Any comment and suggestion regarding the following itinerary would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks very much!
/dan
OK.....ummm......let's go with some basics.....Spain is a very large and deliciously diverse country. There are points of interest anywhere and everywhere, and, coupled with Portugal, they make up my favorite region of Europe. You will love your stay in Iberia, but, with your planned itinerary, you will be seeing most of it through the window of a bus, train or plane.
Simply put - you will be spending most of your visit in travel. For example: "Day 2: join a day tour to Toledo and Segovia" - these two locations are in opposite directions from Madrid. A day tour of either would be highly rewarding, but seeing both in one day - no.
Barcelona is 3.5 hours by AVE train east from Madrid - to be followed by retracing the Spanish landscape to Seville two days later. No. As wonderful as Barcelona is, skip it this trip - it takes you out of your way with too little time to benefit from its charm.
What I think I understand from your planning is this......you arrive and depart Madrid (days 1 and 9) and during your nine day stay you "need to be in Seville" (day 5) and you "need to be in Cordoba" (day 7).
Focus your stay in those three locations - with a day trip to Toledo from Madrid (day 2) and maybe a day trip to Segovia (day 3).
First replier makes good points.
Toledo and Segovia are on opposite sides of Madrid. When we were planning our Spain trip, I considered this day trip by a third party provider, but ended up not choosing it because I thought there would be too much time on the road getting to the two places on opposite sides of Madrid, when I really wanted a full day in Toledo and at least more than 4 hours actually in Segovia.
It's a judgment call.
I'd try to find out, if possible from the tour operator, how many actual hours on the ground in Toledo and how many in Segovia, not including driving time.
Also, lot of travel time between Barcelona and Sevilla, depending on mode of transport.
Your favorite day will be Day 6 - no travel on transportation on that one day. Whew, that is a vacation heavily-weighted towards hours on trains or cars instead of being able to enjoy being at a beautiful town!
Can you fly home from a different location than Madrid to save some transportation time?
You've named 8 towns. Which 5 are the most important to you? Less is more when you are on vacation; drop the other 3.
All excellent suggestions! I will take your advice and move Barcelona and Valencia to my future plan. You guys are the best!
cheers!
/dan
Having been to Spain five times now (with number six in the works), I completely agree with the above posters. You will arrive in the morning, but probably won't have slept that well on the plane. Day 1 will be half taken up by just getting into town from the airport, getting to your hotel, and getting oriented. That doesn't leave much time to "explore". Even after five visits to Madrid, I haven't done everything I want to do there. I would leave Toledo and Segovia for another visit. And as others have said, Barcelona deserves much more time and is too far out of your other cities. Trust me, that train route is not the most scenic part of Spain. Sevilla is going to be a really long haul from Madrid. Have you thought about a cheap flight instead of the train? Granada needs much more than a day, particularly since you would probably spend most of the day at the Alhambra. Is Day 9 the day you fly out of Madrid to come home?
I kind of work backwards when planning a multi-city trip. I look at the travel times from one place to another, add some time for waiting, getting turned around, unpacking and repacking, meals, etc. Then I see how much time I have left, realistically, to do what I have planned. Sometimes you just have to make the hard choice to cut things because otherwise you spend your whole trip trying to stay on schedule, and that can ruin the whole trip.
Hi Nancy, thank you very much for the inputs! I am flying out from Madrid in the morning of Day 10.
You will be short-changing Madrid, Sevilla, and Cordoba by going to Granada. You don't say why you need to be in Sevilla and Cordoba . . . if it is for time you will need to spend outside of sightseeing, let me assure you that there is enough in Sevilla to fill 2-3 days and in Cordoba to fill 2 days.
Toledo is better as an overnight than a day trip. Consider going there on Day 1 for 2nights, assuming you'll be zonked anyway. Then spend Day 2 sightseeing and getting over the jetlag. On Day 3 train to Sevilla, which gives you half a day or so, plus two full days, Days 4 and 6. Take an evening train on Day 6 to Crodoba for 2 nights (it's about a 45 minute train ride). That leaves you Days 8-9 to split between Cordoba and Madrid.
