At the end of April into May, I'm thinking about doing a trip up the Mediterranean coast. My plan was to take the train, stopping in a number of different cities for a few days each. I was thinking Alicante, Valencia, Barcelona, Marseille and Nice. What do you all think of that itinerary? Are there other cities I should be stopping at? Any can't miss things I'll want to see/do?
Thanks!
Have you been to Spain before (or France, for that matter)? Are you interested in what most consider the major attractions, or have you been there/done all that before and looking to avoid the major attractions? Other than Barcelona (which is certainly a major destination), you're completely skipping what many would say are Spain's best destinations...is that intentional?
Yeah I've been to a number of places in Spain before, but I know there's a lot of the big attractions that I still haven't hit. But I'm in Europe maybe three times a year, so I don't feel this pressure to hit the big things. I just thought the coast would be beautiful and would make for a very relaxing vacation.
Are you thinking about next year or leaving in a couple weeks?
I was recently in Barcelona and (for the first time) the French Riviera. I was lucky with weather, mostly sunny and not a drop of rain in late March (2 weeks). With the exception of Alicante, I've been to all your places.
Valencia is well worth 3-4 nights, beautiful architecture, interesting museums. If you are thinking about next year, consider going in March instead. Valencia has a huge festival March 15-19, Las Fallas. It's unlike anything else I've ever seen or heard about.
Barcelona has become, after 3 visits, one of my very favorite cities so I can't recommend it enough. A week is not too long there.
The train goes through Girona and Figueres. Girona has a well-preserved medieval center. Figueres has the Dali Theatre. Both are half day visits. Consider staying in one and day tripping to the other. Perpignan is on the way, don't know if it is interesting or if it's simply where people pick up a car on a Spain-France itinerary.
I spent 2 nights in Marseille only because it was my gateway airport. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed 1-1/2 days there. I felt I'd seen/done most of what I wanted. Because of the mistrals, I didn't want to spend more time in the area, but later in the year there are certainly other places that would have called to me - Aix, Avignon for sure. I think they can be day trips from Marseille, but may be worth overnight stays.
I was in Nice for 5 nights. I was less excited about Nice than Marseille, but it was a pleasant enough place to be. I stayed near the train station. It's definitely not the best part of town, but very convenient for day-tripping and easy walking to the sea shore, with nearly all the sights and "best bits" in between. It's a good base to day trip by train (mostly) or bus to many interesting and/or charming villages, beautiful estates of the rich, terrific art museums - Picasso, Chagall, Cocteau. I visited most of them and in hindsight I'm glad I chose Nice as my base. There are many choices for hotels, many more for good restaurants, lots of cafes and several good pubs too. There are major stores which was a blessing when I needed to buy ordinary "stuff" that was either left at home by mistake or lost somewhere in transit.
How long do you have? There is a high speed railway service between Alacant and Barcelona called EuroMed (not AVE service). As well as stopping in Valencia, it has two other stops - you might want to see if they are of interest (e.g. Tarragona).
If you have enough time in Alacant/Alicante then a day-trip to Elche would be worth considering. Very easy to get to on the local commuter line and an interesting town with some unique (-ish) sights.
Alacant has an impressive castle which will take several hours to visit. I didn't think it was a major, sight-heavy city otherwise (but a nice, small old quarter and a few other things). Plenty of good restaurants. Two days might be more than enough to cover it. The seaside is fairly touristy, but it's much less so when you move inland by a couple of streets.
Where do you arrive? This might be impractical, but if you start further south, there are some sights in Cartagena (again, perhaps only two days worth), and then you can catch a train to Alacant.
I was underwhelmed with Alicante, apart from the castle and a very small historical centre.
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2018/11/day-54-alicante.html
There are more interesting places to see in Spain....
That sounds a great trip!! I don't know if you finished it but the thing is that Costa Blanca is a nice zone to visit because you have all kind of landscapes. You can go to the mountain, or you can go to the beach. Alicante is now very turistic. You can go to the beaches, visit different muslim castles and there are lots of industries and outlets.
Elche is known for shoes, Elda too. Then Alcoi is famous for textil. Villajoyosa, Benidorm are also kwown for the beaches.
If you want to go to the interior, yo u can go to Guadalest, or maybe if you want, you can visit Jijona, where you can find the most important industrie of christmas sweets in the world. All the latin countries have the tradition of eating Turron, one special candy. There are lots of guided trips for this city, where you can see how turron is made, handcraftly. Here you can see some videos from inside the factories. You can make your own turron too if workers want: https://www.turronesydulces.com/en/how-is-nougat-made
If you like hiking there a lot of routes in the mountain.
Gastronomy is very important, so you can eat paella, embutidos, drink all kind of wines, etc. In fact, there are too guided tours to wine bodegas.
