Trip to Spain in early November

Thanks -- too ambitious given the time, right? We have a good deal of flexibility...will either add another 4 -5 days or save southern Spain for another trip. Haven't booked flights yet.

I don't see a thing wrong with what you plan, at least as far as the Spain part of it. Sagrada Familia is in Barcelona. You could fly into Barcelona, spend a few days, then take the train to Granada. Take a look at the Renfe.com site to see what trains might be available, then work backward to when you need to be back in Barcelona to fly home (or whatever city you choose to leave from).

I am not familiar with how to get to/time to Lordes but Barcelona and Granada can be combined fairly easily. Either fly (vueling or easy jet do the route cheaply), or take the train. A few days in Barcelona (4 - 5 nights?), down to Granada (3?), then fly to wherever you need to for Lourdes. It's kind of disjointed - 3 separate places with not that much in common, but if these are your priorities, go for it. I have not been to Lourdes, but both Barcelona and Granada are wonderful.

If you don't have your flights organized yet, you may look to see whether your favourite airlines code shares with Iberia. I am flying to Granada on my overseas ticket (yes, transferring in Madrid), but going right on to Granada for barely more than the cost to Madrid. It cuts down on one internal flight and might be an alternative you didn't consider. Another is to fly into Malaga, then bus to Granada, fly to Barcelona and then on to Lourdes (however method you wish). Malaga is an easy bus ride to Granada. I did find, however, that from Canada, those flights are seasonal and not available by late October.

I would look at a minimum 14 nights on the ground to see the highlights in Spain.

Start in Barcelona (4 nights)
-visit Sagrada Familia & modernist sites
Fly to Granada (2 nights)
-visit Alhambra
Train/bus to Sevilla (4 nights)
-visit cathedral & Real Alcazar
-day trip to Cordoba for Mezquita
Train to Madrid (4 nights)
-visit Royal Palace & Prado
-day trips to Toledo & Segovia

To includes Lourdes you could fly from Madrid to Toulouse for a train connection. Possibility then for train via Bordeaux to a Paris departure.

Mary.Havel,

I like David's itinerary with a slight change... I'd spend at least a couple of nights in Córdoba, rather than visiting this beautiful city as a day trip from Sevilla.

You may consider visiting Lourdes on a future trip....
For starters, according to Renfe, there is only one daily train, traveling from Barcelona to Toulouse-Matabiau, departing at 6:30pm and arriving at 9:43pm. Once you arrive to Toulouse, you may decide to spend an overnight, or take the 2Hr 29 minute train ride departing at 11:33pm.

You may check train schedules for France on SNCF.com

Have a wonderful trip!

You all are incredibly helpful!
Thank you very much -- this helps me begin preliminary arrangements! I'll continue to be pleased to receive any suggestions and insights!

I think my friend Priscilla has this saved to her desk top ...
"I like David's itinerary with a slight change".
(smiley face, wink, lol)

I also think it's a shame to go to Spain and see only Barcelona and Granada, so I like David's approach, too. With respect to a possible Barcelona-Granada travel leg, the train takes about 8 hours if not more, so it would be best to figure out a way to avoid that.

Okay, folks -- next step help needed!

We've been studying options, and we no longer anticipate getting over to France this trip but instead will concentrate on Spain! Still finding our plans to be ambitious, though. We still haven't set an itinerary but have our air travel to Barcelona and returning to the states from Madrid booked (We arrive Nov. 1 and will leave Nov. 11).
What are your suggestions for building in treks to Granada (Alhambra) and Sevilla (thinking of it as home base for trips to Cordoba, and Ronda).

Suggestions / recommendations for the transportation between cities? Doe sit make more sense to fly or train to Granada from Barcelona or head west to go to Sevilla (through Madrid and Toledo) and get to Sevilla? My biggest concern is how to get to these points so we can lock in reservations.

Thank you very much for your precious help!

Mary

Roughly 11 days does not allow enough time to do what you now consider unless you are taking a tapas approach to each city - just a small taste. Other than the Sagrada Familia and Alhambra, what are your interests? If the Sagrada Familia is of interest due to its architecture, there is a lot more Modernista architecture to see in Barcelona. I would spend at least 3 full days there. Also, if art is of any interest, Madrid pretty much needs 3 days too which only leaves 5 days in the middle to do 4 other locations.
Perhaps expand on what you want to see/do and then we can build something different for you.

Mary, you have only 9 full days plus the first partial/jetlagged day. You really don't have time to do all of Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Cordoba and Granada, much less Toledo and Ronda. I suggest you spend some time with a guidebook, reading about the wonderful sights in those cities so you can figure out where you most want to spend the time you have.

Especially if you're interested in the modernista architecture beyond La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona in particular can consume many, many days. Its sights are fairly spread out, and they are mostly not 30-minute stops. If one of your major interests is religious sites, I think you'd really enjoy the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. In addition to paintings and sculpture, it has fabulous early frescoes rescued from churches in the Pyrenees, as well as other architectural bits and pieces of a religious nature. There's also a good modernisme collection (including jewelry and furniture). I spent 5 hours in that museum alone, and I admit to giving the paintings not a lot of time.

Everyone's interests are different, but if someone asked me for general guidelines for a trip to Spain, off the top of my head I'd probably come up with something like this for absolute minimum nights needed at each destination, though this is without getting into the train schedules, and I'm not suggesting this order of visit:

Barcelona: 4 nights (10 were not enough for me)
Madrid: 2 nights (more if you're interested in art)
Seville: 2 nights
Cordoba: 1 night (or add 1 night to Seville)
Granada: 2 nights

Aside from insufficient time to do the above, there's the issue of having to pack up and move to a new hotel so frequently. I, personally, hate that. I like to be somewhere long enough to absorb a bit of the local atmosphere.