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Itenerary mid-February -- Tips, Suggestions?

My wife, three teen sons, and me. First time in Europe for all of us. All nights spent at AirB&B except for two hotel nights listed. Any practical advice would be greatly appreciated -- especially re: Segovia, since we have so little time there.

arrive MAD on a Friday 8:45am
ALSA bus direct from T4 to Toledo (3 nights)
Mirador del Valle
Saturday - Sunday - take train to see city at night
Catedral la Primada
Sinagoga de Santa María La Blanca
Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz (view of Puerta del Sol)
Iglesia de Santo Tome
Museo de El Greco
Sinagoga del Transito
Museo de Santa Cruz
Museo del Ejército
Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes
Sword factory

Monday a.m.
Zocodover bus to train station
Toledo to Madrid
Avant train to Atocha Station
Museo del Jamon
Museo El Prado
Museo Reina Sofia

Monday p.m.
bus 203 Atocha to Aeropuerto
Iberia flight MAD to EAS
Irun (near San Sebastian) (2 nights)

Tuesday a.m.
Day trip to Lourdes
Hendaye to Bayonne
TGV INOUI train
brunch at Chocolat Cazenave
Bayonne to Lourdes

Tuesday p.m.
return train to Irun

Wednesday a.m.
Euskotren train Irun-Colon to Amara-Donostia
brunch at Cafe Irubi
walk to LaPerla (view of ocean)
bus 16 past beachfront to funicular

HOTEL MERCURE MONTE IGUELDO (1 night)
Pintxos crawl

Thursday a.m.
breakfast at Iturrioz
walk to train station
train Donostia to Avila

Avila (2 nights)
City wall
Cathedral
Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás (inquisition)
La Flor de Castilla (yemas)

Saturday a.m.
Avanza bus to Segovia
Acueducto
Alcazar

Saturday p.m.
train Segovia to Madrid Chamartin
metro to Sol
Palacio Real
mass at Catedral Almudena
hotel Ibis Madrid Aeropuerto Barajas

Sunday 10:45am
fly out of MAD

Posted by
27109 posts

I'm glad you found a direct bus from Barajas to Toledo. That will save considerable time and effort on your arrival day. Since you're interested in so many sights in Toledo, I highly recommend considering the little bracelet sold by the tourist office. It covers a lot of the secondary sights and--at least as of 2016--includes a brief bilingual tour at most (maybe all) of them. I thought the tours were very worthwhile, but you'll need to use your smartphone to navigate between sites with back-to-back tour times. Toledo is confusing. The deal with the bracelet is that you can keep using it for multiple days as long as it stays on your wrist. Mine survived at least one shower.

I can't imagine you'll have time for it, but there's a Chocolate Museum (run by L'Atelier du Chocolat) in Bayonne. It's not in the center of town (I took a bus and walked, but a taxi would be smarter). The museum is interesting and the tasting experience is extremely generous. It is not $50/lb. chocolate, but is was plenty good enough for me to enjoy. I think the entry fee is 6 euros (don't know whether it's cheaper for children), and trying to sample everything is a quick ticket to a stomach ache.

I struggle to imagine spending 2 nights in Avila. A couple of hours were enough for me, and I'm the sort of person who typically stays in each place at least 2 or 3 times longer than other tourists. Avila has a wall and not much else. I think there's a great deal more to see in Segovia.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks for the suggestions. I'd heard about that chocolate factory in Bayonne, but we may be pushing it just walking across the bridge to Cazenave and back before the next train anyway.

My wife is a huge fan of St. Teresa of Avila, hence the need for a second night there.