How many nights to allot to each town?

Have you seen El Escorial?
Its about 45 minutes outside of Madrid.
Have you seen all the museums in Madrid?
Madrid is a great place on its own .

Just a note to other posters that Judy has another thread with her full itinerary and other questions. It might get pretty confusing to add in other ideas or thoughts here.

As to this, I haven't been to Salamanca but my understanding is that it is smaller. I'm not sure if you'd stay very busy for three nights, but might that time really only be 2 full days with a later arrival and early departure? If so, it might be reasonable. The others are very reasonable times given your posted schedule in the other thread.

Hi totafields

No, I haven't seen El Escorial. It didn't really appeal to me when I read about it.

I don't like large, noisy cities and would rather spend time in smaller towns when travelling. The art museums in Madrid aren't of that much interest to me either. However, Madrid is where all the rail lines to other places nearby converge, so we'll have to stay there at some stage.

Segovia is somewhere I'd prefer to stay rather than Madrid. We may end up staying 2 nights in Segovia and not go to Salamanca at all.

Hi Douglas

I'm asking a different question here than in the other thread - I don't really think it will get confusing.

Salamanca is somewhere that Rick Steves likes but I'm thinking as I said above of now maybe staying in Segovia and not going to Salamanca at all on this trip.

If someone has stayed in some of the places I've mentioned then I would appreciate their opinion. It's hard to work out the length of tine needed in each place.

I'm going to agree with Douglas, not to argue with you, Judy, but to explain why it's a good idea. I remember that you are going to a lot of other places and that you aren't much into art museums, because I got very interested in your trip and I'm on the forums every day (do I need to get a life? am I addicted to travel? do I just like telling other people what to do?). Others may come to this question without knowing about the other thread or not remembering the details. They may look and think: why those places and she's skipping Seville! or Cordoba! Or she's coming nearly half way around the world and rushing around for a week and a half?!?

I don't think anyone minds if a long thread just gets longer as long as the questions that will and do pop up are along the same topic. Also, every response bumps your original post up to the top, so you may get more answers and advice on other parts of your trip.

I visited Segovia as a daytrip and found it was plenty of time. It's pretty small and while a night would be very pleasant there, I personally wouldn't want to spend 2 nights there unless I had something else specific I was going to do with my time. Or a really nice hotel to lounge around at. Or use it as a base for another daytrip.

PS - I wasn't trying to warn off other posters, just to let them know that you have a more extensive thread with more details about your trip and your tastes. As helpful as this forum can be, it can also get frustrating with people that post irrelevant suggestions, and you did a nice job of explaining your interests and other locations in your other thread.

OK. I've been reading a blog by someone who really enjoyed staying in Salamanca, so now I'm thinking of including it again.

Although some people like to stay longer, I find that Rick's "planning your time" summary at the start of most guidebook chapters is as good a rule of thumb as any. Such as, "Salamanca... is worth a day and a night, but is stuck out in the boonies."

Thanks Laura

I find Rick's itineraries way too fast-paced for me, but I do use his guide book information to help me decide places to go to. It's also good to get the opinions of other people who may have been to a country too.

I love Salamanca. It is a very charming university town. Has anyone been to Caceres?

Couldn't agree more with Laura's summation.
I am itching to get to Salamanca one day and in about a dozen trips to Spain (mostly in summer heat) it still remains on my 'to do' list.
Practicalities and pragmatism have prevailed but I know I will get there one day - along with Cuenca.

I've only been to Toledo and Madrid. Madrid is worth as many nights as you can possible stay there. I love that city. It's one of my all time favs in Europe. Toledo is only worth a day trip to me. We found the city extremely touristy. We've been to Europe six times and been all over. We are used to touristy places but found Toledo the most touristy of all. I would just go there for the day and visit the main church and see all the El Greco stuff you can then leave. The sidewalks roll up as the all the tourist leave a dark.

Thanks for all the replies. I've booked all of our hotels and some of our train trips now. I could still change the itinerary slightly, but it looks as if we'll be doing this:

Toledo -2 nights

Merida - 3 nights

Segovia - 2 nights

Salamanca - 3 nights

Madrid - 4 nights

Before this we'll be visiting Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Ronda and Cordoba for 2 weeks total, so all up it will be a 4 week trip to Spain.

I'm pretty happy with the itinerary and looking forward to our holiday. We leave in 6 weeks time.

Looks like a great trip! You will have a great time! Let me know if you need anyone to carry your bags, lol!!!!