4 days in Madrid (or somewhere within a few hours) in February

Ruth are you looking for a warm climate destination near Madrid for your February visit with great ambiance or just a nearby town with various activities to do?

Segovia , Salamanca, and Avila came to mind. Both cities are just a few hours from Madrid. Both offer diverse activities.

On average, you can certainly expect Madrid to be pretty chilly in February. It will certainly be warmer if you return to Sevilla or Cordoba. If you want somewhere different, but also a bit warmer, then Valencia is quick to get to. The warmest place would likely be Murcia, but that probably isn't practical for such a short trip.

RJean - I was thinking of a town with more ambience. I was considering a day trip to Segovia on Friday while my son has class then possibly a train to somewhere Friday night, returning to Madrid on Sunday. I had considered going North until I realized there are no quick transportation options to made it worthwhile on such a short trip.

You could also take the AVE high speed train up to Zaragoza for the day to explore, it only takes about 1:30 hr. Zaragoza, the capital of Aragon, has more than 2,000 years of history including Roman ruins of the city walls, forum, and amphitheater, as well as the Aljafería; an 11th-century Moorish palace. It's also the home of the famous pilgrimage site of Nuestra Señora del Pilar Basilica, housing the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary of Pilar. The best part, Zaragoza is relatively undiscovered as far as major Spanish cities go. Even though it's north of Madrid, it would be slightly warmer than Madrid, due to Aragon's unique geography.

I am not a fan of Avila, particularly for more than an hour or two, but Segovia and Salamanca are definitely atmospheric enough for me--though perhaps not large enough for 2-1/2 days. Also perhaps not quite large enough is the historic university town of Alcala de Henares, which is reached by very frequent commuter trains from Madrid. And Cuenca, which is on the AVE line between Madrid and Valencia.

The northern Andalusian towns of Ubeda and Baeza are visually different from Seville, etc. The former are known for Renaissance architecture. There's rail service to the regional capital, Jaen (also worth visiting), but I opted to take the [edit >] bus [< edit] from Madrid to Ubeda. The "Linares-Baeza" rail station is not, in fact, in Baeza, so I felt using buses made more sense. I haven't researched the winter-weather situation in that part of Andalucía.

Malaga would be a warm option. It's a nice place, not as distinctive as Seville/Cordoba/Granada, but you've done all those. And Cadiz would be a possibility.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll take a look at these more closely and figure out where we want to go.

acraven - these might work. We don't have to venture elsewhere for the entire weekend. Could easily be Friday/Saturday as there is an Athletico Madrid match on Sunday that would be fun to attend.