Spain help please?

[Deleted]

We're planning on going to Spain in May.  This will be our first trip there.  I have three questions:

1.  In a perfect world, we'll take off on a redeye on Thursday night, arrive Friday, and stay through to the next Monday (11 days on land).  Itinerary then would be:

Stay in Madrid from Friday to Tuesday morning (3.5 days, 4 nights)

Tuesday morning train to Granada. Stay in Granada from Tuesday to Thursday (1.5 days, 2 nights)

Thursday morning 5/22, take train to Sevilla. Stay in Sevilla from Thursday to Monday (3.5 days, 4 nights). Take day trip to Cordoba while there.

Fly back to the states on Monday via Sevilla --> Madrid --> NY

Does this sound reasonable?


2.  In a not-as-perfect world, we'll have to cut one day off the trip.  If so, would you cut the day off of Madrid or Seville?  I imagine we'll be back to see northern Spain in a few years, and could spend more time in Madrid then (because of the easy access to direct flights to Madrid and I think there are fewer direct flights to Barcelona), if it matters.

3.  Is a just over 2-hour connection in Madrid on the way home safe, or is that cutting it too close?

Thanks!

[changedname]

I lived in Spain for 5 years so here is my take.

1) If you have to choose spend longer in Seville than Madrid.
2) I would not cut it so close with the connection... it is Southern Europe and things don't always go as planned.

Sounds like fun trip. Make sure you buy your Alhambra tickets for Granada before you go as it gets booked up.

ETA - sorry,  I never post on this board. I saw it in the new posts and your name and thought this was MM. My bad

[wanderlustfoodie]

I haven't been to southern Spain but I think you'd still be able to see a lot of Madrid even if you had to cut a day off of that leg.

Madrid is great. The museums are some of my favorite anywhere. While the Prado as a whole is amazing, La Guernica (in the Reina Sofia) is one of the most moving pieces of art I've seen in person.  I also remember enjoying the Palacio Real tour. 

On the non-cultural front, I visited Madrid when a friend was studying abroad there and was therefore still young enough to enjoy their amazing nightlife. Now that I'm a senior citizen, I hardly ever go out late when traveling but you seem energetic still so you may enjoy the clubs. My 20-year-old self sure did.

And the food is, well, amazing.

I would not do a day trip to Barcelona. I feel like you'd only be able to scratch the surface of what that city has to offer and since there's so much else to see in Madrid and the south and since Spain is so close, I'd just save Barcelona for a return trip.

[librarygirl]

If you had to trim a day I'd opt to do it in Madrid as opposed to Sevilla. I liked Madrid a lot the couple of times I visited (and I think even if you're not a hard-core museum person there's still so much to see and experience there i.e. incredible tapas bars for starters) but if you return in the future it would be a lot easier to re-visit Madrid coming from the US versus heading back down to Andalusia. I also second the Palacio Real...and Parque Retiro.

I definitely agree with the previous poster about buying your tickets to the Alhambra in advance. Excluding the Alhambra I was meh on Granada although this probably had to do with the fact that I lived in Sevilla and not there

By all means, visit Cordoba! Spain has a ton of "omg" style buildings but nothing can prepare you for the Mezquita. It remains to this day one of my favorite things I've seen on my travels. And it's super easy to get to coming from Sevilla (the AVE runs to there and there's also the cheaper train and bus). From what I've read it's gotten more touristy now than when I lived there as a student but I loved the flamenco performance I saw at Casa Memoria in the Barrio Santa Cruz...it's a very small venue but it's also not overrun with people either. They also used to have Sefardi music concerts (Spanish Jewish) but not sure if they still do.

I also agree with a pp that I would not attempt to do a day trip to Barcelona...you have more than enough to keep you busy in the cities you have planned If you were chomping at the bit to do a day trip in Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, and El Escorial (royal palace/Valle de los Caidos-this may be closed, read something about it...) are all good and easy to get to choices. 

[neonpink]

I love Spain. I am thinking of going back to see more of the Southern part this summer. If you have to cut a day off I would do Madrid. Just since you think you will get back to Madrid easier than Seville.

I haven't been to Seville yet but I loved Granada. It was one of my favorite cities. I love the tradition of ordering a drink and receiving a tapa. I could hang out in the squares all day people watching, drinking and eating delicious food. Alhambra was amazing. Get the audio guide and take an earlier entry to try and avoid the large tourist bus groups.

If you like Anthony Bourdain he just did a show in southern Spain on his new show Parts Unknown. It made me really want to go back.

I just noticed that someone suggested day trips from Madrid. While I was in Madrid I went to El Escorial (amazing palace), Avila (stone wall sleepy town), and Toledo. If I was going to go to anyone I would go to Toledo. The Cathedral there is breathtaking and the city is small enough to explore in an afternoon and take a train back. The sites experience there was just way more impressive to me then the other two day trips.

[anna7602]

Yay! You're finally getting your Spain trip! (If I remember correctly, you wanted to go last year and cancelled, right?). I agree with pp. Madrid is infinitely easier to get to and you'll be able to spend more time there in the future if you plan on doing northern Spain at some point anyway. I've lived in both Madrid and Sevilla and I would opt for spending more time in Sevilla. Especially as a New Yorker.

I also agree with librarygirl's reco of seeing a flamenco performance at la Casa Memoria. I was there in March 2012 and thought the show was excellent. The flamenco museum is also quite interesting, if that's your thing. Don't miss the Parque de Maria Luisa. It's nice for a lazy afternoon stroll. You will find tons of amazing tapas bars everywhere you go in Spain, but in Sevilla in particular, go for any kind of fried fish (pescaito frito in local speak).

I also loooove Granada. I haven't been in a while, so don't have specific recos besides the Alhambra (although I think I already reco'd the Las Chimeneas guest house to you in the foothills outside the city if you end up wanting to venture away from the city).

In Madrid, I am usually shuttled around by my friends and family, so I don't remember many names of clubs/restaurants/bars. One good little place if you tire of traditional Spanish food is a hip little restaurant called "Motha." (See their website: www.motha.es/) And if you DO want a super-traditional dish, find out from your hotel concierge where you can get the best "arroz negro" in town. It's rice with squid, not for the faint of heart, but I love it and it has been almost impossible for me to find an arroz negro that compares with any I've had in Madrid. (One place in Paris came close, none in NY have.)

Feel free to PM with specific questions.

[Deleted]

anna7602 -- thanks for all the recommendations. Yes, we were planning on going to Spain last year, but we postponed it until this year because we were invited to a friend's wedding in Hawaii that was around the same time we were supposed to go to Spain and went to Hawaii instead. So I certainly can't complain about that But I'm very excited to finally go to Spain!

[anna7602]

Oh, almost forgot! Check out the "guia del ocio" for listings of museum exhibits, dance shows, etc. It's like "Time Out" in Spain and you can check it all out via their web site by city. And if you do end up going out dancing until dawn, don't forget to end your night/begin your morning with an order of churros and chocolate.

[anna7602]

Oh, almost forgot! Check out the "guia del ocio" for listings of museum exhibits, dance shows, etc. It's like "Time Out" in Spain and you can check it all out via their web site by city. And if you do end up going out dancing until dawn, don't forget to end your night/begin your morning with an order of churros and chocolate.

[CloudBee]

It makes me sad that you're not going to visit Barcelona. But I do agree that you can't do it in a day. A weekend, yes, but not a day.

It's one of our favorite cities, and has such a unique feel.

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2013 11:40:50 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

It makes me sad that you're not going to visit Barcelona. But I do agree that you can't do it in a day. A weekend, yes, but not a day.

It's one of our favorite cities, and has such a unique feel.

We'll get there!  It just isn't in the works for this trip.  We wanted to do more of Spain this time but only have about 10 days to do it, so a southern itinerary seemed to make sense.  We definitely plan to do a week or long weekend in Barcelona in the next few years.

[thejen626]

My parents have lived in Madrid for the last 5 years. It's a very fun place to visit!

My favorite day trip is to El Escorial. It's a very cool old castle, with very pretty gardens. There's another tourist attraction nearby, I can't remember what my mom called it, but my guide book is calling it Valle de Los Caidos. It's up on a hill and it's nice to get the sweeping views. When we were there in March, there was snow on the ground there! Crazy. It's only a half hour drive from Madrid, but takes 3-4 hours at least, to view both places.

My biggest tip about Madrid...they don't eat dinner until 9pm or later. I knew this going in, but didn't realize that, literally, restaurants don't serve food until after 9pm. There's no such thing as happy hour or early dinner. We thought we could order tapas. Nope. Tapas, most places we went, consisted of potato chips and olives. That's it.
DH and I always made sure to keep lots of granola bars in my purse, and we ended up grabbing pre made sandwiches and pasta dishes from convenience stores because we were so hungry and couldn't wait several more hours to eat. However...the restaurants are more than happy to serve you wine alllll day long

[dreamcrisp1]

I love both Madrid and Sevilla and I would want to do both. Madrid has amazing night life but I'm young and love that stuff. I think I would spend mord time in Sevilla since you do plan to go back again.

[Deleted]

Dec 21, 2013 15:03:56 GMT -5 thejen626 said:

My biggest tip about Madrid...they don't eat dinner until 9pm or later. I knew this going in, but didn't realize that, literally, restaurants don't serve food until after 9pm. There's no such thing as happy hour or early dinner. We thought we could order tapas. Nope. Tapas, most places we went, consisted of potato chips and olives. That's it.
DH and I always made sure to keep lots of granola bars in my purse, and we ended up grabbing pre made sandwiches and pasta dishes from convenience stores because we were so hungry and couldn't wait several more hours to eat. However...the restaurants are more than happy to serve you wine alllll day long

That will be normal for us.  I don't like to go to dinner before 8:30 because anything earlier than that is early bird time here  And then if there's a 2+ hour wait for a table...

[thejen626]

Dec 22, 2013 14:23:13 GMT -5 v said:

Dec 21, 2013 15:03:56 GMT -5 thejen626 said:

My biggest tip about Madrid...they don't eat dinner until 9pm or later. I knew this going in, but didn't realize that, literally, restaurants don't serve food until after 9pm. There's no such thing as happy hour or early dinner. We thought we could order tapas. Nope. Tapas, most places we went, consisted of potato chips and olives. That's it.
DH and I always made sure to keep lots of granola bars in my purse, and we ended up grabbing pre made sandwiches and pasta dishes from convenience stores because we were so hungry and couldn't wait several more hours to eat. However...the restaurants are more than happy to serve you wine alllll day long

That will be normal for us.  I don't like to go to dinner before 8:30 because anything earlier than that is early bird time here  And then if there's a 2+ hour wait for a table...

Oh good! Because that was the hardest thing for us. Well, that, and the 9 hour time change, lol

Have a great trip!!