Spain itinerary with a baby

Greeting Sarah from Brisbane, and best wishes for baby coming.

Your interests align pretty much alongside mine, except I have never travelled with baby.
I have travelled to Spain regularly over the past 25 years and have good friends (well another family really) in Barcelona.
From your description you sound bang on with your plans.
Great time to visit also with a new baby, the heat of summer will be gone but it should still be very comfortable.
Unfortunately Granada is not as well serviced as other parts of Spain by the train system.
Check out renfe site for services etc ... http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/
Consequently I would advise you need 2 nights in Granada with the day in between set aside for the Alhambra, Cathedral, Albaicin.
Flip a coin and steal a night from either Barcelona or Madrid - there is always something to do in Barcelona (and my friends are there) but the art galleries in Madrid are just stunning.
Whilst not having visited after dark, my night time experience was in a great restaurant with terrace dining and sublime views of the floodlit Alhambra. http://www.miradordeaixa.com/

You will have a great time - the Spanish love babies - many hands will offer to relieve your load.

In general, for planning purposes mothers with infants who have reported in here seem to have said, after the trip, that they ended up seeing somewhat less than half of what they would have seen before baby.

Yikes Kent, that's a bit scary! Thanks for the warning!

Thanks for your reply DJP. I have rolled the dice and will pinch a night from Barcelona for Granada. I had briefly looked at trains for travel times, but looking again, I see your point - there doesn't even seem to be one on Sunday which is the day it would land on with the revised plan! We might need to rent a car. If we did, do you believe it is possible to drive from Seville to Cordoba, have a quick peek and then continue to Granada that same day? That would give us more time in Seville by moving the day trip to Cordoba onto a travel day.

Sarah,
Well, I have to admit that I have no experience traveling in Europe with a 5-month old.
I was just comparing it to what 2 adults would be able to see and do, without a 5-month old.
I do have recent experience grand-parenting a 5-month old. It just seems to me that you're going to be moving slower, compared to the ground 2 adults could cover before baby.

Your best advice would come from a mother who has actually traveled in Europe with a 5-month old. We don't seem to have too many of those on this forum.

Good luck and happy travels (to the 3 of you)!

Did a quick look at renfe site for Sunday trains.

You have this option Sevilla (8.50am) Cordoba (9.34am) ...
http://horarios.renfe.com/HIRRenfeWeb/recorrido.do?O=51003&D=50500&F=15-02-2015&T=03943&G=1&TT=AVE&ID=i&FDS=2014-12-14&DT=44%20min.

And this option (which includes a connection) Cordoba (5.08pm) Granada (7.45pm) ...
http://horarios.renfe.com/HIRRenfeWeb/combinados.do?O=50500&D=05000&F=2015-02-15&T=99282&G=1&TT=LD-MD&ID=i&FDS=2015-02-15

Of course you will need to store luggage which you can do either at the train station or nearby bus station.
However, with baby as well, you might like to make enquiries to get a hotel room for 'day use'.

If you felt comfortable driving you could rent a car for the 3 days (27-30 Sep) from Sevilla to Madrid via Cordoba and Granada. I cant comment on driving 'on the other side' as I have never done it.

Thank you again. I am thinking with the luggage that I would be more comfortable leaving it in the car than at the station, so we can have a think about either renting a car or else revert to Cordoba as a day trip from Seville. Luckily my hubby is braver than I - he has driven on the 'wrong' side of the road before and seemed to cope well!

Muchas gracias

Hi Sarah,

I have experience traveling with small children, so I will chime in here. My husband and I took a 6 week, 9 country odyssey across Europe, mostly by train, when our daughters were ages 13 months and 3.5 years. We had a pram (umbrella style that reclined) for the 3.5 year old and carried the 13 month old in an Ergo baby carrier. I HIGHLY recommend finding a good baby carrier for your infant, as it is so much easier to carry baby than push a pram. Depending on your infant, and your physical ability to carry baby, you may or may not even want to bring a pram. If your child loves to be cuddled and will nap that way, you could potentially skip the pram. With a 5 month old your chances of getting to tour museums etc, is much better than ours was with a 13 month old toddler. Don't try to spend less than 3 nights anywhere and you will fare far better than we did. We averaged 2 nights per location, and the travel and packing and unpacking just about did me in. Also double check that every hotel offers a crib or baby cot, if you require one. The couple nights that we didn't have a bed for the baby were the longest nights of our lives! Lastly, have a wonderful time, and don't be afraid to travel with your kids. Your trips will be different than before kids, but no less awesome. In a little over a month we are setting out for a 71 night stay in a tiny mountain village in Andalucia, and I know our daughters, now ages 6 and almost 4, are going to have an amazing time.

Thanks for the insight Dominica. We have a baby carrier, so will definitely take it along. I have decided I was being a bit ambitious so will save Hungary for another time, which gives us some more time in France and Spain. I am now thinking:

Barcelona - 5 nights
Seville - 4 nights
Granada - 2 nights
Madrid - 4 nights (as our flight home is at 10pm, we get most of another day here)

That's the only 2 night stay in a 30 day trip, so hopefully we can pull it off just once!

Hi Sarah,
As you mention that you're travelling with a 5m old, I though you might be interested in a few pointers when you visit Barcelona (apologies if you already knew):

1.) You can rent most baby stuff you might need: http://www.easytravelkids.com and http://www.babytravelling.com so you might want to re-think bringing your push chair from home ;)

2.) Baby formulas and baby food (jars...) can be easily bought at the supermarkets and in the pharmacies -albeit the latter are more expensive, even for the same brands. Among supermarkets, Caprabo is one of the top quality merchants. You'll find most well known brands (Nestlé, etc). Note too there are plenty of supermarkets across the city so regardless where you are you'll find one nearby at walking distance.

3.) Note that all public buses are adapted so you can easy embark/disembark when carring a push chair or a stroller. Note though that you'll have to board the bus by the door in the middle -which has a ramp especially fitted for strollers and wheel chairs- instead the front door, as the rest of the passengers would do.

4.) This website might be useful as well: http://www.kidsinbarcelona.com

5.) Just for info:
Pasteurized whole milk = Llet sencera pasteritzada (usually bottled).
Sterilized whole milk = Llet sencera esterilitzada (it's an unusual type in Catalonia).
Whole milk = Llet sencera (usually UHT milk packed in Tetra Brik).
Semi-skimmed milk = Llet semidesnatada.
Skimmed milk = Llet desnatada.
Also, note that milk=llet in Catalan, the local language (approx pronounciation: "lee-et"). In Spanish, milk=leche

Thanks Enric, great tips