Hubby and I flying to Madrid in April. Taking the train to Granada for the Alhambra. Would like to get to Valencia via the coast by car or connecting trains w/o going back to Madrid. Also wondering how much time I should allow for this adventure and places recommended for a layover. Thanks in advance. I’m really enjoying this forum.
Posted by
Surrey, UK
1188 posts
You could take the train from Granada to Malaga and pick up a car there for the coastal drive. Malaga is worth two or three days stay, then en route I would recommend Cartagena and Tarragona, both ancient cities, one or two nights in each.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
8900 posts
We enjoyed Almería and it’s worth an overnight. We spent a couple hours at its Alcazaba. It also has a nice market. Murcia and Cartagena were worth a few hours each in my opinion. With a car you could go inland a short distance and visit Lorca castle. Another place we enjoyed near Tabernas was Fort Bravo. It’s a former movie set where some of those westerns from the 60s and 70s were filmed.
South of Alicante is El Palmerar, but I’ve yet to visit it. Cutting inland again, and if you like castles, are Atalaya and Biar Castles. Of course there are a number of beach towns if you wanted to spend time at the beach. In April it would most likely be too chilly to go in the water.
For the places I mentioned I’d allot 6 or 7 days. On our recent trip we spent nights in Motril, Mojácar, and Lorca. On a previous trip we stayed in Almería.
In that part of Spain you’ll find few tourists from the U.S. and plenty from the UK.
Posted by
Washington DC
30684 posts
As you can see for the schematic rail map at this link: https://railsmaps.com/spain, there is no coastal rail line connecting Granada and Valencia. There is bus service running near the coast if you prefer not to rent a car. However, the bus trip takes about 8 hours, as I recall--roughly the same time as express rail service through Madrid.