I'll have about two weeks some time next summer to spend in Spain. I've just started a little
research, and it's going to be hard to narrow down! And it's even worse because I want to
see Lisbon and a small town in Portugal, plus a daytrip to Morocco. Any suggestions? Sadly,
I have completely ruled out the north for this trip. This will be my first time in Spain, so I'd at least
like to see Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, and one of the Andalucian hill towns. Am I being
ridiculous try to to do this much?

I definitely think trying to see the large cities in all 4 areas of the country in 2 weeks would be pushing it...ask yourself this: will you really get to know a city and see what it's really like in 3 days each place? Or will you spend all your time scurrying from museum to museum and feel like you are not even on vacation?

I agree with Leche, if you tried going to all the places listed you would be like one of the hapless tourist in the movie, " If It's Tuesday It Must Be Belgium!"

I had the same dilemma when I went back to Spain after a hiatus of over 20 some years. I had seen the major cities of Spain, but it had been so long that I had tough decisions to make as well. I too only had a little over two weeks. You are very lucky in discovering MadridMan's Web page, because there are many threads that will help you make your decisions.

In addition to the advice given here in MadridMan, what also helped me a great deal in narrowing down my choices was watching the Rick Steves series on Spain, which are available from most public libraries. I am a visual learner and I realized then that to see Madrid I needed at least five days, Segovia a day trip, Salamanca two days, Santiago four days, etc. That gave me an idea as to how long I would need to visit each city and still have time to viscerally see the places.

To me some of the fun of travelling is in doing the research beforehand, and this Board was instrumental in making my trip the success that it was.
Enjoy your search.

Today, I finally leave for Spain. Just alittle excited. This will be my first time in Spain and Portugal. I wanted to see all the major cities, Sevilla, Madrid, Toledo and Barcelona, Lisbon. Well, I opted to see Barcelona and Madrid and side trips to Toledo. Portugal, is a very pretty country. I am going to spend some time near Lisbon area. There is so much to see and do in the time frame of just 2.5 weeks. I did some much of my research at the library. I did alot of my resreach through the library. They have guide books that you can garner alot of information from. One day before vacation, I was making hotels accomodations. I normally would not recommend that, since I had another hotel backup but this is a 4 star hotel. This will be my last post. Usta Legua.

We took two trips to Andalucia in the past 2 years. One went from Malaga to Cortijo el Papudo - http://www.andalucia.com/gardens/papudo/home.htm a lovely converted farmhouse with super breakfasts.
From there on to Cadiz, Jerez, Seville, and Ronda and back to Malaga.
A couple of good Spanish hotels: Alavera de los Banos in Ronda: At bottom of ravine but very good. http://www.andalucia.com/alavera/home.htm
Also ; www.santafe-hotel.com a lovely small hotel (more like home with rooms) with excellent food, situated at Coin inland from Costa del Sol on inland road between Malage and Marbella.
A useful site for accommodation is :
http://www.andalucia.com/accommodation/home.htm.
We did stop at La Fonda Hotel in Benelmadena Pueblo( 2 miles inland) - they hadn't any rooms in the hotel but gave us an apartment for about 35 Euros - beautiful apartment down a side street right opposite a little bar - few tourists got down there - snacks very cheap and they kept giving us a free drink every time we went in. Sorry can't remember their web site.
We did the trip in 7 days but you could add on our other trip which took in Granada, & Cordoba.
Best place we stopped in there was Molino del Santo at Benojoan near Ronda : http://www.andalucia.com/molino/home.htm way out in the country but beautiful hotel in lovely surroundings

Barcelona is up north. Yes, it does sound like you're trying to cram a lot into 2 weeks! Forget 3 days! You'll waste most of your time traveling from city to city! Granada and Andalucia... you can do that easily, and Madrid even... but there goes a week already, and that's limiting it to 2 days in each place, and not counting traveling!
Then Portugal... well, although the new super highway makes the trip much faster, its still 5 hours, and if your taking the bus, at least 7 (they have to stop not just to pick up, but for rests- and they are much stricter about it there than in the US). Train won't get you TOO much faster, and then there is always the option of flying, which would help... Portugal is a wonderful country, that in my humble opinion deserves its own visit, but that's just me...

If you stick to Andalucia, Granada and Madrid, you'll probably get more out of your trip, as you can visit Salamanca, Toledo, Segovia as day trips (although I'd stay a night in Salamanca, as its the furthest away from Madrid). El Escorial would then also be a possibility...

My reccomendation would be to try to centralize around 3 cities or so and plan to see things that are closest around those areas.

oh! Morrocco! I don't know how things are now, but I know that the whole Isla de Perejil thing altered the ferry schedules, not as many going as before... I'd also check with the embassy to see if they have any recommendations for/against going at this time. But if you're going to be in the South, Granada will be the city you want to see closest to it, I'd just figure into it the time it is going to take you to get there, how long you want to be there and then back to Granada and then to wherever. Again, I think it may be another side trip too many.

Thanks for all your helpful replies. We just got back from a whirlwind trip in Central Europe, and I have mixed feelings about travelling so quickly! It was great to see so many places, but I had a terrible cold, and all the train travel was hard on me. We came home early because we got stuck in the floods in the Czech Republic. ):

I am willing to skip the daytrips from Madrid, and save that for when I return on a trip to the Madrid area only. Just would like to get a taste of a few of the culturally different places in Spain. By skipping the north, I meant Galicia, Ovieto, Pampalona, etc. I am completely entrigued by this area and want to give it a separate trip. I had planned on flying to or from Barcelona to Madrid to save some time, depending on the route we take.

I still have loads of time to decide where to go. If we had even just 5 more vacation days that would help so much! It's stinks to have 10 days a year. Just isn't enough, never mind that I can't take any days off to just relax at home!

I have been to many parts of Spain, and Sevilla is one place a visitor to Spain must see. In fact if one were to set in foot in Spain for one day only, I would suggest it be in Sevilla, on a summer day with brides everywhere having their pictures taken in the Maria Louisa park. My favorite part of Spain is Galicia, La Coruna in particular, but I still would put Sevilla in a first trip to Spain. Later you can return for the north. Toledo is a good choice, as is Cuenca. You'll love Lisbon, and don't miss Sintra and Obidos in Portugal. Have a great trip!

Finally starting to think more about this trip! Borrowed "Rough Guide Spain" from the library and I'm really enjoying it! It's more book-like than other travel guides, a great before-you plan read.

Still want to see too much! I am going to try to schedule our trip around a holiday so that we can get an extra free day of vacation! Also going to try to leave on a Thursday or Friday and come back two weeks later on Saturday or Sunday to maximize free weekend time. I can't wait to have 5 weeks vacation... some day!

I am trying to convince myself to skip Barcelona or Madrid. Maybe skip Madrid? I can return another time and get to visit Toledo, Segovia, etc. But how can I miss the Prado?? Also trying to convince myself to skip Tangier; but I'd really like a taste of Morrocco, even if it's far from the real thing. I don't think I want to skip Portugal; I'd like to see Lisbon and maybe the Algarve. After reading Rough Guide, I have added Seville to my list!

Monique writes: Skip Madrid? Bad idea!

Skip Tangier! IMHO: For a one day trip it's a waste of time. And it's going to waste more than 1-day of your precious two weeks. You have to get into position for a daytrip to Tangier (Algeciras, for example)

Here's an example of how to get from Point-A to Point-B: Last summer I took an all Preferente Hotel train Barcelona-Sevilla: Depart Barcelona 10:30 PM; Arrive Sevilla 8:30 AM. Compartments were very private, 2-bed (upper & lower) w/wash basin (W/C at the end of the carriage). Bus Sevilla-Huelva and Huelva-Faro (Portugal). There are some thru-buses but they all stop in Huelva. Bus or Train Faro-Lisbon (I recommend Bus because Trains don't cross the Tagus).

If you fly 'Open Jaw' (Once I flew to Madrid and home from Lisbon; another time I flew to Lisbon and home from Madrid - Continental Airlines out of Newark) something like that might 'buy' you an extra day.

10-years ago I took my son to Spain for 3-weeks: The general opinion was: "You're going just to Spain for the whole 3-weeks?" We flew Iberia TransAtlantic and bought 'Visit Spain Passes' (Spanair also offers them). We flew from JFK to Madrid, Madrid-Sevila (for Expo'92), Sevilla-Barcelona ('92 Olympics), Barcelona-Vigo (Santiago flights were not available on our plan 'window' so we travelled by Train (TRD) Vigo-Santiago and back) and Vigo-Madrid. We took a train Madrid-Alicante, spent 4-nights on the beach in Campello - then back to Madrid for the weekend (even a bullfight). On our Madrid stops we day-tripped to Toledo & Segovia.
Been there! Done that!

With good planning you should have little trouble being able to visit Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla and Lisbon in 2-weeks.

Thanks for the suggestions! I've been giving it some thought, and I think I will save Barcelona for my next trip. So I will keep Madrid! Yay! I am also considering your suggestion that I skip the Tangier daytrip, although it is very tempting!

Where is your favorite beach place in Spain or Portugal? I loved the Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast in Italy, to give you an idea of what I'm looking for.

A few years ago, I took an organized BUS tour that featured certain citys in spain, Sevilla, Grenada, Malaga, Torremolinos, Nerja etc. I purchased it in Pamplona (you can start anywhere!). It included a wonderful bus, hotel stopovers in the cities, lunches(sometime a box lunch) and dinners. Great comeraderie, great time and saw a lot! Just an idea!

One of the most beautiful spots on earth is the tip of the Sagres penninsula in Portugal--Cabo Sao Vincente. You might try Rick Steve's favorite place in Salema for a nice beach. If you have a car you can drive from there to the western Algarve. But if you don't have a car, you can get to some really great beaches near Lisbon, south of Cascais via bus or train (the water will be cold). If you don't want to spend too much time in Portugal just see Lisbon, Sintra and Obidos. I've always avoided the Costa del Sol beaches because they are so built up with highrises and expats.
If I had to choose between Madrid and Barcelona, I'd choose Barcelona for sure (sorry folks), though both are wonderful. It's the smaller towns that will really impress, particularly Cuenca, Toledo, Cazorla. Our first time in Spain we started in Sevilla (2 nights), then rented a car and drove to Arcos de la Frontera, went on to Grazalema (one night), then through Ronda on to Granada, (one night), then through Ubeda on to Cazorla (2 nights), through Consuegra to Toledo (2 nights), to Cuenca (one night) to Peniscola (one night) to Monserrat (one night, which is far superior than a day trip because we saw the basilica by ourselves after the busses left, one of the highlights of my life), then 2 nights in Barcelona. Sounds crazy, but it really wasn't , even with 2 kids.

The problem with trying to fit in Portugal and Spain in two weeks is the transportation. The train is not at all convenient and it is slow, as is the bus. If you rent a car in one country and drop it off in another you'll have a huge drop off charge. If you fly into Spain and out of Portugal, you might check into Europebyair.com for passes. But, you have to buy 3 passes, I believe, not a problem for us because we are 4. You could fly to Lisbon from Malaga or Madrid for $99, which is likely to be cheaper than a train.

I suppose you could fly into Madrid, see Toledo, maybe Segovia and/or Cuenca, then Seville possibly via Cordoba, make your way to Malaga and fly to Lisbon. (To see the white towns of Andalucia you must rent a car. )Whatever you do you'll have a great time, and you'll want to go back for more.

Okay, so maybe it will just be one of those "if it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium" trips! I really don't want to skip Barcelona. Maybe I can take night trains to save sightseeing time, or maybe even fly. Here is a rough idea of what I would like to do. We will definitely be flying open jaw.

Barcelona
Madrid
Granada
Ronda or Arcos
Sevilla
Algarve (not Lagos)
Lisbon

That's 7 places! It would be more if I could! Oh boy, what am I thinking... I think Barcelona is going to have to be cut out. Maybe I will do a Mediterrean/Riviera trip next year and start in Barcelona! Another consideration: The deciding factor on cutting out Barcelona or Madrid may be the cheaper airfare. This year I got a great openjaw airfare sale on British Air to Europe, so I'm wondering which would be cheaper -- I'm hoping to find the same sale again (I know someone who found it two years in a row, the first year flying into Barcelona).

You can get a bus from Sevilla-Faro (Portugal). During summer months thete are several 'thru' buses daily. Otherwise you have to change in Huelva. From Faro you can fly or train or bus to Lisbon.
Will you be travelling alone? If so, the Hotel Train (all-preferente Talgo) Barcelona-Sevilla might be overly expensive (i.e., single occupancy in a 2-bed compartment).

I will be traveling with my husband. We are in our 20s and don't mind traveling the long distances (well I feel that any distance is worth it, my husband not so much!). We will use public transportation for everything. We may take night trains to save time, but I'm worried about not being able to sleep -- I can never sleep on planes and I sometimes get sick. ):

We are definitely traveling in the summer -- we are both still in graduate school, so we can only travel from the end of May until the beginning of September, and we will be even more restricted if my husband takes a summer course (I finally graduate in May!!).

August in Spain is hot, so I've heard, but I love to vacation in August! We honeymooned in Italy in August 2001, and everyone said we were crazy, but the weather was absolutely perfect (a few days in the upper 90F, but it got cooler as we approached and entered September). Plus I really enjoyed being on vacation surrounded by other Europeans also on vacation -- we hardly met any Americans.

We want to plan our trip around a US holiday to get another 'free' day in Spain -- do you recommend we go around Memorial Day, July 4th, or Labor Day? Are June and July much cooler than August, anyway? I'm leaning toward July if it will be more comfortable weather.

Ladybugsea writes: I also can't sleep on airplanes; but the all-preferente Talgo I mentioned in an earlier post was a brand new experience for me (and, I believe, something new for Renfe). The 2-bed compartment was very quiet & comfortable and I slept quite well. Renfe is gradually replacing their overnight Estrellas with what they call Hotel Trens.

You keep mentioning August but you would do better price-wise if you scheduled your trip for right after your Commencement ceremonies in May. Places will not be so fully booked and lodging costs will be much less expensive before la Virgen de Carmen (16 July).

We were there in June and July. By the 20th of July some places were beginning to close for a month of vacation. If you can do your trip in June or early July you can avoid the vacationing Spaniards. By the way, we never found the heat to be very limiting. Only in Sevilla did we find ourselves sweltering and looking for a place to hide!!

"I loved the Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast in Italy, to give you an idea of what I'm looking for."

I don't want to confuse you more but I was just in Mijas which was really wonderfully romantic and had an incredible view of the coast below, Ronda was neat but you just look at the gorge and hillsides, looked like Arcos may be the same--no view of coast--and if you wanted the sea, you're just a half an hour (or less) away!

Thanks for your input, Anita!

Okay. Arcos or Ronda? Or 1 night/day in each?