In early April we are traveling to Spain. We would like to spend most of our time in Toledo, Sevilla & Cordoba with a visit to Madrid, Tangiers & Barcelona. I'm a little confused on how to hit it all. Is it reasonable to fly into Madrid, make my way down to Tarifa, over to Tangiers, stay there overnight and fly from Tangiers to Barcelona and home from there?
Posted by
the Middle Coast
292 posts
Do you have a little more info about how much time you've got to spend in your destinations? My suspicion is that you may just not be able to hit it all based on what I see, but maybe you do if you've got lots of time! Morocco, for example, is absolutely worth more than an overnight. If you don't want to commit more time to it, it's the most obvious thing to drop from your itinerary. Besides, Tangier is very cool, but perhaps not as representative as other cities in Morocco.
Posted by
Washington DC
27092 posts
If you're going to fly to Morocco, for heavens sake don't make it to Tangier. Go to somewhere like Fes or Marrakech.
Early April puts you in the period leading up to Easter. Holy Week is a very big deal in Andalucía. It affects availability and cost of hotel rooms, operating hours of tourist sights, etc.
Can you be more specific about you travel dates? And how many nights do you expect to spend in Spain/Morocco, not counting the night on the train.
You didn't mention Granada. Do you not plan to see the Alhambra? That's near the top of the list for just about everyone who goes to Andalucía.
Posted by
11147 posts
Yes, Granada is missing and should be included. Barcelona is an outlier with it’s NE location but Madrid works well. I have not been to Tangier rather the more traditional cities of Morocco. I would save Morocco until you can visit the more important and traditional cities not a border town. If you have more than two weeks , add Barcelona.
Posted by
Portsmouth
5257 posts
Besides, Tangier is very cool
Evidently you have a very different interpretation of "cool" than I do!
Tangier is repeatedly given the thumbs down by most people on this forum and many others and for good reason. If you want to visit Morocco then there are far better cities to visit. If you want to tell everyone that you've been to Africa then by all means go for it but it will be a monumental waste of time, effort and money which will be far better spent on exploring more of Spain.
Posted by
the Middle Coast
292 posts
Evidently you have a very different interpretation of "cool" than I do!
I probably do!
That said, it's definitely a place whose appeal isn't really evident in a list of top sites, so it doesn't make sense to go so far out of the way to see it.
Posted by
7659 posts
Forget Tangiers, it a bit like going to Tijuana in Mexico. There are great places in Morocco, but Tangiers is not one of them.
Better visit Granada.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you for responding... I guess it’s clear that I should remove Tangier from my travel plans. So now, if I fly into Barcelona, take train to Madrid then travel to Seville, Toledo, Granada and Cordoba...what’s the best airport to fly home from?
Oh and I was thinking of traveling 4/8-4/18... it’s my mom & husband’s birthday... Easter on the 12th... is that a terrible time to go?
Posted by
Barcelona ☀️ Sweden ❄️
3897 posts
I think you may have a bigger problem than trying to cram in Tangier lol! If I count correct, you have 10 nights available, and are planning to visit Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, Toledo, Granada, and Cordoba? I'd recommend taking a big step back and really considering the logistical and geographic feasibility of this.
Let's say Barcelona/with daytrip (min 4 nights) then Madrid/day trip to Toledo (min 3 nights) then Sevilla/day trip to Cordoba (min 3 nights), that's all your nights used up already and you have not even reached Granada yet.
In fact, that's actually how I would revise your itinerary, just cut out Granada, maybe do Toledo as a one-nighter, and fly out of Sevilla, but the rest is the same.
Also you must consider Semana Santa (April 5th-11th) bigger than Christmas in many parts of Spain, though it appears that you will be in Barcelona for the festivities, which is famously non-religious, and won't see much of an impact. However some popular day trip cities, like Tarragona or Girona, will see an impact by the Semana Santa festivities. Also Easter Day (12th) is a public holiday across all Spain, which means a number of closures of shops/restaurants/ and some tourist sights.
You may want to take a look at this to see how many cities of Spain celebrate Semana Santa: https://veebrant.com/easter-spain/ (in basic terms, everything south of Madrid will be impacted, including hotels/prices)
Posted by
4 posts
I did the one day trip to Tangiers, and it really isnt worth it. There are so many other better places to visit in Morrocco!