We visited Madrid and Barcelona at length recently so we are looking for some other places where we can spend the month of August this summer with an 11 year old girl and a 9 year old boy. Any suggestions? I should add that: 1. We are not beach people and love sight seeing and soaking up ambiente. 2. We loved Barcelona but it felt that not enough Spanish was being spoken so we are concerned about a place like San Sebastian being even more so with Basque being so prevalent... 3. We'll spend 5-7 days in Sevilla and 2 more in Cartagena 4. We'd like to spend the other 20-23 days in no more than 2 or 3 other places; spending a week to 10 days in each one.
5. Ideally these 20-23 days will give us some insight into how the Spaniards live their day to day lives. Thanks.
Posted by
Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada
629 posts
Follow Franco's lead and stay in San Sebastian. There's a lot more to do in the northwest area of Spain than hanging at the beach and it will be cooler than anywhere south. 'with Basque being so prevalent....'? We only noticed the signage and some of the food choices - nothing else. If you and your family love the weather HOT than you may enjoy Madrid or even further south. We would not enjoy it!
Posted by
OP
Toronto
12 posts
Thanks but we have to visit Cartagena and Sevilla. Any other suggestions perhaps within a triangle connecting Cartagena, Sevilla and Madrid? Thanks.
Posted by
darlington
26 posts
Hi ,Malaga and Cordoba could be places that you could consider.When staying in Seville you can easily travel by rail to both places at very reasonable cost.and the standard of travel is very good.
Posted by
OP
Toronto
12 posts
Thanks. I'll look into those two. Is there such a thing as a lower temperature place in the south? Somewhere in the mountains perhaps? Thanks.
Posted by
darlington
26 posts
The weather will be hot in Southern Spain in August for sure.Have you thought about the alpujarras region or maybe Sierra Nevada mountains and Granada. not sure of the distance you may want to cover.
Have a read of Brads trip report , could be some good ideas or suggestions for you.
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
Some of my favorites were: Toledo for twisty medieval streets, Granada for the Alhambra and Sambra performance in a cave, Ronda for the stairs down to the river, Antequera for the dolmens: http://www.spain.info/en/conoce/monumentos/malaga/dolmen_de_menga.html Avila for the medieval wall, Segovia for the aqueduct, Templar church and decent (if not faithfully restored) castle, Coca, La Mota, and Penefiel castles northwest of Madrid. Olite castle near Pamplona, and Belmonte castle further south (toward Granada). Bodega tours in Jerez were better than we expected. Anywhere you go, spending a couple nights in budget lodging and eating cheaper local food will give you a pretty good idea of how Spaniards live - especially if you're outgoing enough to converse with locals. Fair warning, though, Spaniards aren't a homogenous group. The food, language and local customs vary greatly by region. Barcelonans are considered the least friendly in Spain (they seemed fine to me). Using Barcelona as an example, anywhere else you go, the locals will be warmer but very little English is spoken.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
Seville will probably be very hot indeed in August. When I went there a couple of years ago in May it was over 30C in the daytime, and when I went out of the hotel for the evening public thermometers were still reading over 25C at 8:30 pm.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
I was just in Sevilla a couple of weeks ago. On our two days in the area, the temps were 38C (100F) and 39c (102F). I'm not sure I would want to find out how hot it will be in August.
Posted by
OP
Toronto
12 posts
Thanks Jessica. I think you have it.