Please review my itinerary for Madrid and Andalusia

You have a nice paced trip planned, with enough time to experience Spain in depth, and see the most wonderful sights. Enjoy.

Day 1--Arrive Madrid at 8:35 am. Train to Toledo (2N)
Day 3--Train to Seville (4N)
(day trip to Cordoba)
Day 7--Rent car and drive to Grazalema (2N)
Day 9--Drive to Granada (2N) and drop car
Day 11--Bus/train to Madrid (5N)
(visits to Segovia, El Escorial, maybe Cuenca or Avila)
Day 16--Fly home

Thanks djp_syd. Good to hear! We are really looking forward to our trip!

If the choice is between Cuenca and Avila, for me it's Cuenca by a mile. Avila's sort of a 2-hour-stop-on-the-way-to-somewhere-else kind of place. Cuenca (also walled, though I don't think you can walk on top of the wall) has much more to see.

The thing about Cuenca, though, is that it's a short (under 1 hour) trip on the AVE train (direction Valencia) but otherwise much too long a ride (over 3 hours) for a day trip. That AVE ticket will be reasonably priced if you buy it way ahead of time but rather costly (maybe 55 - 80 euros per person, round trip) if bought at the last minute.

If you need a possible spur-of-the-minute day-trip destination, Toledo--which is actually my favorite side trip from Madrid--is probably better. It's about a 26-euro round trip even bought on the day of travel.

Make sure you lock in your Alhambra booking well in advance thru the official Ticketmaster site.

acravan--I had not realized I needed to buy AVE tickets to Cuenca way ahead to get a good price, so thanks for that information. I had wondered about stopping in Avila on the way to/from Segovia, but maybe that is too ambitious? Good to know Cuenca is more interesting.

djp_syd--I need to get the Ticketmaster booking date on my calendar. Is it 2 months ahead? Thanks!

I suggest going straight to Segovia, spending as much time as you want there, and then deciding whether to stop in Avila on the way back. Avila's perfectly pleasant, but I enjoyed Segovia and Cuenca a lot more. I feel pretty confident about posting this since just about all the guidebooks make Avila a sort of minor stop.

The AVE ticket-pricing situation isn't unique to the Madrid-Cuenca run. I think you'll find a similar pattern (with higher one-way fares) for your trip from Madrid to Seville. It's all about balancing price and flexibility. My trips are usually a series of relatively short hops so the pain is not so obvious to me, and I can often use regional trains (no late-booking penalty) or buses (usually a lower late-booking penalty). I took the slow train to Cuenca, for example, but I was staying there for two nights and could afford the extra time.

acravan--Did you feel like there was enough to do in Cuenca? Did you spend 1 day or 2 there?

I spent two nights in Cuenca, about 1-1/2 days. I am a slow traveler but walk fast, if that makes sense. I tend not to get started early in the morning, so someone else could probably cover what I did in one full day.

I did Cuenca entirely on foot, and I walked every street in the medium-sized historic district. The best view of the hanging houses is from outside the historic district, on the other side of the river or from the footbridge.

I also visited the cathedral, which was very chilly even though the weather outside was quite hot that day. The cathedral has an English-language audio guide (pretty common in Spain), and from my experience you spend more time in churches when you're using one of those devices.

There are three modern-art museums/galleries in Cuenca, and I visited them all. The Spanish Museum of Abstract Art and the Fundacion Antonio Perez are somewhat larger than you would expect, given Cuenca's size. Both of those are in the historic district; I liked them both a lot. There is a third display space, I think in the same building as the parador on the other side of the river. I thought that one (with far less on display) was imminently skippable.

The slow trains arrive close enough to the historic quarter to make walking viable as long as you're a good walker and don't mind that the last part of the walk is distinctly uphill (hill town; of course it is). There is a bus that goes up there, but I think it is more frequent on weekdays. The AVEs use a different station farther from town, and from there you'd need to take a bus or a taxi.

Thank you so much for your detailed information. I appreciate the time you spent to respond! Very helpful!

Digbydog,

Regarding the Alhambra tickets...

I need to get the Ticketmaster booking date on my calendar. Is it 2 months ahead?

I'd suggest booking your Alhambra tickets about 3 months in advance.

End of September/beginning of October is a nice time to visit Andalucía, but check the weather as it may still be warm.
You may also get a few showers, so pack accordingly.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks Priscilla! I have Ticketmaster on my calendar. Fingers crossed it will not be too hot.

Since you plan to travel to Toledo, on day of arrival, I'd suggest you take the Cercanias C-1 line, directly to Atocha's train station.

You may also consider leaving most of your luggage at the secured lockers in the Atocha station when you travel to Toledo, that way you won't have to lug your luggage around hilly Toledo. You will be returning to Atocha to take the AVE train to Sevilla anyway.

As Acraven has mentioned, you may book your train tickets up to 60-90 days in advance at considerable savings.
Here's an informative website regarding how to buy Renfe train tickets online.

If you have a sweet tooth (like I do), you may enjoy the following:

• Casa Pasteles in Plaza Larga in Granada-- near the San Nicolás Mirador.
• Deliciously creamy ice cream at, 'Los Italianos', right across the street from the cathedral in Granada

Have a wonderful trip!

Priscilla,
Thanks for all the information. On another forum, I was advised to buy my train tickets from Madrid to Toledo ahead of time because they often sell out. However, every time I check Renfe for an upcoming Saturday (the day we will be traveling), it looks like there are seats available at all the different times. It certainly would be much better for us to simply buy the tickets on arrival so that we don't have to factor in whether our plane is on time, how long immigrations/customs takes, etc. Do you know whether we can wait to buy those tickets?

Thanks for the sweets information! You couldn't have given that information to more of a sweet lover. :)

I think it's really unlikely that a mid- or late-morning train would sell out. I would definitely wait to buy the ticket till you land in Madrid.

Rick mentions a concern about the last trip back from Toledo to Madrid, which I think applies to buses as well as trains. That's where the risk lies, though I have no reason to think it is particularly likely at the time you will be traveling. If you're paying for a Madrid hotel, you do not want to be marooned in Toledo because the last bus/train sells out before you buy a ticket. Toledo does get very, very heavy day-tripper traffic from Madrid.

Digbydog,
Yes, you can buy your tickets to Toledo once you arrive, but I'd suggest you buy them at the Renfe office at the airport (Terminal 4). There are frequent trains traveling this route and the ticket price remains the same,so there's no advantage to buying these type of tickets in advance.

However, if you'd like to save money, you can buy your AVE train tickets (90 days) in advance ( Madrid >Sevilla and Granada > Madrid)

Make certain you use the correct train stations when booking your AVE tickets:

• Madrid = Madrid Puerta de Atocha ( not Atocha Cercanías)
• Sevilla = Sevilla Santa Justa

Here is a very informative website which explains everything about train travel in Spain (and elsewhere): Seat 61.com

Thank you both for your replies. I have used the Man in Seat 61 a lot. He is terrific! I do plan to purchase the long train rides ahead of time.