Any pitfalls you see? Itinerary for Spain in October

Hi,
Thanks for sharing! This is quite a busy itinerary though, with too much driving to my taste. I'll start with questions:
- why the focus on Málaga? It's great, but it's no Granada or Córdoba, and October might be too late for beach weather depending on when in the month and on your luck.
- why specifically Sanxenxo? It's a fine summer resort, but not sure what the draw is in October.

Now, suggestions to try to fit the three corners of Spain in three weeks:
- skip Gibraltar and save a night in Málaga.
- Málaga-Córdoba-Toledo is a very long day, but I don't see how to improve it.
- drop the car in Toledo
- take the train Toledo to Segovia, and spend the night in Segovia.
- Skip Avila
- Skip Salamanca, it's beautiful but adds a lot of transit time
- take the train from Segovia to Santiago de Compostela (really worth visiting even if you're not religious).
- spend 3 nights in Santiago de C, one day rent a car for a coastal day trip. OR since you have that spare Málaga night, you can do 2nights in Santiago and 2 on the coast (why not Sanxenxo)
- fly to Bilbao. You don't have time to road trip the coast. Stay the night, then rent a car and go to San Sebastian. OR if you land early in Bilbao, rent the car, leave your luggage in it, and leave for S Sebastian
- skip Pamplona, explore the Basque coast instead (é.g. Guetaria or Fuenterrabia)
- Burgos has a fine Cathedral, but you'll have seen many by then. Maybe head straight to Madrid by train or plane from S Sebastián. You get a spare night to use anywhere.

Hope this helps!

We’ve visited southern Spain with a car, and also the Basque region, but on totally separate trips. On our last one, in November 6 years ago, we did start off with some nights in Madrid, then had a 5 1/2 hour direct train ride to Bilbao, where we picked up our rental car.

This may or may not be new information, but parking in San Sebastián involved an underground parking garage that was something like €24 for 24 hours in 2013. If we left, the clock started over again upon our return. It involved a substantial walk (sometimes in the rain) to our hotel in the old town. There was a cheaper, outdoor lot, east of the old town, but it was even farther away. One rainy day, when we stayed in town, the aquarium made for a nice inside visit.

If you venture into downtown Bilbao on your day trip, finding parking could require some time and effort.

Balso,

It is a lot of driving, but we love road trips. In 2017 we spent 3 weeks road tripping England, Wales and Scotland, so we thought this would be similar...but maybe the driving isn't as easy in Spain. I've been to Spain before but that was almost 30 years ago and I'm sure things have changed.

We went back and forth about whether to stay in Malaga or Granada. We finally chose Malaga because its closer to the coast (we are ocean people) but perhaps we need to look again.

Sanxenxo was because we wanted to get a glimpse of Galician coastline, and we realized that we'd want a breather about then so deliberately chose something not really challenging. To be honest though, I think I was expecting good weather, and I don't know how relaxing it will be if it is pouring buckets of rain. Something to think about.

Can't skip Pamplona. Husband's step father is from there so its sentimental. Burgos is honestly just to break up the drive from San Sebastian to Madrid (hence only 1 night). I like the idea of just taking a train instead and gaining a day to either pad San Sebastian or Madrid!

Thank you!

Cyn,

I was probably being too optimistic about the weather up North. I expected us to be slogging our luggage several blocks, but I didn't consider doing it in the rain. I'll have to pack some plastic bags to protect things! I've read that parking is expensive and difficult to come by :( Maybe I do need to look more into public transportation for our day trips.

Thank you!

I agree that you have too many stops and not enough time in some key places.

I would not want to spend just one non-jetlagged day in Seville; the arrival day doesn't count for me since extreme sleep-deprivation means I am a zombie struggling just to stay awake,

I would not treat Granada as a day-trip from Malaga. It deserves more than a full day rather just part of a day. Malaga is pleasant but not as interesting as Granada.

ViaMichelin estimates the driving time for your Malaga-Cordoba-Toledo drive at 5 hr. 41 min without any stops, traffic tie-ups, getting lost, looking for parking or getting from your parking place to what you want to see. Or checking out of your old hotel and into your new one, of course. So that leaves very little time for the many lovely sights in Cordoba.

Avila is very much a lesser site; I'd use that time in Segovia.

I have no hesitancy in saying that you should skip Vigo. Pamplona's not a bad place, but I thought it was nothing special.

You have very, very few days when you won't be in the car, which I believe is going to make for an exhausting trip.

You seem to be backtracking somewhat. Why not go from Ronda to Gibraltar to Malaga, then Granada. Or, skip Gibraltar and go from Ronda to Cordoba, to Malaga, then Granada. Then from Granada to Toledo. You are really underestimating the time it will take to get from Sanxenxo to Santiago de Compostela to Leon. You’ll be hard pressed to make it in a day, and if you stop to see anything, you won’t make it. We made plenty of stops, but it took 2 days from Leon to Santiago. The road between st. Jean de Luz and st. Jean pied de Port, is a rural road, so figure you’ll be driving about 40mph at most. The day trip from Bilbao to those towns will be a long day. If you look at a map, with any of the red N roads, they are 2 lane, and go through every town. You will go 40mph at most. Also, for planning purposes, the AP roads are toll roads. Don’t skip Burgos. Just outside of the city is the Cartuja de Miraflores. It is free, but it asks for a €1 donation, and is very much worth stopping at.

Hi- it seems you are set on lots of stops but since you asked... this allows very little down time in case something goes off or there is a delay. We've done a couple of driving tours in Spain and it seems like you are spending the majority of time in the car.

I HIGHLY recommend cordoba over toldeo, no need to spend 2 days in toeldo and agree with a previous post that you seem to be doing some backtracking that takes up valuable time. If i am reading this right you are spending 4 nights in malaga, driving to day trips from there each day? why not just do 2 days in Malaga and then move to Granada? And then doing that again in San Sebastian? Just curious why you would want to eat up each day with a 2-4 hour total drive? All the spots you picked have so much to do... it seems like its more efficient to get to a place, focus on it and the drive to the next place and focus on it rather than multiple day trips.

For what its worth we drove from barcelona to bilbao, pamplona and the picos de europa and if you are into hiking I highly recommend going there....

Because your trip is in October, would you consider spending more time in Andalusia? Andalusia is extremely hot during the summer months, and the first couple weeks of September can be very hot, too, so I think October is the perfect time to visit Andalusia, Madrid, and Toledo. I haven’t been to northern Spain so can’t comment on those locations.

I don’t think you have enough time in Andalusia, which is very important historically and culturally. I would spend at least 4 nights in Seville, a gorgeous city with many important sites.

I don’t recommend seeing Granada as a day trip. I think it deserves 2 or 3 nights. The Alhambra is amazing! We spent almost a whole day there, and then returned for the night tour. Please don’t rush through it.

Córdoba is also a lovely small city with white-washed walls, narrow alleys, patios and flower pots. In addition to the magnificent Mesquita, there is the Alcazar gardens, Palacio de Viana, Juderia, and Roman Bridge, and other sites. I recommend at least 2 nights to fully appreciate this charming city.

We spent 2 nights in Malaga, and enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t visit Granada and Córdoba as day trips in order to spend 4 nights in Malaga. Historically, Granada and Córdoba are more important than Malaga.

Do you like art museums? If so, I would spend more time in Madrid. And 2 nights in Toledo is good as long as you don’t shortchange Granada and Córdoba.

It sounds like some posters are saying weather in Northern Spain might be rainy, so perhaps reduce your time there and add more time to Andalusia. Just a thought.