Spain and South of France in 10 - 12 days? Help!

It seems you have traded your ambitious Italy/France wish list for an ambitious Spain/France itinerary. Please clarify what you mean by 1 day. I prefer to look at how many nights I stay in each location. Keep in mind that if you stay in a location 2 nights, that really means 1 full day in that place. Based on your proposed schedule, you will see plenty of trains and buses, but not much else. You are trying to do too much!!

Hi Andrea, Thanks for your reply! We decided to do Italy during better weather months from a experience from a Friend who went to Italy last November and told all stories about drenching rains. I might sound ignorant but really looking for suggestions and open to make changes to my itinery. Also, I think the reason we post here is because we are confused. If we already know what it takes to see all these we don't have to. Right? :)

You are right! I understand the desire to see EVERYTHING! It is not possible. You will enjoy your trip more if you actually take some time in these places. Since you have such a short time, I recommend you go to either Spain OR France. If you must do both, limit it to just Barcelona and the South of France. I am going to Barcelona and Southern France for the 1st time in September, so can't give you specific advice about those places.

Hi, Sahitya: I also used to have ambitious plans... But I quickly learned that it is better to "experience" a place, rather than just "see" it. I agree that you're trying to do too much in too short a period of time. When you say "10-12" days, are you including your traveling days in/out of Europe? That would make a difference in what "real" time you have available. Also, if you don't have your airline tickets yet, you could buy them open-jaw, landing in one country and leaving out of another one. That would save you time. I avoid backtracking at all costs. Having said that, have you considered just visiting Spain OR France? Or if you must, then maybe just one major city and close-by town in each country? The places you mention are some of my favorite in the world - there's so much to soak up - particularly the culture. If you haven't done so already, I'd suggest picking up Rick Steves guidebooks. He provides sample itineraries, which are very helpful. He gives you a realistic perspective of how much time it will take to get around & check out places. He sometimes even adds "whirlwind" tours - where you don't have a lot of time to absorb much, but you can certainly pack in a lot of sights. Have fun planning!

As someone who has done some ambitious trips (12 nights/8 cities) my suggestion (if you haven't already done this) is to write done a detailed schedule of traveling times. In my case it was mainly trains so I looked up the schedules and times from A to B. Then I readjusted my schedule to make the trip most efficient (Travel time wise) and to eliminate things that just wasn't practical. Check out the various train and bus schedules. Google the various places you want to see to get an estimate of time to allocate each place. Throw in an extra night here and there to relax some. For example in my case moving from city to city every night gets tiresome so I never change cities more than two nights in a row then I make sure the 3rd city I stay for 2-3 nights. I know many here like to stay in one or two places for 10+ days but most of us don't have the time (vacation) and/or money to see the things we want to if we dedicate that much time to every city/location. Weather is always tough to judge. We were just (mid May) in London for 8 nights and never once used an umbrella ( the only rain occurred late at night) and the temps were 65-80 during the day. Not something I was expecting, I was wishing I had more short sleeved shirts. Have fun.

I agree with the suggestion to pick one place or the other. 10-12 days is enough for a good sampling of Provence and the Cote d'Azur, but you don't have time for Spain. 10-12 days would also let you have a good sampling of Spain. Without a car, Spain might be the better choice because it's difficult (though probably not impossible) to get to the picturesque perched villages and beautiful natural areas of Provence via public transport, though you could reach the cities you mention by train.

If we choose to do Spain in 10 - 12 days. Is the weather condition OK? Does the Spain experience change from winter to Summer lite Italy. Or is it worth doing Spain in november?

I strongly recommend doing only one country, and enjoying it more! And I was in Spain (Sevilla, Madrid, and Soria in late October and early November of 2010 and it was great!

I don't think the number of countries is an issue, it is the number of travel days (or half days as is usually the case). For me, two nights is the minimum stay in any area and three is preferable. Just passing through someplace or seeing it from the train station isn't the kind of traveling I prefer. Then again I enjoy sitting at a cafe and people watching as much as going to a big attraction.

Sahi To add to the practical suggestions above, get Rick Steves Europe through the Back Door and Spain guide for example. At the end of each city or region chapter, he has a section on connections. He tells the various ways you can reach other cities, the time it will take, the frequency of the transportation and how much it costs. So for your first draft of the itinerary, this is a quick way to find out about the transportation options and times without having to delve into train, plane and bus schedules. However, when you consider the tme it takes you to get from one city to another, also add in: +time to get from hotel to train station (for instance) +time to find the correct train platform and waiting time +"on the train" time +time to get to the next hotel. If you don't include all of these "little" pieces you will be very disappointed in how little time you will have to sightsee at your destination. With this information, you can get a blank calendar from Wincal.com in Word form and then adjust and share it. +Include your day of departure from the US and the day you are leaving for the US. The last day is all about getting to the airport 3 hours in advance, etc. +The first day is a Recovery Day. Don;t plan museums or travel too far from your hotel. Just get the lay of the land around your hotel and pick a place for an early dinner. You probably won;t get into the hotel until mid afternoon.
+Then begin to lay out your initial itinerary. Block in the travel times. Are you traveling every day? Not so good. Spend at least 2 nights and preferably more in each city or destination. You can take day trips from Madrid to Toledo and avoid changing hotels all of the time.

I agree with the folks that say do one country.. or stick to Barcelona to Nice. There are many excellent day trips out of Madrid (Toledo, Segovia, El Escorial) that you could easily spend five night there alone. I agree two night minimum per stop. For Seville I recommend three nights (two full days), can do Granada in two nights but three would be nicer. One night stops are o.k. for small towns that are on the way to someplace else, that don't have much to do. But I try to avoid one night stops whenever I can. You can check weather on Yahoo weather. I would think southern Spain would have the best weather of the places you listed in November, but check to be sure.

Continued from above. +Don't spend more time getting to a destination than you are staying there. IE Cordoba and Granada. +If you have 12 days in the country, 3 or 4 destinations is plenty but you may feel compelled to add 1 more. I like that you are including some smaller places. So a possible itinerary might be, US to Barcelona, AVE train to Madrid, Day trip to Toledo, Fast Train to Seville, train to Granada, Granada to Madrid by air or train. Home from Madrid. Or you could stay in Toledo and day trip to Madrid. I suggest you review the replies from your Italy itinerary itinerary questions well. Many of them will apply to Spain or Southern France. Keep us posted on your itinerary progress.
Bobbie