OT: Spain

[Chris]

Thinking about taking my two teenage daughters to Spain for Spring Break. United has fares for about $550 round trip from Dallas right now. Would be there 7 days. Madrid? Barcelona? Madrid/Barcelona? Madrid/Seville?

Help

[redir]

I like Barcelona better than Madrid but they are close enough to see in 7 days. That's a great price for a flight. 7 Days might be pushing it but you could land in Barcelona travel around the north cost and end up in Madrid. Toledo is a short train ride from Madrid and so well worth seeing.

[tv_vt]

In 7 days, you could have a great trip visiting the parts of southern Spain strongly influenced by the Moorish occupation: Seville, Cordoba, and Granada. Did that about 20 years ago in February and saw some amazingly beautiful places - Alhambra, the Great Mosque, Alcazar, and a lot more. Can take buses between cities, few hours apart. Flew into Seville and flew out of Granada, via Madrid.

[johnmdesigner]

Eh make sure that price is for a nonstop flight. 14 hours for a 7-1/2 hour flight is not a good way to start a weeks vacation.

[moose8]

You can't go wrong with any of them. But for a quick trip like that I'd fly into Madrid and then go see Toledo and Seville / Andalucia. If you try to include Barcelona it ends up being a lot of travel time. You could do Madrid Barcelona but then you miss the south which is most like what you probably think of when you think of Spain.

[11.4]

What are your daughters most interested in? Perhaps that should drive your choices.

Spain has great trains including luxurious overnighters -- you can take a Talgo from Barcelona to Sevilla overnight with a nice cabin and good meals for what it costs to stay in a hotel, and you don't lose a day for travel. With only a week, I'd take trains for the long stretches and rent cars locally.

With that in mind, there are cities all over Spain that are worth visiting, and it's fair to say that there isn't really a bad city in Spain. However, getting to paces like Toledo take a lot of extra time that you don't have. Here are a couple suggestions, bearing in mind your start and finish in Madrid:

1. Spend a couple days in central Madrid, whatever you do. There are amazing historic areas and all kinds of areas that shut down traffic at night and open up cafes and tapas restaurants onto the sidewalks and streets at about 10 pm. You didn't mention your daughters' ages, but even if they can't drink, it's a great experience. They can visit historic sites and palaces during the day, take a nap early evening, and have dinner and wander around the night life starting about 10 pm. It's the lifestyle and even if they are young, it's a great experience.

2. Take a Talgo south to Sevilla and rent a car there. Spend at least a day in Sevilla. The Casa Imperiale is a beautiful Moorish-style hotel and walking distance to the big things. Sevilla is the personification of old Spain -- the old town area has a whole street full of stores dedicated to clothing and accessories for flamenco dancing, there's a very old and small bullring nearby that is famous as a place for talented bullfighters to show their stuff against the best bulls. It's right out of Hemingway. If your girls aren't offended by bullfighting, it's a look at a fairly grim part of Spanish culture. And there's an amazing cathedral, palace, forts, you name it, all in walking distance and all within a couple miles of the train station as well.

3. From Sevilla, go down and spend a day in Cadiz. It's a Phoenician port from two thousand years BC, and is still a beautiful town. Roads are often too narrow for vehicles so you walk everywhere. Picasso lived here and there's a great Picasso museum here (with kids it's much nicer to go to the smaller jewel-like museums than to try to take them through the Prado or other huge museums).

4. From Cadiz, head east and have stays lined up for 2-3 nights at paradores, the inns run by the Spanish government in beautiful old palaces, castles, and the like. Arcos de la Frontera is very cool and is an easy first day trip. Next day get to Ronda. Third day, make it to Granada and enjoy the parador plus go to see the Alhambra. You want to be at the Alhambra very early to beat the huge busloads of Germans or, even better, come in the evening and tour the Alhambra at night -- it's all lit up and it's quiet and mostly empty.

5. From Granada, you can take a Talgo back to Madrid or can drive and make a couple stops to see the Mezquita and Toledo on the way back Just get back to Madrid in time to have one last long night joining the locals.

What's not on this trip? Bilbao, which isn't as much fun for most kids. Barcelona, which is definitely not one to miss but can take a whole week on its own. The Mediterranean coast, which can be wonderful but which you can find closer to home. Perhaps most beautiful, taking a ferry from Cadiz to Morocco, driving around there, and returning.

What kids will see in Spain is how cultures have assimilated and also remained distinct. In the northeast you have everything posted in both Catalan and Spanish. On the Atlantic coast you have everything posted in Basque and Spanish. As you head south, you see Spanish and Arabic. And go far enough and you get Galician and Spanish. There is art and history everywhere. You can simply walk into an olive orchard and find ruins of an old Christian encampment back in a ravine, or an old sixteenth-century castle in ruins by the highway. This stuff is everywhere. It's a great country with an immense amount to enjoy and learn from.

[OtayBW]

^ I am a big fan of Andalucia and the local culture there as well. I've done a lot of kayaking off of Tariffa and Gibraltar, and road tripping up the coast. A must see, IMO, is L'Alhambra near Grenada. Mind-blowing place. Sitting in an outdoor cafe having a nice meal and some local red - very pleasant experience.

[Chris]

Great suggestions guys. My girls are 16 and 13. Both are in AP and Pre-AP Spanish respectively. Just looking to soak in more culture.

[Lovetoclimb]

Barcelona, Girona, Figueres (Salvador Dali museum and his hometown nearby), and so much more in an around that part of Catalunya. I spent nearly 10 days just in Catalunya and could have done 10 more easily. Walking Barcelona is worth 2-3 days in itself.

[old fat man]

Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla. Should be easy to connect them whether driving or taking train/bus and won't be an overwhelming amount of time spent traveling. IMHO, I'd save Madrid for last (three out of the 7 days if possible) so you are acclimated by that point and not feeling like you have to rush back there for your departure. Toledo is a beautiful place to see and explore. Sevilla and Madrid are as well, but also have the night time and active city culture to absorb.

[MadRocketSci]

For culture, there's Ibiza! Might be a downer with dad though ;)

But for a more tame experience San Sebastian, Barcelona, Granada, Valencia/Alicante.

Madrid is a big 'ol european city with great museums, if that's something they'd want to see. And lots of Museo de Jamons.

[ultraman6970]

Remember that the official tongue in barcelona is Catalan, is not Castilian (everybody calls it spanish) ok? You guys will have like 70% of chances to be answered in catalan and not in spanish... just like the french do when you speak english to them :P They are really proud of their heritage. Doesnt mean they dont speak spanish, they do and with a slight accent. So don't get weird if you ask something in a store and they answer you in their own dialect :)

If you know something else besides english the better in that area, specially french or Portuguese.

BTW at 12 pm this guys goes to nap so if suddenly a lot of shops closes till like 4 pm, thats the reason. At 12 they go to sleep or to get lunch with cava, ham and a lot of stuff that I love to eat :D Then go home to sleep and come back to work.

If you dont go to a 5 stars hotel, my advice is this... if the place you go is close to the ramblas there is a slight chance the pictures you saw are not even close to the hotel itself (happened to me twice), if you stay 1 night dont even bother complaining, they really don't care :D

In barcelona you can go to see a couple of museums and one church that I cant remember the name, another big detail, they put the name of the streets literally in the buildings, so look like 10 feet above at the corners of the buildings and you will see the signs.

Be carefull crossing the streets.

Have fun and eat a lot of Pan Con Tomate for me :D

ps; it wont be that cold, probably with a mid thickness jacket and snickers you will be ok.

[vav]

Day 1: Madrid
Day 2: Madrid
Day 3: Toledo ( 20 min from Madrid on the AVE-high speed train) Toledo is easily the most Castilian-Spanish city there is. It won't disappoint
Day 4: Sevilla ( 2 hrs on the Ave )
Day 5: Granada/Alhambra. Make sure you reserve tickets to get inside
Day 6 : Córdoba
Day 7: Madrid again time permitting
Day 8: back to Texas republic ;)

Que la pasen bien amigos :D

[TDot]

Hey, spent lots of time there. Unbelievably rich and diverse.

Madrid and Barcelona are both great cities and provide an interesting cosmopolitan contrast.

Lots of touristy type beach action on the coast near Barcelona; Roses is nice and near Salvador Dali's hometown where there's a great museum housing a lot of his work, including many of his sketches. Barcelona itself is special: the architecture and food is something you and your girls will not forget. You can speak Castilian in Barcelona without issue, so don't sweat that. You may be reminded or educated on the fact that Catalan is the native tongue, but I wouldn't expect anything more than that. Staying near Las Ramblas is noisy and gritty; staying out in L'Eixample affords you more space, generally, and a little more comfort.

Madrid has great museums: the Prado is most famous but Reina Sofia, within walking distance, is a must. If you visit, eat at Museo del Jamon (The Ham Museum) - you won't be disappointed. Order a racion of pata negra to sample the world's finest cured ham, or, for breakfast, have what amounts to a toasted western. Do note that the bacon is cut differently and has cartilage in it. This comes with your choice of a coffee or a beer.

Both are great walking cities and have very good public transit.


Andalucia is quintessential Spain; red rolling hills studded by olive groves, etc.
The 401 highway runs down the rough centre of the country starting in Madrid; a great drive all the way through Toledo to the very tip of southern Europe, which is Tarifa. Beautiful beach there called Playa Bolonia where there are Roman ruins of a fish sauce factory on the beach. Visit ancient Rome in Spain in your swim trunks. Then have a cervecita overlooking the Straits of Gibraltar.

Tarifa also has great night life and restaurants. Check Bar Morilla for example.

From Tarifa you can take a day trip to Tangiers, Morocco.

Just a couple of notes off the top of my head.

Have a great time.

[hummus_aquinas]

To piggy-back on this, I hope you don't mind if I pick some brains/kick tires on bike touring in Spain.

A friend recently spent some time traveling through Spain to enjoy the country with family, secretly enticing themselves with the prospect of going back with a bike. They suggested riding from Madrid to Barcelona, spending about 4-5 days on the road cowboy camping whenever possible and finding room and board as a treat. I've been to both of these cities and while fully interested in taking them in again, I'm open to planning an alternate route.

With the intent of spending multiple days on the road traveling by bike does anyone have any good/better routes or destinations to consider? Our party is partial to dirt roads and rough accommodations. We like wine, weed, have no dietary restrictions and speak Spanish. For example, instead of MAD to BCN I've thrown around the idea of flying into Barcelona, riding to Valencia, then to Madrid. Train ride back to Barcelona to recover bike boxes, etc.

Here are some hastily listed parameters that I could think of before going to bed:
- two week total stay, late summer/early autumn 2017
- $2000-$2500 USD budget
- riding portion sandwiched between sight-seeing/partying in destination cities

Any insight would be much appreciated!

[moose8]

Any insight would be much appreciated!

Have you considered the Camino de Santiago instead? You won't hit those cities but it'll check off a lot of what you're looking for. I've hiked it but not biked it. It it looked like it'd be a fun bike trip with a diverse range of riding.

[oldpotatoe]

Great suggestions guys. My girls are 16 and 13. Both are in AP and Pre-AP Spanish respectively. Just looking to soak in more culture.

Barcelona and Palma

[estilley]

Too far north for your trip, and you would need more time, but if you want the best food in Spain, the Basque Country, specifically San Sebastián is the place to go. Blows the rest of the country's cuisine out of the water.


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[Chris]

Just booked flights. $382 a ticket!

[VoyTirando]

We go to Spain a lot: my wife is from Barcelona, and it's such a fabulous city, modern and sophisticated and stylish. But Sevilla is old, inquisition Spain, the opposite feeling. Madrid is a modern European capital, bustling and energetic. Those three could be great guideposts on your trip: you can take the AVE (high speed train) between each of these. Sevilla to Madrid is 3 hours; Madrid to Barcelona is 2 1/2 hours. From Barcelona or Sevilla you can take day trips to see Grenada or Girona, see the Spanish Costa Brava, North of Barcelona, go to Montserrat, and eat everything you see, except don't go where there are touts asking you to come sit down. Happy to give suggestions offlist if you'd like.

Spain is wonderful.

[donevwil]

I fell in love with Cuenca and Ronda, the settings of each are absolutely spectacular. Smaller towns with a more personal feel are a nice blend with time in the big cities. I can't imagine visiting Spain and not spending time in both Madrid and Barcelona, even Grenada, however for me Seville was relatively meh.