My wife and I are going to visit our son who is studing at the University of Alcala de Henares this Semester. We will fly to Madrid and stay in Spain for a week. Our thoughts were to spend two or three days in Madrid and then drive to another area for a day of two and then return to Madrid for our trip home. We would love suggestions about what to try to see and do during this short visit - especially were to drive to for a day or two. Would a drive to Granada to visit the alhambra be out of the question? Thanks for any suggestions.

Question: What time of year will you be going?

If you only have one week and expect to visit with your son during this time you may want to stay close to Madrid and central Spain. There are SO MANY PLACES not-too-far from Madrid worth seeing. These places would include Toledo, Segovia, even Salamanca, El Escorial, Aranjuez, and others. I'm sure once your son gets settled (unless he's already been there awhile) he could give you suggestions too. I think making your way down to Granada would take too much time out of your schedule - probably 3 days minimum.

Best of luck & enjoy your time in Spain! Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks for your suggestions. We are going to Spain the first week of April. You're probably right, my son at that time will have been in Alcala for almost three months. He might well have an idea(s) about where to go, etc. I appreciate your response and any others that may come.

In common with Madridman, I believe there are plenty of places worth visiting that are relatively close to Madrid. Segovia, Avila and Toledo would be my top 3. Visiting the top museums in Madrid could account for a lot of time too.
However if the weather is still chilly you could drive down to Andalucia, spend an afternoon visiting the Alhambra and then head to the Malaga area for a night or 2 (where it should be warmer)
Have a good trip!!!

Apr 5-10 is Semana Santa! Is that when you will be there? If so, you might structure your visit around Semana Santa sites and activities. One year, we took an 8:30 AM AVE to Sevilla from Madrid Friday of Semana Santa, saw the Virgen de la Macarena procession and did the 'tourist' bit and caught the 8:00PM AVE back to Madrid. Same day return was 25% off on AVE.

Alcala de Henares is a nice University town (if you don't mind the Storks) but the son of an acquaintance of ours studied at Universidad Complutense de Alcala de Henares; all his classes were in Madrid.

Your son has been there long enough - let him work out your itinerary.
P.S.
Some people are off work Thurs, 8 Apr but 9 Apr and 12 Apr are Holidays for most Spaniards.

Does that mean that everything's closed on Apr 9 and 12? Please let me know what I can do on those days if they are holidays.

i lived in sevilla for 8 months. As a matter of fact,i lived in the area where semana santa takes place. It is something that you can see in one day. Many places are closed., only the food places are open.Many spaniards may go for a day or two and the they go on vacation for the rest of the time. Many people leave sevilla. All I can tell you is watch out for the pickpockets. My passport was picpocketed during semana santa last year.

Well I finally got our plans together for our first visit to Spain!!! Thanks to MM and all others for their suggestions - don't think I could have put it together as easily with out you! Here's my itinerary: 3/31 - Arrive Madrid from Atlanta at 9:15AM, staying in Alcala de Henares for three nights, visiting our son, eating with his host family and exploring Madrid and vicinity (Toledo, etc). 4/3 - Taking rental car for drive to Granada for two nights (have Alhambra reservation). 4/5 drive to Seville via Gibralta for two nights. 4/7 drive back to Madrid for two nights. Fly home 4/9. I'll let you know how our trip went when we get back - along with info on our experiences in the hotels, etc. One other thing: We are not letting the terrible tragedy of 3/11 stop us from making what we think will be a wonderful trip to Spain - I hope others feel the same. We have to continue to live our lives and going about our daily business - if we don't then the criminals who commit such unspeakable acts win. Again, muchas gracias por su ayuda!