Spain Road Trip - American Family - Love Road Trips - Do not mind Driving

My husband loves road trips and has done more than 700 miles per day on some trips. I'm sorry, I have low tolerance for sitting in a car that long, so anymore when we do car trips I design the entire itinerary, calculate the miles between places, choose all the stops and ensure that I have time OUT of the car.

Okay, we have driven all over Spain and many other European countries, and other nations, but when we do that, we usually go to places somewhat off the beaten track as well as famous places, so we make the need for a car essential.

Your trip encompasses some of the most easily accessible places in Spain, and could easily be done by train. (Yes, I have also traveled all over Spain by train.) It is a nice, easy itinerary, not too hectic or strenuous (although the time in each place is a bit short), and with very light driving overall. However, the travel time estimates are too low. You never know about road conditions, traffic, meal breaks, etc., so I would add more time from T to V and from V to B.

Fist, you never need a car in a capital city. Driving from the airport and then leaving the car parked for a few days is a waste of rental time and may also involve paying for parking. We usually pick up cars after our capital city stays. Taxis from the airport to the city are a flat rate, and easy to take. There are also budget ways like trains, the metro and buses, but we are usually tired from jet lag, and we are lugging our suitcases, so we do not use public transportation too often anymore.

Although I just said your itinerary is good, sadly due to recent flood events in the Valencia area, you may have to revise that portion. You will need to monitor the situation there as March is still a ways off. Have you made any hotel reservations yet?

It would be nice if your daughters could learn a little about the country in advance, and perhaps learn a few words in Spanish. They may really enjoy going to see a flamenco dance performance.

Best wishes with planning a nice family trip in Spain.

As an important part of Spanish culture, lunch (and not dinner) is the most important meal of the day. In fact, having paella for dinner is quite odd, since dinner in Spain is rather small compared to lunch, and it´s much later than in the US (we like to have dinner well past 9pm, and much later on weekends). Lunch is around 2pm in most places, until more or less 0330pm, during that time life slows down and everybody takes that time to enjoy a nice, long lunch (not to be mistaken with siesta), that for many includes wine. If you plan to have dinner at US times (6-7pm), restaurants in touristy places will be full of tourists, but no locals, and if it´s a non-touristy place they may not serve dinner until a (very early for us) 0830pm or so. So try to plan your days to end around 2pm and stop for a nice lunch, adapting to local habits, and then a small dinner later at night.

That's obviously an AI itinerary, and not one I'd be willing to follow. I can't imagine trying to see Madrid, Toledo, Valencia and Barcelona in five days--less all the travel time and hotel-change time involved in such an itinerary. I'd want at least 3 full days in Barcelona and a full day in Toledo, not just a few hours.

I really see no use for a car at any point on this itinerary. You won't be using it to drive around the cities while sightseeing, that's for sure; it will just be parked--and not for free in a central location. And a car probably won't save you any time between those cities, either. There are express trains connecting the cities in question, though the Toledo-Valencia leg will involve a change of trains in Madrid. Check travel time by train on renfe.com, then get estimated driving times from viamichelin.com. Don't forget that you can pack a breakfast, lunch, or snack to enjoy on the train--not possible for the driver if you travel by car.

Rail fares can be very reasonable if tickets are purchased well in advance. Consider paying a bit more for a ticket that is at least changeable if you decide to make an early purchase.

Nu matter how much you enjoy sitting in a car, this would be much easier by train. Not to mention faster and cheaper.

But stopping in Madrid, Toledo, Valencia and Barcelona in six days? That's way too rushed for me. My suggestion would be to drop Toledo and Valencia.

If I´m not wrong, the (huge and wonderful) Fallas festival in Valencia takes place next year the week that end on March 19th, so the city will be absolutely packed and hotel prices will be very high (and availability low). Driving into the city that week is a big no-no.

A good reason to have a rental car is to stop at small towns and villages between lodging locations. You seem to be heading directly from point A to B, so there is no need for a vehicle. Much of your six days is traveling between locations rather than visiting them.

Regarding the Alcázar in Toledo. It is unlike the ones in Córdoba or Sevilla. It’s a museum more than anything else. A recent poster stated that much of it is currently undergoing some restoration and many of the exhibits are closed.

The drive to Toledo from Madrid will be closer to 1.5 hours, especially if you’re leaving Madrid during rush hour. The drive from Toledo to Valencia is 4 hours, not 2.5. Likewise, the drive from Valencia to Barcelona is 4 hours, not 3.

I guess that a problem with AI is that it is American biased so makes American driving and parking assumptions, so makes you think that a car is much more useful and less of an albatross than it is when driving here.

It was a good idea to have skilled humans look at that output.

Five cities in six days, WAY TOO much, cut it down.

Also, driving in those old cities, where will you park? If you do drive, do some research and find out where you will park. For Toledo, you might have to park outside of the city and hike into it.

Further, I have driven in many European countries and always found that it took longer to get to my destinations than was expected.

If you drive to Toledo there is a pay parking garage just past the Alcázar. For free parking, there are a couple lots by the train station. When we were there last month both were full so we parked along a dirt road on the back side of the train station. From there we walked the 20 minutes to the escalator to go up to the historic center,

I’m genuinely surprised and grateful that each of you took the time to respond to my message.
I realize our schedule is ambitious, but with my daughters nearing college age, I want to visit as many places with them as possible. The idea is that after we check these destinations off together, my wife and I can revisit them later on our own. Plus, since they’re young adults, they’re not really into deep dives into history. Especially when it’s coming from me! Their attention spans are pretty short, so I’d rather prioritize seeing unique spots over lengthy museum tours or cathedral visits. Hope that makes sense!

Happy to know about not having car will work and also Fallas Festival. Btw someone truly guessed that this is CHATGPT itinerary :)

I understand the desire to hurry through. But others have pointed out the fallacy of trying to drive this (and why). Leaving it as a quick overview trip, I would still remove Toledo or Valencia. Toledo is fascinating - but so is Valencia during Las Fallas.

Day 1 Arrive Madrid, wander
Day 2 Madrid (if you want to cut time in Madrid short, take a day trip to Toledo here)
Day 3 Train to Valencia, overnight - OR day trip to Toledo
Day 4 Train to Barcelona (from either Valencia or Madrid)
Day 5 Barcelona
Day 6 Depart

As mentioned Valencia will be crowded, so get a reservation for both lodging and paella if these are important. It’s all just a matter of choices and no one can decide priority for your family except you. But take the trains.

I would not want to have to find places to park the car in these cities that are so easily and quickly accessed by trains. To me,a car is for places with less than great public transportation options, such as Ireland. Of course, traveling by train will require lighter packing so everyone can handle their own bags.

You will not see more on an itinerary like this; you will see less, because so much of your time will be spent traveling between hotels and train stations and sitting on trains. Yes, trains will be faster than a car, but still you are losing a very large amount of your painfully limited time not seeing anything.

With such a short trip, why not just stay in Madrid and make a day trip or two? You really only have 5 days (arrival day usually isn't good for much beyond walking around). If you take a day trip to Toledo, that's only four days left to explore Madrid. If you really want to sleep in two places and just get a quick look at the big cities, you could sleep in Madrid for three nights then transfer to Barcelona by high speed train for three nights. That gives you roughly two and a half days in each city. If you want to see four cities, take a day trip each from Madrid and Barcelona.

Have you done a trip like this with your children? We have 1 child and are very experienced travelers, by ourselves and with our child, but this plan would be WAY too ambitious for us. I encourage you to also think about how much time changing locations will eat up. How helpful are your children when it comes to packing/unpacking their suitcases? Every change of hotel is another chance to leave an ipad, stuffed animal, favorite shirt, etc. Moving around a lot is generally not conducive to a pleasant, relaxing family vacation. Remember that you will not travel as quickly or as easily as a group of 4 as you would on your own (or as a group of 2 adults).

With your limited time, I would spend the entire time in Madrid (could you fly into and out of Madrid?), or 5 nights in Madrid and 1 night in Barcelona. As much as I love Valencia (Barcelona is not my cup of tea), logistically it does not make sense here.

(That being said, we spent three months in Spain this summer with our seven-year old, including 10 days in Valencia, so if you DO go to Valencia, I have a lot of recommendations!)