I'm planning a trip to Spain in first quarter 2025 when a friend will be teaching in Madrid. They will have an apartment and we can stay with them but would appreciate any advice on building out the rest of our itinerary. We're flexible on time but probably will spend about 2-3 weeks total. We can't pin down exact dates until we learn our friend's teaching schedule, as he'll be away a few times during his teaching stint.
We were in Madrid for 3 days in 2022 and visited the major sights and museums so don't need to spend a lot of extra time there, but will want to hang out with our friends and see some of the lesser known attractions. We also spent 1/2 day in Salamanca on our way from Madrid to northern Portugal so don't plan to revisit that. And we were in Barcelona and Figueres for a week several years ago, so won't include Barcelona on this trip.
We definitely want to go to Bilbao and visit the Guggenheim. Is San Sebastian worth it to add on? It will be winter so not beach weather and I'm not sure what else is there (other than great food).
Our other must see is Granada to see the Alhambra. Other places that would be great to visit if we can fit them in are Segovia, Toledo, Cordoba, Sevilla. We like art museums, history, culture, food, some hiking (if weather cooperates, but this isn't primarily a hiking trip).
I'd be grateful about recommendations for what to include, and how to manage the logistics since we'd be going both north and south from Madrid. I assume we'll use trains for internal travel, and we could fly home from Bilbao or Granada (although through Madrid) to eliminate at least some of the backtracking.
I'm thinking:
3 nights in Madrid
Toledo, either a day trip from Madrid (with an extra night in Madrid) or an overnight (or 2 nights?) stop on the way to Sevilla.
3 nights in Sevilla
Cordoba, either a day trip from Sevilla (with an extra night in Sevilla) or an overnight there on the way to Granada
2-3 nights in Granada
Back to Madrid for a few days with friends
Day trip to Segovia (or overnight there on the way to Bilbao?)
2-3 nights in Bilbao, fly home from there
I haven't yet checked train schedules for details of the different options.
We could instead do Bilbao first, then the southern leg and fly home from Granada or Sevilla.
Any comments or suggestions are most welcome.
Thanks!
Posted by
Detroit, MI
1036 posts
I spent 4 nights in Seville, 2 nights in Granada, 2 in Cordoba but that included a trip to Castello del Almodovar del Rio, 5 nights in Madrid including a trip to Toledo. A night in Toledo would be good if you can squeeze it in.
Can you try figuring out exactly which museums or sights you want to see and writing yourself a tentative detailed day-by-day itinerary and if you post it we can see if it makes sense, if you have given yourself enough or too much time in each city??
Posted by
Irving
3226 posts
Segovia and Toledo are good day trips from Madrid by direct train. There are direct buses between Madrid and Bilboa taking 4h 30m.
There are direct buses from Bilbao to Donostia / San Sebastian taking 1h 30m making it a good day trip from Bilbao.
There are inexpensive nonstop flights between Bilbao and Granada and direct trains from Granada and Sevilla (2h 45m). Córdoba is a good day trip from Sevilla by direct train (1h): https://www.renfe.com/es/en.
Posted by
Washington DC
28065 posts
Art museums you could conceivably hit:
Bilbao: Guggenheim Museum and Fine Arts Museum
San Sebastian: San Telmo Museum and Chillida Leku Museum (outside town, but there's bus service)
Granada: Museum of Fine Arts (in Charles V Palace on grounds of the Alhambra) and Rodriguez Acosta Foundation (tour may be required, and English tours may be infrequent)
Seville: Museum of Fine Arts and Andalusian Center for Contemporary Art
Toledo: El Greco Museum and Santa Cruz Museum
Cuenca: Museum of Spanish Abstract Art and Antonio Perez Foundation (I think just temporary exhibitions). Cuenca is on the express rail line connecting Madrid and Valencia, but you'd probably want to buy your tickets early, because they get pricey, especially for a day trip. Cuenca's very much worth a visit for its atmospheric, hilltop historic center and hanging houses along a ravine.
Other possible side trips from Madrid include the historic university town of Alcala de Henares (frequent, cheap local trains) and Zaragoza (75 minutes via an express train headed toward Barcelona; like Cuenca, tickets purchased late would probably be costly).
I think Toledo is worth a couple of nights, but if I had a free place to sleep in Madrid, I'd probably plan one Toledo day trip and allow for a second one if I fell in love with Toledo. Train tickets to Toledo do not escalate in price as the travel date approaches, but the trains sometimes sell out, so that's something to be aware of.
You cannot take a train directly from Toledo south toward Cordoba, Seville or Granada; you must first return to Madrid and change trains at Atocha Station. Service between Madrid and Toledo is fast, so it's not really a problem to make that connection.
There are limited fast-train options from Madrid to the Basque Country, so I'd recommend taking a look at those schedules sooner rather than later. Some of the trains do stop in Segovia, but there are many trains each day running between Madrid and Segovia, so you won't face limited schedules for that part of your itinerary. There's more to see in Segovia than the aqueduct, so I think a night there is a find idea. It's too bad Segovia is so close to Madrid, still leaving a rather long train ride to Bilbao.
Posted by
Bilbao
742 posts
//We definitely want to go to Bilbao and visit the Guggenheim. Is San Sebastian worth it to add on? It will be winter so not beach weather and I'm not sure what else is there (other than great food).//
Bilbao (350.000h) offers much more than the Guggenheim, it´s a beautiful city frequently overshadowed by neighboring Donostia-San Sebastian. Great architecture, lively old quarter, lots of things to see and do. Donostia-San Sebastian (200.000h, it´s not in any way a beach resort, this is a very rainy area) can be visited in one day from Bilbao (excellent bus service linking both cities 30 times per day). Food is equally good in both cities, D-SS is a foodies mecca but you can find practically the same type of food anywhere in the Basque Country.
Posted by
8242 posts
We did a tour that included San Sebastian and Bilbao. Both were great cities.
The Guggenheim building itself was impressive, but all the art is Modern, not my favorite.
Need a full day at San Sebastian and two days in Bilbao.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thanks everyone. I especially like the idea of flying between Bilbao and Granada to make a loop instead of back and forth; I'll look into that.
We will focus in on specific museums and other sights as we get closer, to help decide how much time to spend where. But I'm first just trying to get a rough plan about what we should include/exclude so I can then get more detailed. All the info has been really helpful!