and off-the-beaten path destinations, although we're good w/ fast trains wherever it makes sense. In France, for example, we found an incredible Camembert farm in Normandy on our way driving to Bayeux and a Michelin star restaurant in a teensy tiny town in Provence. I love these kinds of experiences where no tourists are in sight! (Foodie here.)

So we're thinking of that too for Spain. Priorities are Sevilla, Nerja, Ronda/hill towns southern Spain (my husband's family hails from that area...wonder if we can find any of them!), La Alhambra and day trip to Tangiers if we can squeeze it in. How would you organize a trip like this in terms of time and order for 13 days plus the two Barcelona travel days? Puddle jumper from Barcelona to somewhere to save time? If so, where? I've been to Barcelona briefly 30 years ago but DH hasn't. Thank you for suggestions!

Posted by
26840 posts

That is an unbelievably wonderful airfare!

Your priorities are all down in Andalucía, but you are flying in and out of Barcelona. Barcelona itself is great, so I hope you plan to spend some time there, as well. There are also great smaller towns in Catalunya: Girona, Cadaques, Sitges, Besalu and others.

You can get from Barcelona to Seville in about 5-1/2 hours via AVE train. There are frequent departures. Most require one transfer, but there's one morning train and one mid-afternoon train that do not require a change. This will probably be about as fast as flying, because you don't have to deal with getting to and from airports, etc. Driving that distance would be much, much slower, and I wouldn't do it unless I was planning to make stops along the way. Much of the countryside around Madrid is unexceptional.

Spain is a large country, and I don't think you have time for Barcelona, a bunch of destinations in Andalucía, and a lot of wandering around in the middle of the country (much as I love Toledo and really like Segovia).

For your other long travel leg, you'll probably want to fly. You can explore options on skyscanner.com. Perhaps a flight to or from Malaga would work. It would be better to do your Barcelona sightseeing at the end of your trip, but that would mean a long slog down to Andalucía on your arrival day, and you really shouldn't buy the train ticket ahead of time. If you end your trip down in Andalucía, you'll need to fly back to Barcelona the night before you return home. Do not try to take an early-morning flight to BCN to catch a transatlantic flight; that's too risky.

For planning purposes, I like to check schedules on the Deutsche Bahn website. Spanish buses are quite comfortable. You could benefit from having a car for at least part of your time in Andalucía; it will make seeing the white towns a lot easier.

It is a major time commitment to go to Tangier--perhaps the better part of three days in order to have less than a full day there. I love Morocco, but Tangier isn't the best of Morocco. With all the great sights in Spain (10 days wasn't enough time for me in Barcelona), I wouldn't spend a chunk of a 2-week trip trying to get to Tangier.

I would definitely include a day in Cordoba either on the way to/from Seville or as a day-trip from Seville. I think Ronda is a full-day sort of place, but you might use it as a base for seeing the white towns. Seville needs multiple nights. I think Granada pretty much requires at least two nights because of logistics. I haven't been to Nerja.

David's good about suggesting routes through Andalucía, so I hope he'll stop into this thread soon.

Posted by
187 posts

Thanks so much acraven. The cheap airfare: I KNOW, right? Spain jumped to the top of my list.

Tangiers really requires 3 days, huh? I was just reading in the RS guidebook though where Rick recommends several guides that include roundtrip ferry fare to Tangiers for a day trip. Hmmmmm...

Posted by
26840 posts

What I meant was that it often takes quite a while to get to the ferry port, so you usually have to make your way there the previous day, and then you have a similar situation after you visit Tangier. However, upon reflection, I believe I was thinking about the process if you are dependent on public transportation. It might be considerably more workable with a rental car. You can use ViaMichelin to check on estimated driving times. But do consider all the time required to get there, vs. the time there. There are so many fascinating Spanish places you can get to in an hour or two.

Posted by
187 posts

Got it! That's always the trouble...no matter how much time you have, it's just never enough!!

Posted by
26840 posts

Oh, Bill, would you really suggest that they fly from Malaga to Barcelona on the morning of the day they have a transatlantic flight home? If they miss that flight they will probably be paying big bucks to get home on a last-minute one-way ticket.

Posted by
7175 posts

I’m wondering if your flight out of LAX is on BA/Iberia’s low cost carrier LEVEL. It may mean a late arrival into Barcelona, so perhaps stay overnight near the airport.

  1. ARRIVE Barcelona (1N)
  2. Fly to Granada (2N)
  3. Visit Alhambra
  4. Pick up car ... Drive via Las Alpujarras to Nerja (1N)
  5. Drive to Ronda (2N)
  6. Day to pueblos blancos
  7. Drive via Arcos de la Frontera to Seville (4N) ... Return car
  8. Seville
  9. Day to Cordoba (Mezquita)
  10. Seville
  11. Fly or train to Barcelona (4N)
  12. Barcelona
  13. Barcelona
  14. Barcelona
  15. DEPART Barcelona