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Post by msbee on Nov 1, 2014 16:32:02 GMT
How far out did you start your planning?
What would you consider the minimum amount of time to visit there?
Did you stay in hotels or do a vacation rental?
Where did you depart from and where did you go while there?
I would really like to go in May of 2016.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Nov 1, 2014 16:40:01 GMT
We've been to Spain and really loved it! I think we planned it 4-5 months out (we went there 7 or 8 years ago). We flew into Madrid, and visited, Sevilla, Granada and Barcelona. We flew between the various cities, the intra Spain airfares were very reasonable - I think we actually flew into Malaga and took a bus to Granada. We spent about 2-3 nights in each location for a total trip of 10 nights. It was a bit rushed. We probably should have done 3-4 nights at each location, and then would have a bit more time and could have done a day trip from Madrid to Toledo or hit some of the other smaller towns. We stayed in hotels.
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Post by molove on Nov 1, 2014 17:01:24 GMT
We were in Madrid and Barcelona last year. I think we started planning 4-6 months out. My husband was speaking at a conference in Madrid, so that's what prompted us to add on and make it a vacation. We stayed at hotels. In Madrid it was the Hilton and in Barcelona it was Catedral. That was one of the most incredible hotels I've ever stayed. You walk out and you are in the cathedral plaza. From there all the little alley ways and shops and restaurants are winding throughout. It's called the Gothic (pronounced GO-Teek). Incredible area to explore. It's also walking distance to El Born, and Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is teaming with tourists and very crowded but definitely worth a walk through.
Barcelona is on the Mediterranean Sea, so there's is all that and it is beautiful.
Madrid is more urban and big city. Great places to explore as well. We took the train from Madrid to Barcelona and it was very easy.
Spain is one of my favorite places in the world. The tapas! Oh my. The shoes! Oh my!
Have fun.
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Post by msbee on Nov 1, 2014 17:07:44 GMT
I have been pricing things out so I know how much I am going to need to be saving for it. It is going to take a lot of sacrafice on my part to save that amount of money but it's something I really want to do so I need to get a plan in place to get started on it.
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valleyview
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,816
Jun 27, 2014 18:41:26 GMT
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Post by valleyview on Nov 1, 2014 18:04:43 GMT
I have been to Spain twice - once with a school tour, and once with a friend. I did not do much of the planning - but I will say that I love Spain! The food and shopping are great! I agree that a few days in several cities will give you a better visit. I preferred Sevilla, and Barcelona, but Madrid is also a must see.
Have fun planning your trip!
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Post by gar on Nov 1, 2014 18:11:34 GMT
I have been to Barcelona once and southern Portugal many times. Barcelona can be 'done' in 3 days of solid sight-seeing, it's amazing...all the Gaudi houses, the architecture, the Cathedral, the little hidden squares, the beach. We stayed in a fairly average hotel because it wasn't about the room it was about the city. It was a fairly last minute thing so we only booked about 4-6 weeks prior to going.
The Algarve is where we have frequently been for our main family holidays. We almost always have private villas and hire a car. But these are not 'discovery' type holidays, it's where we're very at home so we know the areas, find a villa at the price we want, get flights independently and go. We usually book in Spring for late summer.
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Post by MichyM on Nov 1, 2014 18:17:34 GMT
I've been twice. The first time was eons ago, the second was this past May. We started planning the details about 2 months beforehand.
We flew from Casablanca (spent 2 1/2 weeks in Morocco first) to Barcelona. Spent 6 nights in Barcelona (did a couple of day trips). Then 4 nights in Sevilla (absolutely loved this town and would love to go back and spend much more time in Andalusia). Then spent 3 nights in Madrid, flying back to the states from there.
We stayed in hotels. In Barcelona we stayed at the Hotel Redding. In Sevilla at the hotel Amadeus. And in Madrid at the Hotel Opera. All were well located, and we were happy with our choices.
For our travel within Spain we used AVE, their high speed trains. We debated flying between Barcelona and Sevilla, but with the rigmarole of flying, even though the flight itself is shorter, we opted for the train. I don't regret it at all. We also purchased seats in the premium cars, which weren't all that much more costly. Totally a win with that. The cars were almost empty and even if they were full there is a lot of room to spread out.
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Post by msbee on Nov 1, 2014 21:13:45 GMT
I was thinking fly into Lisbon and rent a vaction place near there for a week. Then take a train to either Madrid or Barcelona. Then spend the rest of our time sight seeing. I don't necessarily want to have a go from dawn to dusk see everything there is to see vacation. I would rather see half a dozen must sees in each place and then have some time to discover some out of the way quirky places.
I don't really like staying in hotels. I prefer a condo or house. I also like to cook for myself most of the time (food issues and vacation is not a time I want to experiment and end up sick)
The boring part is coming up. Saving for the trip. Then the fun can happen.
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Post by epeanymous on Nov 1, 2014 21:18:26 GMT
I went to Spain for five nights -- four in Madrid, and then we took an overnight trip to Toledo (it was close to Madrid and you wouldn't need to spend a night there). That was with grad school friends, so we may have been at a different life phase than you are (and we were limited in time by our spring break and in money by being grad students), but I felt like that gave us enough time in that area. If we had more time and money, I would have loved to go to Barcelona or Sevilla (and could have spend less time in Madrid) -- it just wasn't worth the transit time for that short of a visit.
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Post by mirabelleswalker on Nov 1, 2014 21:48:22 GMT
We rented a beautiful apartment in Barcelona. It was much less money than a hotel, and much more space than we needed. We rented through Click & Flat.
I started planning in July for a trip in October.
From Barcelona, we flew to Bilbao to go to the museum, and took a bus to San Sebastian for a few days there.
Vueling Airlines has very reasonably priced flights. To fly to Bilbao was not much more than a train would have been IIRC. It also saved a ton of time.
I can't imagine doing Barcelona in three days. We never stopped moving and I still don't think I saw enough in the 8 days we were there.
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Nov 2, 2014 14:52:54 GMT
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Post by Leone on Nov 2, 2014 15:07:18 GMT
My suggestion is to look at the itineraries that Globus and Cosmos use. It will give you good ideas as to what you might want to see. I'd take the ferry over to Tangiers while you are there.
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Post by msbee on Nov 2, 2014 20:45:35 GMT
We were talking about doing just that
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