Please sign in to post.

Nine days Madrid

Posted by (TX) on

We just booked our tickets to Madrid for our May 1st Trip. Our first day will be the 2nd and flying back to the US on the 11th.

I am planning on getting the RS Spain book, but in the meantime, I’d like feedback from those who have spent time in Madrid.

We will have a just turned 2 year old toddler with us. With 9 nights, would you spend half in Granada and half the time in Madrid?

Any day trips from those two cities?

Depending on public transport.

Think because of the toddler and early flight out back home we should stay near the airport. Any suggestions for a hotel with kitchenette near the airport?

Would appreciate any suggestions.

Posted by
1832 posts

Have been to Madrid three times.

Why are you considering Granada? It's kinda far. There are lots of day trips from Madrid you can do, such as Toledo, Cuenca, Segovia,...etc. Salamanca requires an overnight stay.

Posted by
9343 posts

Nine days is a bit much for Madrid, even with doing day trips to Segovia and Toledo.

Staying near the airport is not a good idea, except for perhaps the last night. Having to commute into the city would waste time and money.

Others have pointed out that Granada is far away from Madrid. Recommend staying closer.

Further, if you want to do museums with a toddler, you might find that young kids don't handle museums that well. Of course, you child may be well behaved. When I took my family decades ago and had a five year old he was ready to leave after 15 minutes.

Posted by
525 posts

Thanks for the responses. Here is the problem we are facing. We are two families, 5 adults and toddler. Four of the adults have traveled to Europe many times. This is the first time for the toddler and father.

The other family with toddler are hell bent on spending a day in Gibraltar. Since we are all traveling together as a “family”, I am trying to find the best way to make a circle, include Gibraltar, and then end back up in Madrid for night before flight.

We all love the outdoors, hiking, exploring, only some care about museums and art, love history etc. Prefer public transport.

One idea the other two with small child came up with was to spend the following nights this way:

Madrid 3 nights - day trip to Toledo

Cordoba 3 nights

Marbella or Malaga 2 nights - day trip to Gibraltar

Madrid - 1 night to fly back home early next day.

It’s quite a mad trip, but we did agree to go along for the toddler’s first trip to Europe. Three of us will be flying out to Frankfurt without the young couple with toddler as they will be returning to the US, and we will continue our trip in Germany..at a much better pace! :-)

Hope this helps you to help me.

Posted by
525 posts

Hi, I have been toying with the idea of 3 nights in Malaga and just 2 in Cordoba. I just have to find a way to suggest this change.

Did you do Caminato del Rey? If we were travelling without extended family, I would have gone for longer, and stayed in the places that made more sense to me. Alas, this is a different type of trip, and I’m letting them call some shots, with the gentlest of suggestions. Thanks so much for your feedback.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.