glennaa11

I took advantage of the oneworld v SkyTeam fare war several months ago and booked a business class ticket that goes into and out of MAD. This will be my first time in Spain and I have about two weeks there overall. And now it's time to start the real planning.

My current plan is to spend about 4 days in Madrid. Then take the AVE to Sevilla, staying there 3 nights. From there take a bus (appears there is a nice luxury bus) to Granada. 3 nights there. Then another bus to Cordoba with two nights there. Then AVE back to Madrid for a few days at the end of the trip.

My intention is to do a couple of day trips from Madrid - Toledo, Segovia, and maybe Avila.

Is there anything that seems unreasonable about this plan? It looks like the buses take about 3 hours each and depart at reasonable times around 10AM, arriving 1PM. According to the bus website if you're using a credit card not issued by a Spanish bank you have to use PayPal which seems very last century, but whatever.

Then it's a matter of picking hotels which I am narrowing down but there are just too many choices. :-)

spainlover

With two weeks, I would really suggest including Barcelona. It'd be a shame to miss it on your first trip to Spain given you have a decent amount of time. In order to fit it, I would shave time off of Madrid and/or Granada/Cordoba, skipping Cordoba if need be.
Otherwise, sounds great! Enjoy. Let us know as you need tips.

LupineChemist

I agree with the Barcelona sentiment. I would do Córdoba on the way to Sevilla as a stop on the AVE. It's easily doable in just a day. Then maybe take a night away from Sevilla and Granada each (they are nice, but smaller cities) and just fly direct on VY from GRX to BCN. You can take the AVE back to MAD even the same morning and the ticket will actually include a free airport transfer to T4 on the cercanías train.

JamesEaston

I'm pretty sure everybody would agree about Barcelona. Curious to the OP - why did you deliberately leave that out of your plan? Looking for more of the Moorish history? Not at all to mean anything negative, but rarely do people plan a trip to Spain that doesn't include Barcelona.

backprop

I'll agree with the others, with the addition that you could take off at least one day in Granada and/or Sevilla, and remove at least two days from Madrid, depending on how long the few days at the end of the trip winds up being.

glennaa11

Thanks everyone.

I like to take my time. And my primary focus is photography (no pun intended). I don't like rushing from place to place like most crazy Americans do. I prefer to spend a little more time in a place soaking it in. I like historic places. Hence the places I have in mind for this trip. I'd rather spend a day too long in a place than be rushing around.

I decided against Barcelona for this trip because I think it probably deserves more time and would likely make more sense to combine with other places in that part of Spain.

allset2travel

For photography, you do need to take your time. You did not mention Valencia. It has some real funky architectural marvels.
I did Spain (some cities) couple of times. Last time, I drove. Had a great time.

You said Madrid 4 days with 1 day trip to Toledo; and 1 to Segovia. I'd skip Avila (beside you run out of time). Madrid deserves more than 2 days.
Sevilla 2 days ( I really enjoyed Sevilla); 1 day each for Cordoba, Granada; Valencia (if you so desire).
BCN I'd do it in 4 days (3 min).

To get some photog ideas, see below:
http://stefanofoto.smugmug.com/Europe/Spain

glennaa11

Thanks. I have a friend who is in Valencia so I had considered it.

I will be back in Madrid for 3 days at the end.

Koby

Don't let others talk you into adding more cities, on the other side of the country. Your plan is perfect for 2 weeks.
But I think you should find a way to add Ronda to your trip, between Sevilla and Granada. It means that you'll probabaly will not be able to take that "luxury bus" (do you mind sharing the company's name?) and spend a bit more time travelling, but it's definitely worth. You can safely remove (a) night(s) from Granada and/or Cordoba and spend a night in Ronda.

spainlover

Taking your time is great - all for it. I just hope you will get back to experience Barcelona as it's such a wonderful city! I could stay weeks in any of the Spanish cities you mentioned, and forever in Madrid or Barcelona
Ronda is very beautiful - I would rent a car if you want to go there. Cadiz and its coast are only about an hour from Sevilla as well, and it's spectacular. The problem is there are so many wonderful places to see in Espańa!

glennaa11

Yes, that is the initial problem I ran into. Too many places to see. Just like all kinds of other places in the world. I scratched Germany's surface a couple of summers ago and want to spend more time there as well. I need to win the lottery so I can quit my job and travel full time.

The bus in question is laid out in 1-2 seat configuration with a lot of space between rows. http://www.alsa.es/portal/beans/comm...Name=SupraPlus

Koby

Thanks for the info. A few days ago I was thinking about the luxury buses that I took in the past between Singapore and KL, and how it is sad that we don't have those in Europe. Guess I was wrong...

M60_to_LGA

I've lived in Spain, and let me say that I think the OP's suggested plan is eminently sound. I share the not-rushing sentiment fully. And there's just so much wonderful history and culture to absorb in Spain - so OP shouldn't feel compelled to try to see all the highlights in one trip.

While I agree fully that Barcelona's an amazing city, I disagree wholeheartedly with the suggestion of skipping Córdoba. Córdoba is a jewel, particularly in the spring when the orange trees are doing their thing.

You probably don't need four full days to see all the main sights in Madrid, but there's certainly enough nightlife, people-watching, food, etc. to keep you occupied for that time and more. Keep in mind that Madrid isn't actually a terribly historic city - it has a relatively small historic center, as it was a latecomer as a national capital. Toledo, which preceded Madrid as the capital, was a sizable population center far earlier.

That said, don't get me wrong - Madrid has a huge amount to offer and definitely deserves several days. You could also use it as a base to take day trips to Toledo, Segovia, Avila (all beautiful, each in their own way) while returning to Madrid at night.

Btw, your comment about the bus demanding Paypal didn't ring true to me, so I went onto the website. At least on the Spanish-language version there's no such disclaimer, and there doesn't seem to be any problem using a foreign card to buy a ticket - I did a dummy booking and up to the screen where it asked for my card info everything looked normal. Also, a policy banning foreign cards would seem to me to violate both Eurozone banking rules as well as Visa/MC's own rules.

glennaa11

Yes, that is my plan. Base in Madrid and do day trips to those places.

Interesting about the bus thing. The pricing page confused me a fair bit since it seemed like it was showing big discount fares but them when I select a trip and click through it shows the regular full fare. Maybe I have to join their frequent traveler scheme to get the discount?
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EDIT:
Just discovered that there are little check boxes that you have to select if you want the "minimum fare" or "discounted fare" which are non-refundable. So that's how you get the cheap fares.

Also found out that I couldn't use my US-based credit card to buy the tickets directly. You have to use their PayPal link instead which works fine. You go to PP and then are routed back to the bus website where you click a finalize link and then you get to a confirmation page that you can save as your ticket.

The Seville-Granada ticket was 10 euros and the Granada-Cordoba ticket was 11 euros on the Supra bus.

CMK10

I just got back from Madrid, I was there three days which I found about the right amount of time to see the city, though I think it can be done in two long days as well. Don't short yourself by not spending time in it, it's a world class city.