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Basque Country for 2 days or more time in Madrid and surrounding area?

We are headed to Spain in March for 15 days (not counting travel days in each direction to total 17). Trying to decide if we should go to the San Sebastian and Bilbao or spend more time near Madrid and do Toledo and Segovia. Current plan is:
1 night Madrid
2 nights Seville
2 nights Tangiers
3 nights Granada
3 nights Barcelona
San Sebastian one night
Bilbao 1 night
2 nights Madrid and then fly home.

It is a trek to San Sebastian but I'm thinking we would regret not seeing that area and likely we won't get to return to Spain.
On the other hand we could come back from Barcelona and do Segovia one night and Toledo.
Would welcome thoughts. Thanks

Posted by
588 posts

I have not traveled in Spain, but I have been to Morocco. If you’re including Tangiers to “see” Morocco, you will most likely be underwhelmed. Save Morocco for another time when you will have time to go to Fez, Rabat and Marrakech. That will give you more time to see Spain.

It seems like your plan involves some long travel days, unless you are flying. For instance, Google maps says it take more than eight hours to drive between Granada and Barcelona, and six hours between Barcelona and San Sebastián. You would barely get to one location before needing to leave again. Maybe consider fewer, longer stops.

Posted by
504 posts

I would also recommend skipping Tangiers unless you have some specific reason for going there. If you plan to add Segovia and Toledo (recommend for sure) you need a day for each if daytripping out of Madrid. San Sebastian and Bilbao are definitely worth some time, but are quite a bit out of your way given everything else. It would make sense if you were flying into Bilbao and out of Madrid, then you could do Bilbao for 3 nights (day trip to San Sebastian or spend one of the nights there to catch the pinxtos scene), then train or fly to Barcelona (3 nights), train to Granada (3 nights), train to Seville (3 nights), train/fly to Madrid (3 nights). Adjust as needed. Just a thought. Make sure you are figuring out distances and travel time between cities!

Posted by
28462 posts

Consider this a third vote for dropping Tangier. Morocco is fascinating, but Tangier is one of its lesser destinations. It's a pain to get there from any of the more commonly visited places in Spain, and you don't have time to include it. There are flights to much more interesting Moroccan cities like Fes and Marrakech from many cities in Europe, so you can easily include some Moroccan time in a future trip to some other country (England, France, Germany...); you don't have to settle for Tangier and try to squeeze it into your itinerary this year.

You are giving only 2 nights to Seville, which I think everyone would agree is one of Spain's very most interesting cities. (Folks don't necessarily agree on whether Barcelona or Madrid more-or-less equals Seville in interest, but there doesn't seem to be any argument about Seville.) Granada is also a great city, and the Alhambra isn't the only thing to see there, but it's smaller than Seville. If you remove Tangier from your itinerary (so you aren't traveling so long to get to Granada), you can probably manage with just 2 nights in Granada. It's not that 3 nights is a mistake, but you're trying to cover a huge swath in Spain in too little time, so compromises have to be made.

I know you want to get to the Basque Country, but traveling so far in order to have just a very few hours in the two major Basque cities is really not a great use of your time. Try to focus on maximizing the time you have available by spending less of that time in trains, buses and cars and more of it with your feet on the ground, sightseeing. Believe me, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Toledo and Segovia are not the only fabulous Spanish cities you're going to miss. You can add Cordoba to that list for starters. The more you learn about Europe, the more worthwhile places you'll discover. It can be frustrating, but you'll see a lot more if you move around a bit more slowly and don't waste too much time traveling from one city to the next.

Posted by
2207 posts

The previous posts have nailed it.

With 15 days, see Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, Seville, Granada and maybe Cordoba.

Note that in March the beaches will be cold.

Posted by
805 posts

As you say, it´ll be your only trip to Spain and it seems you would like to cover most of this so diverse country. I would skip the Moroccan part, for sure, and would try to do Madrid/Seville/Granada/Córdoba and/or Málaga/Bilbao/Donostia-San Sebastian/Barcelona, spending more nights in Madrid on arrival, probably just one night in Granada, adding a couple of nights in Córdoba, would fly from Málaga direct to Bilbao, two nights and then a very easy day trip to Donostia-San Sebastian and a flight to Barcelona from Bilbao, three nights there and then back to the US.

Posted by
59 posts

Don’t go to Tangiers. This frees up more time for the fantastic places in Spain. The main reason to go to San Sebastián (besides the food) is the beach so why even go there in March? Bilbao has the Guggenheim but unless you’re into architecture it’s skippable. There’s better art at numerous museums in the US. Save the Basque Country for another trip in nicer weather. Consider open jaw flights. Fly into either Barcelona or Seville and work your way through the cities you want to visit then fly out of the other city at the end your trip. If you must fly into Madrid then do Cordoba Granada and Sevilla two nights each or a third night at one of them if you’re really interested in one of those cities. Next either spend a day taking the train to BCN or fly. Which interests you the most? BCN with side trips to Montserrat, Girona, Figueres , maybe even an overnight to Carcassonne? OR Madrid with side trips to Segovia and Toledo perhaps also Avila? Allocate the nights accordingly leaving time to get back to Madrid for the flight home if you’re doing it round trip in and out of MAD.

Posted by
805 posts

BlockquoteThe main reason to go to San Sebastián (besides the food) is the beach so why even go there in March? Bilbao has the Guggenheim but unless you’re into architecture it’s skippable.
Blockquote

The main reason to go Donostia-San Sebastian is not, and cannot be, the beach. Our weather is quite rainy, cold and wet (of course, not every day, but it tends to rain here, around 190 days a year, this is northern, wet, green Spain). The main reason to visit D-SS is to admire this beautiful city (200,000h) and it´s setting in an incredible bay, with three beaches (but no bars or ammenities of any kind by the beach, and water is cold). One of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Bilbao is not just the Guggenheim (the masterpiece of architecture of the 20th century) but its amazing old quarter, lively atmosphere (very similar to the one of Donostia-San Sebastian but without the massive tourism) and spectacular arquitecture, plus the green, mountainous landscapes. Food is equally good in both cities and pintxos are everywhere.