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Barcelona to Marrakesh?

I will be travelling to Spain 3/31- 4/9 with my 13 year old daughter. Its her first time in Spain and I wanted to get some feedback on my itinerary ideas.

We are flying from Seattle to Barcelona on 3/30
3/31 - 4/2 Barcelona
4/2 - 4/5 Sevilla with side trips to Ronda etc ( all by train)
4/5-4/8 Up in the air :)
4/8 Barcelona
4/9 Fly home

My question is with the remaining time is it worth a trip to Marrakech and whats the best way to get there. I know there are direct flights from Barcelona and wondered if it was worth passing on Sevilla to visit Morrocco.

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions!

Posted by
27137 posts

I'm sorry, but you don't have any extra time. It appears that you arrive in Barcelona on March 31. That day is pretty much lost to jetlag and the exhaustion that comes from a (usually) nearly-sleepless night sitting up on a plane. (Perhaps you've traveled to Europe before and know that overnight flights don't affect you so badly??)

Your one full day in Barcelona is April 1. The next day you're off to Seville. The train time alone will be over 5 hours; that doesn't include the time needed to pack, check out of your hotel, get to the train station and repeat the process on the other end of the trip. Effectively, April 2 is pretty much shot--just a travel day except for some casual strolling around Seville and dinner, or tapas if you don't want to wait to eat until 10 PM.

You really need to apply most if not all of your post-Seville time to Barcelona, returning there on April 6 (better) or April 7. You shouldn't try to return to Barcelona on April 9 [corrected] if that's the day you're flying back to the US.

Morocco is absolutely fascinating, but I certainly wouldn't fly there for just 2 or 3 days. That's not a good ratio of sightseeing time to travel time. Barcelona/Seville's not a bad combination at all. I suggest sticking with it unless you want to drop Seville and substitute Madrid or Toledo.

Posted by
16893 posts

Scott, I have "corrected" some date errors on both your original question and acraven's response, reflecting what I though you were each trying to say. Please review and edit again if I'm not correct.

So you're basically considering whether 2 cities in 8 days should be Barcelona & Marrakech or Barcelona & Sevilla (with a side trip possible from any city base). Both countries have a lot to offer, but I'd suggest that just the variety within Spain may be "exotic" enough for a 13-year old on a short trip and the logistics of train travel with no border crossing are also easier. The beautiful Moorish architecture that you find in Sevilla and maybe a day trip to Cordoba may whet her appetite for a future trip to Morocco. But when you have time for that trip, other aspects of the culture will be the even bigger surprises.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks Laura
Your "corrected" version is right. I appreciate the insight!

Posted by
7175 posts

If you had 12 nights then yes, perhaps Marrakech, but not with 9.

3/31 Barcelona - 4 nights
4/4 AVE train to Seville - 4 nights
4/8 Fly to Barcelona - 1 night
4/9 Fly home

Córdoba, Jerez, Arcos, Cadiz are better day trip options from Sevilla when you factor in time considerations.