Spain itinerary input: 10 nights in March 2016

Thoughts?... (1) far too much packing and unpacking in a short period of time and (2) far too short stay in Barcelona... I'd spend at least 5 full days just to scratch the surface. But again, this would simply threw out the window your current planning, wouldn't it?

So, remove Sevilla? Add those nights to Barcelona?

That's what I would do, without unmereting Seville of course, it's a very nice city worthwhile seeing as well, but when time presses one might need to take difficult decisions :))

As per Barcelona, I suggest you have a look to these sites so you can start "planning" your must-do. Note that many visitors to Barcelona include at least one or more escapades to nearby sites, such as Montserrat, Sitges, Girona, etc. which can be reached easily by public transportation on a day escapade if necessary.

http://www.infocatalonia.eu
http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/
http://www.timeout.com/barcelona
http://lameva.barcelona.cat/en
http://www.catalunya.com/?language=en

Haven't been to Seville and Madrid, so I can't advise re: those cities.

But, last year March we were in Spain (and surprisingly, the weather was great...a little chilly, but sure beats heat of the summer).

I think it was Enric who had actually recommended to us that we stay longer in Barcelona (we were originally only planning two nights...The Sagrada Familia was the huge draw for my spouse). But, due to an ice storm in Nashville, we actually left two days early, so we wound up having 4 nights in Barcelona, and I was glad to have those extra two nights. There really is a lot to do and see in Barcelona.

Since you like food/drink, etc., consider taking the Food Lovers Tapas Tour. You can check out their web site and also reviews on www.tripadvisor.com It was a fun way to experience three different food venues that we probably would never have found on our own, and it was a fun small group with which to enjoy the evening. The guide explained the foods/traditions, etc. we enjoyed. And, the last stop is an entire, huge dinner. You will not go away hungry!!!! All drinks are included, too.

Two nights are perfect for Granada. If you are such that you can quality for a senior discount (which I think starts at age 50 or 55), consider staying at the Parador, which offers special discounts. When we first booked, the senior discount was not available, but we kept checking the web site and once it was available, they applied the super savings to our reservation. Our French-baloncy style room overlooked the lovely Generalife Gardens..........incredible!! But, there are also great places to stay in the actual city of Granada, too.

If you need a driver, Emily of South Ole Spain Tours (check out reviews on TripAdvisor) was wonderful. They also do group tours and individual guided tours.

Be sure to book your Alhambra tickets early. Ditto for La Sagrada Familia.

We really enjoyed Spain.

Ideally you would benefit from a few more days, but if you are happy to be very organised with your time, you will be able to 'tick off' the 'big ticket' items of Spain.

Day 1 - Afternoon arrival in Barcelona (3 nights)
Day 2 - Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and other Modernisme sights
Day 3 - Palau de la Musica Catalana, Picasso museum, possibly see a Barcelona match
Day 4 - Fly to Granada (2 nights)
Day 5 - Alhambra, Albaicin, Cathedral
Day 6 - Train to Sevilla (2 nights)
Day 7 - Cathedral, Alcazar
Day 8 - Train to Cordoba (for the Mezquita), then on to Madrid (3 nights)
Day 9 - Royal Palace, Prado, Real Madrid match (already bought tickets!)
Day 10 - Day trip to Toledo (??)
Day 11 - Departure from Madrid

we are also planning to be in Spain in March 2016! you've purchased your plane tickets already? egads.....I've been waiting to see if the prices come down. do you mind if I ask how much you paid? of course our to/from places are different but I am just curious if you don't mind sharing. will understand if you don't want to share.

so, here are some ideas for you from my perspective.

Madrid: if you're an art lover, go to the Reina Sofia museum if only just to see Picasso's Guernica. There is also a collection of art on the Spanish civil war that I found interesting and moving. I also love the building itself. There are tons of great places to eat! One of our faves is Posada de la Villa: THE best lamb I've ever had!! It's in an old, historic building and the service is impeccable! I also like that they let me speak Spanish there :) There are free hours for the Prado and Reina Sofia, just check their websites if you're interested in that. There is a very moving exhibit at Atocha for the March 11 terrorist attacks. so, on your way into Madrid you could stop for a few minutes and look. or you could go back too, it's not very big but worth a look.

Sevilla: we saw a fabulous flamenco show at Casa de la Memoria but I think it may have moved locations since we were there: http://www.casadelamemoria.es/ One of my favorite things in Sevilla is the alcazar: room after room after room of wondrous things! all of them beautiful, a must in my book. You should also visit the cathedral where Christopher Columbus' tomb is and of course to view the beauty of the cathedral itself.

Barcelona: definitely Sagrada Familia and the Picasso museum. That museum is also in a historic building which makes the experience much richer.

Enjoy your trip! maybe we'll bump into each other :) (I hope to purchase my plane tickets in the next week or so....getting kinda nervous!! but last week they were $1600 each: ouch!!!)

No, it's no problem. I bought ours probably two months ago because I saw a dramatic price drop. We ended up getting the open-jaw tickets for $730, including tax!

I use the flight matrix and it's the best flight searching software I've found (and I'm a librarian!): https://matrix.itasoftware.com/ It allows you to search across almost all airlines to find the best deal, then you have to purchase directly from the airlines.

Thanks so much, everyone, for the feedback! Keep it comin' if you have anything else to add :)

wow!! $730 round trip??? I am doing open jaw as well but haven't seen a price like that for our dates yet. I did see a fare for $800 but it was for different dates and too bad we couldn't go on those dates! We're doing this around our daughter's spring break. I will have to check out that link you provided, perhaps I can get lower than the current $1300 round trip. Thanks for the information!

I just ran the same dates we purchased, and it came to $1200 (better than $1300!). I also knew when it dropped because I set up an alert through tripadvisor and you can also setup emails through airfarewatchdog. Good luck!

oh interesting. thanks for the tip! I will do that!

say hellospain....I think I'm stuck. I tried at tripadvisor and your other link for setting up alerts and I'm not seeing an option for open jaw flights? I must be missing something. Can you tell me how you set yours up?

many thanks.

no prob. I think I just set up alerts for round trip from Austin to Madrid. When I saw that the price had dropped to $900, I did the open jaw search on flight matrix and then purchased the tickets on the American Airlines website. It's definitely more of an art than a science!

I came back to say what you just did hellospain: I set up the alerts for RT to/from MAD or Malaga, can't recall now. I may have done one for MAD and the other for Malaga. anyway, thanks for the help once again. appreciate it greatly!!