Itinerary check and day trip suggestions - Segovia, Toledo, Granada

Tom,

You mentioned that you've visited Seville in the past, but have you considered visiting Córdoba?

Hi Tom. We are considering a trip that sounds similar to your first trip to Spain. Can I ask you how you got from Barcelona to the south? And how long you spent in each location?

Thanks!

Hi Priscilla, no we have not been to Cordoba.

I love your ideas and the reasoning behind your choice of locations. You run in to roadblocks, however, when choosing your gateway points. Barcelona and Madrid remain the main entry/exit cities for Spain.

Latching on to the suggestion of Córdoba above. (EDITED)
Fly in to Madrid. Train to Segovia (5nts)
Train via Madrid Atocha to Toledo (3nts)
Train via Madrid Atocha to Córdoba (2nts)
Train to Granada (3nts)
Fly out of Granada.

Toledo has no real offerings for day trips, except Madrid. Note, it's not a thru rail line from Madrid, just a small spur to Toledo.
Segovia offers a few choices - Salamanca and Valladolid by train, plus Avila by bus.

Thanks David and Priscilla for your suggestions to visit Cordoba. We're going to revisit our itinerary and consider it.
We're actually flying into Spain at Madrid and out at Grenada (to Manchester UK) so Cordoba may fit nicely.

One thing we've done in the past is to put too many stops into our European trips resulting on being on the move too much to really enjoy some leisure. This time we're looking to slow things a bit and leave some unplanned time in the agenda.

I appreciate your suggestions.

Tom

Hello Koorb, I sent you a private message answering your questions. I hope it helps...best to you on your upcoming trip to Spain!
Tom

Hello twally10 -

I like your selection of cities to visit on your planned Spring 2017 trip to Spain. I have visited all of them (some several times) and very much enjoyed my time in all of them. However, (Isn't there so often a "however"?) I do have a few comments on your choices as far as allocating the 13 nights you have on the ground in Spain.

First, let me say I have visited Toledo on several daytrips from Madrid over the years and finally last October I spent three nights there and really had a great time. What various posters have often said on this and also on the Trip Advisor forum is so true: It is a totally different experience when you stay overnight there! That said, I think five nights in Toledo is way too much time devoted to Toledo on a medium length Spain trip. think seriously about re-allocating a one or two of those days or identify a couple of daytrips you would like to take from there.

Second, I went to Segovia on a daytrip from Madrid a couple of years back for about 12 hours - I stayed for a great dinner before returning to my hotel in Madrid. It is only a 30 minute ride each way by AVE train from Madrid's Chamartin station. For the record I really enjoyed my stop there and the sites I saw - Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, the Palace, etc.... That seemed to me to be a pretty appropriate amount of time to devote to exploring Segovia. I could easily understand spending a night there (Perhaps even two if you are philosophically opposed to "one night stands!), but five nights seems to me like an extreme case of overdoing Segovia. I know you mentioned visiting Salamanca as a daytrip, but of the two cities, I think Salamanca is a vastly superior place to spend several days. I was in Salamanca for three nights a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Perhaps you might consider a two/three day split of that time between Segovia and Salamanca. Again, I question your skipping of Avila. It is a great small city (That is one of your preferences, isn't it?) with much to see and recommend it to travelers who can afford a day's time to fully explore it.

Third, I think three nights is a very good amount of time visit Granada. I can only re-emphasize that the sooner you get your Alhambra reservations the better!

See my edited entry above, noting your flight out of Granada.

I love Segovia, Madrid and Toledo. You many save on hotels staying in Segovia, but if you take the train into Madrid enough, you might not save.

Segovia was worth one day. Salamanca is a day. Toledo is a day. Madrid is good for 4-5 days, especially if you go to the Prado.
Granada is great and worth flying down to see.

HI David, thanks for the updated suggested itinerary. We're leaning in the direction of redistributing our days in Spain. Looks to be unanimous that we have too many days/nights in Segovia and Toledo. Both Cordoba and Salamanca are back in consideration for overnight destinations.
Thanks, Tom

Hello Jack, Thanks you for your thoughtful suggestions. We're not philosophically opposed to one night stands : ) just trying to avoid being on the move constantly. We're intrigued with your idea to stay overnight in Salamanca a couple of the nights that we'd previously devoted to Segovia. Our idea was to use Segovia as a base for day trips in the area - Madrid, Salamanca, maybe a wine tour?
Avila...from the RS "Highlights of Castille" show, it looks good but we didn't get a strong "must see" feeling. We'll keep it as a possibility though...
Toledo - we're leaning strongly towards shortening our stay there too.
Alhambra tickets - it looks like ticketmaster is the place to buy in advance and that they only book out 4 months. True?
Thanks! Tom

Really appreciate all of the input. We're seeing that our allotment of days/nights in Spain should be reconsidered.
We're looking at adding a 2-3 night stay in either Salamanca or Cordoba.

If you had to choose between these 2 cities, which would you choose?

thanks!
Tom

when we visited Spain, we spent 2 nights in Toledo and that was a nice bit of time and I would recommend that. It was a nice break and we appreciated the relaxed evenings after Barcelona.