Hi All,
Looking for recommendations for trip to southern spain sept- Oct-Nov 2024.
Will be flying into Madrid and plan on renting a car from there for entire trip.
wanted to start in Valencia and work down the coast and inland as we go ending up back at
Madrid. Planned to rent several Abnb as a base though out the trip
We tend to like laid back travel and low crowds and are happy to visit the busy areas
for a day or so at a time.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7157 posts
You can see a lot in 7 weeks. Most of the small coastal towns will essentially be shuttered that time of year since it’s off season and the weather isn’t conducive to going in the water. There will be fewer dining options available. Driving from Madrid to Valencia is Cuenca.
Not knowing what you enjoy I’ll throw out Alicante, Murcia, Almería, Granada, Jaén, Úbeda and Baeza, and Almagro or Manzanares. Of course there are the favorite destinations of Cádiz, Córdoba, and Sevilla.
With as much time as you have and with a rental car, you could head over Extremadura; Zafra, Mérida, Cáceres, Guadalupe, Plasencia, then back Toledo.
Between all the places I mentioned are plenty of small villages, castles, and nature areas worth visiting. Where you visit is dependent on your likes and interests, but there is no shortage of options. Take advantage of the time you have and get off the highways to better enjoy the countryside.
Posted by
Washington DC
28081 posts
I'd add Teruel (regional capital) and Albarracin (rural village) to the list of possibilities--maybe. They're not terribly far from Cuenca, but I haven't looked at the routing by road, so they might not fit well. The thing is that Albarracin, especially, is very difficult by public transportation, because there's just one bus a day from Teruel. The bus arrives around 4 PM and departs early the next morning. Teruel is on a secondary (slow) rail line running from Valencia to Zaragoza, so one can visit that city without a car
Posted by
North Italy
382 posts
September is still busy on the coast in Spain and you certainly won't find everything shuttered . We visited places like San Jose in Cabo de Gata área, Mojácar, Peñíscola very late October and only the Cabo de Gata área was very quiet.
The coast east of Málaga so places like Nerja and Almuñécar still had loads of people the first two weeks in November .
These visits were 2018 and 2019 and by all accounts tourism has increased since COVID.
We spent about 6 weeks around in Andalucía on this trip:
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2019/01/andalucia-itinerary-for-two-months-trip.html?m=1