Spain and France - 30 day Itinerary

5 nights in Granada sounds like a lot to me. I spent 4, slow paced and thought 3 would have been sufficient. On the other hand, you are skipping Cordoba and Sevilla. Toledo is much better as an overnight - even 2.

A lot depends on your interests. Madrid is great if you love painting. But if you want medieval or older, you need to look elsewhere.

That looks lovely. I can only speak with any knowledge to Madrid and later. Madrid to Granada has a train (right now it is under construction and switches to a bus for the end of the journey. From all reports this is a seamless process, and it might be ending soon anyway, making it a faster train). Granada to Barcelona also has a train but it takes a very long time, so flying makes sense.

I would consider adding Sevilla if possible - maybe take one night from Madrid, one/two from Granada, one from...elsewhere...to make 4 nights. 3 would be fine, but I like your slower pace! Granada is my favorite, but Sevilla is the heart of southern Spain and you may not want to miss it. You could take a night from Barcelona - 6 nights in Barcelona is good, but you could do ok with 5.
Madrid to Sevilla (high speed train). Sevilla to Granada (train or bus). Granda to Barcelona (flight).

I definitely agree with Chani about spending fewer nights in Granada. Having traveled through the Basque, San Sebastian, and Andalusian regions, also Portugal, Sevilla/Jerez/Andalusian areas (other than Granada) were my favorite with friendly locals, tasty and reasonably priced tapas, also a variety of sights, weather conditions, too.

I would be keen to see you add in Seville and Cordoba.

Paris (4 nights) - flight booked arrive aug 26th
Bordeaux (3 nights) - day trip to Medoc and/or St. Emilion
San Sebastian (4 nights)
Laguardia (2 nights) - train or bus to Logrono to pick up/drop off rental car -rural room booked
Madrid (4 nights) - daytrip to Toledo
Seville (3 nights)
Cordoba (1 night)
Granada (3 nights)
Barcelona (6 nights) - thinking of flying from Granada instead of train
- day trip to Montserrat and maybe one of the nearby wine regions
- airbnb booked - flight booked depart sept 25th Barcelona back to Toronto

thanks everyone, sounds like i have to work in Seville at a minimum...

I'm thinking 2 nights (one night off both Madrid and Granada). my wife and I agreed nothing less than 3 night stops, but we already broke that rule once by working in Rioja (we love wine regions).

Is it doable to just do a stopover in Cordoba (luggage lockers, short enough distances?) to see the bridge, mosqthedral and have lunch on the way to Granada? we wont be doing any one nighters. The hardest part of planning trips is cutting the worthy places out, but we don't want to open the floodgates and end up packing our bags every 1-2 nights for most of a month again either.

We really want to make sure we get a relaxing stop before the craziness of Barcelona/La Merce. So I don't think we could see everything in Granada and have a couple days to mostly relax without at least 4 nights.

We thought we should tack on the extra day in Barcelona (went from 5 to 6 days) to make sure we could get to sites in the festival areas before it starts and gets too crowded. Might be hard to change the airbnb also.

Not many people would linger in Granada for 4 nights - three would be an average stay. One day for the Alhambra, and one for Cathedral + Albaicin.

Why not? For us at this point, lingering an extra day somewhere, instead of moving on to barely see somewhere else for one night, is exactly what we're shooting for.

Or is Granada not the nicest place to just hang out for a day? Seemed like it had a good cafe/bar/tapas scene. Would Seville be better?

Seville is more lively than Granada. More bars, restaurants, cafes, atmosphere.

Paris (4 nights)
Bordeaux (4 nights) - day trip to Medoc and/or St. Emilion
San Sebastian (4 nights)
Laguardia (2 nights)
Madrid (4 nights) - daytrip to Toledo
Seville (3 nights) - daytrip to Córdoba
Granada (3 nights)
Barcelona (6 nights)

alright, 3 nights in Seville it is...

final question: which would you give 4 nights to, San Sebastian, Seville, or Granada?

I would give the 4th night to Cordoba as doing the Mezquita early morning when there is no talking aloud
is magical and it like the gardens are also free at that time. My husband loves the Alhambra but I was blown away by the Mezquita. We stayed at a Eurostar across the street from the entrance to the Mezquita with a small balcony.

It's also an easy bus ride between Seville and Cordoba and Granada.
As far as cheap accommodations in San Sebastian, we enjoyed staying at Pension AIA. 2 years ago it was 55 euros during the Jazz festival. It was an interior room with shared bath but there are plenty of bathrooms and really clean. A lovely couple run it and the rooms are modern. Great location. If you do stay there across the street there is a restaurant with the most amazing hamburgers we've ever had. Around $16 each but amazing. Paulo also gave us good recommendations on local places to go and eat.
Forgot to add La Merce festival is wonderful.

I have not been to San Sebastian, but between Seville and Granada...that's tough. I LOVE Granada, so that would be very tempting. However, that does not seem to be a universal opinion. Seville is more popular, therefore it is more likely you will like it more than Granada. Granada has its own feeling, and a bit of grit to it. If you are in-tune with it, it's wonderful. Apparently, some people are not into it (judging by this message board, everyone I know in person who has been loves it). Seville is a little more polished, and is also bigger therefore has more to do. I'd rather spend a day wandering the Albayzin than Seville's Barrio Santa Cruz - both are wonderful, but the hillside setting and general exotic flavor of Granada won my heart. Really, though, this seems like a can't loose choice!

I don't know where you landed on Cordoba. Yes, it is doable as a stop between other places. A night would, of course, be better, but if it's between a stopover or not seeing it...a stop on the way is certainly worth it. I did it between Seville and Granada once - early train to Cordoba, drop luggage across street at bus station locker, walk from station to Mesquita before 10 opening (this is a longer walk, I'm sure there are cabs or busses). Get to Mesquita before 10. Visit it for 3 hours, have lunch. Now it's about 2:00. Walk the Roman bridge, see some of the town, leave on a 5:00 bus. Into Granada by 8. Whirlwind, and better if you go longer, but the mesquita is a must see, and if this is how you can see it...see it.

If a day in Bilbao (for the Guggenheim) and Pamplona appeals then San Sebastián.

david can't stop adding more stops can he, lol

we are on the fence about Pamplona though, may visit on way down to Logrono but it doesn't seem to add anything that different from our other stops at that time of year (Sept 6th or 7th). seems like it would just be an "I went there and took some snaps" stop, which as I've said we're trying to avoid.

we're not interested in Bilbao as a daytrip, to check off another Gehry (which are neat, just not enthusiasts), it seems like a city that requires a few days. also figured Madrid/Barcelona would more than compensate on the modern art front this trip.

I wasn't adding stops, just asking if they appealed re your question for an extra day. :-)

Abide by your 3 night rule and add it to Rioja (Laguardia).

I'm surprised at what Ann wrote about the early morning visit to the Mezquita. I was there earlier this week for the free visit from 8.30-9.30. The organist played for the first 40 minutes and I found that music loud and rather intrusive. There was no rule about talking. People tend to speak softly and I didn't notice undue noise, perhaps because of the organ. There were a lot of people taking advantage of the free time. There was a good deal of hammering as soon as the organist stopped, apparently some repair work. If you want to see the church inside the mosque, you need to visit at another time. That area was roped off, so it was impossible to see the altar or choir areas. BTW it's worth it to take binoculars to see the intricate mosaics of the Qibla area and the patterns on the wooden rafters overhead.

we decided to do the 4 nights in Granada and 3 in San Sebastian, partly because of the cost of accommodations in ss , partly because we've already built up a longer Granada stay in our minds at this point (probably not helped by one-to-many viewings of Bourdain's Parts Unknown episode there)

thanks everyone, glad we're working in 3 nights in seville now

also, in san sebastian we ended up booking Pension Edorta from the Spain guide, it has decent reviews, is right in the old town, and we got a double ensuite with courtyard balcony at the same price as the slightly-out-of-old-town Pensión Aia (90 eur)

That's unfortunate about the organ playing and noise at the Mezquita.
Their own rules were enforced when we were there.
Mon to Sat, 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Free but individually and in strict silence.
I found Granada funky with lots to explore and a place to return to.
San Sebastian was a one time thing. Enjoyed it but don't need to go back.

Mikey - I have also watched that episode of Parts Unknown about 1000 times. Having been to granada, I can say that it captures the feel of the place very well! Now I sort of want to go back for Semana Santa. Anyway, my husband and I are about your age, love that episode, and love the feel of Granada. I'm confident you will, too. Good choices, all around!

Hi Mikey,

I have visited the cities you are considering, so let me weigh in on this discussion - for what its worth ... I recently spent three nights in San Sebastian and found that to be every bit as much time there as I wanted to be there. However, I did not do day trips to either Bilbao or Pamplona - I spent two night in each of these towns. BTW, I found Bilbao's Old Town vastly more interesting and enjoyable to stroll around and people watch in than San Sebastian's.

I spent three nights each in Granada and Seville, and two nights in Cordoba a couple of years ago. I found that sufficient for Grenada, but this Fall I am returning to Seville for four nights and Cordoba for three because I did not see everything I wanted to on my last trip.

Jack