13 days for Valencia and Alicante - how to set itinerary

I see that none of us who responded to your earlier thread about this trip to Spain picked up on your reference to 90 days / three months. In case you are not aware, if you are traveling on US or Canadian passports, you are limited to staying in the Schengen area (most countries in western Europe, including Spain) for a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period. Both your arrival day and your departure day count. Exceeding the 90-day maximum is likely to lead to a fine and may also result in being banned from the entire Schengen country for years. If your itinerary has you right at 90 days, that's pretty risky, because flight cancellations can result in a delay in exiting the Schengen area.

My decision about splitting the 13 days would depend on what side trips I had planned as well as the specific sights of interest to me in Alicante and Valencia. Alicante hasn't ever sounded interesting enough to me to cause me to go there (I'd recommend Granada instead, in a heartbeat). Valencia seemed to have more sights so I headed there in 2019. I enjoyed five nights there--just four full days due to late arrival from Granada. A good chunk of one of those days was devoted to a side trip to Manisses.

I'd certainly give more weight to Valencia than Alicante, but they're both provincial cities that could be well covered for general tourism in just a few days. The rest might hinge on how you plan to your generous time over the larger trip.

Related to that, I'm curious why you've given Sevilla and Barcelona each 100% more time than Madrid. All three are great cities worthy of deep dives, but while the capital doesn't wear its charm on its sleeve like the others, Madrid probably has a richer, more dynamic contemporary cultural life, as well as a long list of worthy day trips.

We certainly all like to travel at a different pace. Some travellers like to traipse from place to place, ticking things off lists, whereby it seems you are going to travel at a leisurely pace.

We spend up to 6 weeks in Seville every year. Followed up with about 3 weeks to a month in Valencia. Neither is long enough, but that’s how we enjoy travelling. We prefer the smaller cities to Madrid and Barcelona and that’s only because they are such large cities it takes a long time to navigate them. We often stay in Granada for at least a week, or maybe Cordoba. The white Andalusian villages are worth a visit i.e. Vejer De Frontera, beautiful.

We personally prefer Valencia to Alicante. It’s very different visually to most Spanish cities, the streets within the city are dotted with extraordinary street art from local artists. There are many activities in Valencia, apart from the obvious, cathedrals, churches or similar. It’s a cycling city. The cycle along The Turia Gardens to the museum of arts and sciences is a must, if cycling is your thing. The famous central market, one of the biggest in Europe, is definitely worth a visit. My suggestion is to stay in the old town. I’m not sure what your choice of accommodation is, but thus far we’ve stayed in many Airbnb’s in Valencia. We have found the quieter ones over the years. Its worth noting Las Fallas ( a huge event) is in March, it’s as loud as it gets. The Valencians love noise and fireworks.

We don’t enjoy the food in Valencia as much as other Spanish cities. Maybe also worth a mention, many of the restaurants stick to the Spanish eating hours, close mid-afternoon and open at maybe 8.00 pm to 8.30pm which means you are eating at about 9.30 pm. Whereby in Seville you will always find an abundance of restaurants that are open all day or reopen at approximately 6.00pm.

Enjoy

The trip is 89 days including arrival and departure days. We are experienced travelers and understand the limits. If, oddly, our departure flight was delayed by the airline, would there honestly be penalties for staying in the event we could not leave the next day? I guess there would need to be a train trip to France in order not to overstay our welcome.

And we will be going to Granada for 3 night stay that will occur while we have the apartment in Seville.

I forgot to add that we chose to spend more time in Seville (mid Feb to mid March) and Barcelona April) because of the more pleasant weather in those cities than Madrid in the month of February.

It’s super helpful to hear specifics about Valencia.

We leave for Seville in three weeks. We'll be there mid-February as well. Great time to in Seville, chilly mornings, warms up a treat during the days. It can rain some days though, particularly in Feb/Mar. It will be chillier in Granada.

There would be penalties even if your flight is delayed by the airline. The others are correct that a one-day cushion is probably not a good idea. If the flights are delayed, going to France would not give you the extension you need because they are in the Schengen Zone. You could hop over to England or Ireland, though.

"The trip is 89 days including arrival and departure days. We are experienced travelers and understand the limits. If, oddly, our departure flight was delayed by the airline, would there honestly be penalties for staying in the event we could not leave the next day? I guess there would need to be a train trip to France in order not to overstay our welcome."