After tentatively planning a trip with a friend, my friend bailing, me being laid off and then gainfully emploed, and now planning the trip again, I need some help with an itinerary, mechanics, etc..

Airfare sales for fall and early spring went on sale on Saturday. After playing around with a lot of options, I made reservations on Delta Airline\'s site today for an open jaw ticket Boston-Madrid, Barcelona-Boston for $476 including tax. This price was an absolute bargain. A roundtrip Boston-Madrid was $426, but since there aren't any non-stop routes from Boston, I have to fly to JFK, which is fine. Just as a comparison the long-haul roundtrip flight just JFK-Madrid was $515 including tax, and I have a seat on that flight. Don't know why Delta has more expensive pricing out of NYC, but that's not my problem, as I originate out of Boston.

So, I depart on March 13th, arrive on the 14th of March, and return home on March 30th, which gives me 16 days on the ground to sightsee. The cities that I have decided to go to are Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Cordoba, Seville and Barcelona. I'm trying to figure out a few things: how many days should I spend in each city, do I have over nights in Segovia and Toledo, or do I do them as day trips from Madrid, do I buy a rail pass or point-to-point purchases for the train, if a rail pass, do I buy it here in the US or in Spain, and should I add another city to see on the way. I am going to find a cheap flight from Seville to Barcelona, I believe my options are Air Europa and Iberia, are there any others? Air Europa has a one-way fare of approximately 122 Euros.

I'm not very prepared for this, as I had stopped my research on Spain months ago. Honest, I have the "Insight Guide to Spain" and all of the brochures from the Spain Department of Tourism -- I at least looked at a map for a route.

So, the next question is where do I stay in each city? Location and safety in each city is most important, followed by price. I'm always looking for a bargain, but if I should stay in 3 and 4 star hotels, please let me know. I've already sent an email inquiry off to the Hostal Lopez in Madrid, which has received a lot of positive reviews on this site. If that is booked, what other locations should I look for in Madrid? What are the recommendations for other cities?

Also, I'm guessing that end of March is cool in Spain, and that I will need just a leather jacket, am I right about this? I won't be wearing sneakers, but can I wear new jeans?

Okay, enough questions for now, I appreciate all of your help, and I promise to do more research. Thanks for all of the advice, this site is absolutely stupendous for information, much better than anything that I could find on the Fodors website.

Dear Lipstique,
Gal, you certainly did get a good airline rate, give yourself a star! I always have to pay extra because I am flying from Orlando, Florida
.

Regarding Hotels...let me recommend that you look into one of the best sites for reserving a 3 to 5 star Hotel, the Bancotel web site. For 50 Euros per night you can select from a variety of excellent accommodations, including the distinguished Paradores. Bancotel is a unique system whereby you make your reservation in their system, then purchase a talonario or coupon book of five coupons later and use these coupons to pay for your stay. The hotels are ranked one, two, or three talonarios. For example the Hotel suecia in Madrid is usually a one coupon book; the HUSA Princesa is a 2 coupon stay; and the famous Palace Hotel a 3 coupon per night stay, the Palace is usually $300/night, so you can stay for half that amount. You can buy the coupons before you leave and through a travel agent in Spain.
I purchased three talonarios, two from their online ordering system , and one from Halcon viajes ( Calle de Alcala) in Madrid.

I used Bancotel in my last visit( Dec 2001/Jan 2002) and found it to be a very economical way to stay in excellent accommodations. In Madrid I stayed four days at the centrally located Suecia Hotel, and it cost me i coupon or then $45.00 / night. Then on my last leg I stayed at the HUSA Princesa ( a 5 star hotel) for $90.00/night ( 2 Bancotel coupons).

If you use the search function on this board you will see many postings by other members about bancotel.

Buen viaje!

Wow, very aggressive trip for a 16 day stay. Segovia and Toledo can be done as day trips from Madrid, each taking a day.

Since you are press for time and want to visit Cordoba and Sevilla, which are south of Madrid, another option is to do Toledo as a day stop on the way south if you travel by train, but more than likely, will have to overnight there unless you can store your luggage or make it disappear. You can then continue by train from Toledo to Cordoba and on to Sevilla. Since you are planning to fly from Sevilla to Barcelona, this will save time.

Personally, I would do more flying. This will let you spend more time seeing places rather than moving around. For example, I would do Madrid (with day trips to Toledo and Segovia), Sevilla and Barcelona. You can do Cordoba from Sevilla as a side trip. Although expensive and if possible, I would look into flying (saves time) Madrid to Sevilla and Sevilla to Barcelona as you were planning.

I am sure that the members can give you more viable options. If you are looking for advise on Spain, you came to the right place. Good luck and have fun!

Thanks for the advice so far, I really appreciate it. I've started to look into Bancotel, and actually received some email messages already. Prices look excellent. I really want to stay at the Suecia, but it is not accepting vouchers at the end of March. Also, one of my requirements is to stay in a paradore, but it really doesn't make any difference in which city.

Have to add a city to my itinerary, I want to also go to Granada.

Here's what I am thinking, please feel free to make suggestions:

Madrid - 3 days sightseeing, stay in Madrid
Segovia - 1 day sightseeing, stay in Madrid
Toledo - 2 days sightseeing, stay in Madrid or Toledo (having a problem here deciding whether to stay overnight, as it would be on the way to Cordoba by train). Also, do I need 1 or 2 days in Toledo?
Cordoba - 2 days sightseeing, stay in Cordoba
Granada - 2 days sightseeing, stay in Granada
Seville - 3 days sightseeing, stay in Seville
Barcelona - 3 days sightseeing, stay in Barcelona

That works out to 16 days, if I stay in Toledo for 2 nights. I'm up early, and believe me I will be on the first train or flight in the morning, however, the flight from Seville to Barcelona is in the evening (only flight from what I can tell). I was thinking of flying from Granada to Barcelona, but there aren't any flights between the 2 cities.

I had thought of flying from Madrid to Seville, but I don't think I save anytime, as I still have to get to the airport, check-in, etc., compared to just getting on a train. I checked the train schedule and the ACE train ride between Madrid and Seville is 2.5 hours, and its only 2 hours between Madrid and Cordoba, so I thought it would make sense to stop in Cordoba on the way. Now I have to find out if there is a direct train between Cordoba and Granada, and how long that will take, as it would seem silly to backtrack from Seville to Granada, back to Seville to catch a flight to Barcelona.

Now amongst all of this confusion, I'd love to receive your advice. You are all Spain experts, and I am not. Is there a city I should drop from the mix? Madrid and Barcelona are givens, as I believe everything else is except possibly Segovia, but it is so close to Madrid.

Believe me, I'll have a ton of other questions to ask, but who better to ask than the experts on this board.

Cubatex, I just reread your suggestion that Toledo only needs 1 day, so following your advice, I would stay in Madrid for 4 nights, going to Segovia for 1 day, then take the train from Madrid to Toledo in the early AM, and stay in Toledo for 1 night, and follow the rest of the itinerary. Now, that gives me 1 extra overnight, so where do I put it in the mix. I'm being aggressive, and don't need to add another city, but just tell me which of the cities I have chosen needs an additional overnight.

Thanks again.

Booklady, just spent most of the evening looking at the Bancotel site again. Realized that I was looking at March, 2002, which is why there was no availability. I guess I was having a blonde moment, even though I am truly a brunette. Looks like there is plenty of availability in March 2003 at 5 star hotels for 1 voucher in all cities except for Toledo (no availability at all), and in Madrid, 3 stars are 1 voucher, and 4 and 5 stars are two vouchers. I'll need to buy at least 4 checkbooks for 20 vouchers, basically $1000 for 16 nights, which seems fair to me, actually its a bargain, since I usually stay in 3 and 4 star hotels when I travel in Europe.

I have some questions regarding Bancotel. Do I have to buy the vouchers and have them in hand before I book the hotels, or just have the vouchers charged to my credit card and then start making reservations? Do I receive a confirmation for each reservation? What is the likelihood of arriving at the hotel with my guaranteed reservation and voucher in hand and then finding that the hotel will not accept the voucher, want the voucher and more money, or find out that my guaranteed room has been given away? What happens then?

Thanks for your input.

Hola Lipstique,
Love the Blonde Moment
Regarding your questions.
You can make your reservations first after you register and become a member. At the time you make your reservation they provide you with a confirmation number, and you save this information with your records. You can make as many reservations as you need and can change your reservations anytime.

You then buy your coupon books. I bought two coupons through their e-mail system, which was easy and flawless, four days in advance of my flight, I'm a procastinator . They then mailed my coupons via UPS and arrived in my home the day before my flight. I was a bit scared because I thought the coupons might not get to me in time. So I called them, they were exceptionally nice and said not to worry that if that did happen they would cancel those coupon books and issue me two more books and they would be waiting at the Suecia. The young man called me the day before my flight to make sure I had received my coupons! What service!

I made it a point of confirming my reservations both with Bancotel and with the Suecia, just to avoid arriving and not finding my accommodations ready. I had no problems at all.

I then purchased my third coupon book at Halcon Viajes, and as a matter of fact they issued a voucher and said that the hotel would give me the coupons, and that happened just as they said.

Another thing I did was to change hotels while in Spain and that worked marvelously. Initially I was suppossed to stay at the Reina Victoria, but last December that area, Plaza Santa Ana, was under construction and it was a mess, plus my son wanted to stay in a Hotel with a gym. So I went to an Internet cafe and went to the bancotel site, cancelled my Reina Victoria request, and then made new reservations at the HUSA Princessa. Great place to spend the New Year's celebrations!

Another thing about Bancotel is that if you call them directly they will make a reservation for you in one of the Many Paradores, so if you want to stay at the Parador of Toledo with its breathtaking view of the city you can use your Bancotel coupons.

I hope you have a great trip.

Regarding Toledo: You only need two days if you forget your map. Translation: Bring a map unless you're into the feeling a mouse in a maze gets while searching for the cheese at the exit.

You might consider using your "mandatory Parador" stop in Toledo. We've had good reviews of it here on the board. Another option would be the Parador in Alarcón, which you might be able to fanagle as a mid-point between Toledo and the coast. Check your map and your plans, as I simply recommend the Alarcón Parador, but am not sure how it would fit into your travel geography-wise...

Booklady, thanks so much for your instructions. I think that I have mastered the Bancotel site, but it certainly helps to set up a matrix. Anyway, these are the hotels that I have made reservations for, although I haven't purchased the vouchers yet, which I will do in February. I need a total of 20 vouchers.

Madrid - 6 nights at the Tryp Capitol, a 3 star - 1 voucher per night = 6 vouchers (advertised rack rate $150/night) -- from here I will make day trips to Segovia, Toledo and El Escoril. The Tryp Capitol is on the Gran Via.

Cordoba - 2 nights at the Conquistador, a 4 star in the Jewish Quarter - 1 voucher per night = 2 vouchers (advertised rack rate $165/night)

Seville - 2 nights at the Melia Colon, a 5 star hotel - 2 vouchers per night = 4 vouchers (advertised rack rate $250/night)

Granada - 2 nights at the Melia Granada, a 4 star hotel - 1 voucher per night = 2 vouchers (advertised rack rate $227/night)

Barcelona - 4 nights at the Rafael Diagonal Port, a 3 star hotel - 1 voucher per night = 4 vouchers (advertised rack rate $178/night)

Total cost of vouchers, 1000 Euros, approximately $1000 or $63/night USD. But, I still need to add the 7% sales tax of $70 to the bottom line.

I was unable to find a hotel in Toledo through Bancotel, and although that was not a major issue, the problem that occurred is that there is no direct train service from Toledo to Cordoba, and I would need to return to Madrid for the direct train to Cordoba, so I decided to make Toledo a day trip from Madrid.

If you think I need to make any changes to the hotels, please let me know. I am truly following your advice to the letter.

Now I need to give a thorough look at the train schedules, however, I did see that there seem to be plenty of options during the day. Seems that the trains are either running every 1 or 2 hours. And, the last thing I need to do is book a flight from Seville to Barcelona. Only Air Europa flies that route, and I tend to doubt that prices are that flexible. I think the cost of a one-way ticket is about $150, and I'll buy that ticket sometime during the winter.

Anyway, thanks again, looking for your comments on the hotels I have selected.

indeed! visiting precious Spain just before the Ides of March! (all said in a Shakesperean english voice)

well i would agree, quite an agressive itinerary for such a short trip, so good for you!

Toledo does not require two days, necessarily, but certainly requires a map, for those unfamiliar with the lay of the city. I would suggest just getting started early that day and i think you'll see it all. if you do spend that extra day in Toledo, try to spend the night at the parador on the south edge of the city way up on top of the hill overlooking the city. you'll get your own 'vista de toledo,' and it's far enuff in advance to make the reservation.

also, if you are really looking hard for where to kill that extra day, why don't you spend the night in segovia and enjoy the nightlife (which is typically pueblo-style nightlife), and just head south to La Granja and visit the summer palace of the Bourbon Kings...? (ever see 'Farinelli'? there is a scene in the gardens of that palace -- exquisite!). i consider the ride thru the Navacerrada (mountain pass) on the way to Segovia to be one of the coolest mountain drives ever...

hope this helps! have a BLAST!!!

andrew
:wq

Hola Lipstique,
Your itnerary sounds wonderful. You've given yourself enough time to comfortably see each city and have free time to have fun. Your idea of making Madrid your home base while you do day trips to Toledo, Segovia and el Escorial is very doable. You can search MadridMan's database for information about what to see in each city and advice from experienced travelers on ways to make your day trips to these cities more enjoyable.

The Tryp Capitol has a wonderful location, on the Gran via and the Plaza de Callao, in the center of Madrid, between Preciados street (Preciados is a great place to buy shoes! ) and Gran Vía. It is very close to la Puerta del Sol and la Plaza Mayor and of course El Corte Ingles, Spain's premier department store. The Callao metro is almost at your door. Another nice thing about being in the Gran Via is that it is easy to pick up a taxi. I used both the Metro and taxis, if I had time I used the Metro if I was in ahurry to take the train I used taxis, they are relatively inexpensive and very safe.
Hope you have a lovely trip, and report back to us when you return!